September 16, 2012

Recovering exposure in CS6 & LR4!

I took some pictures of Alivia on Friday night and as I was checking the play back feature on my camera I noticed they were a little under exposed.  I had forgotten that I set my ISO to a maximum of 800 which means that even if the ISO needed to be increased to create proper exposure, it wouldn’t.  Although I had adjusted the ISO for the remainder of my images that night, I was disappointed thinking the images I had taken of her already would require more editing time that I actually had. 

When I opened them up on my computer, they were even darker than they were showing on my camera!  I didn’t think they could be saved!  It’s a good thing I tried the exposure slider in CS6 before I sent them to the recycle bin!  I got unbelievable results!  For someone who rarely gets shots of a smiling toddler, this was SUPER exciting!

I had to share my original and edited photos with you so that you could see the drastic changes I was able to make in both CS6 and Lightroom 4!  All without the use of actions too!  That’s right, I’ve been learning my tools!  The only action I applied was the Cuts like a Knife action from Paint the Moon which allows you to selectively sharpen! 

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These next few images weren’t as bad, but it’s just amazing what a few adjustments will do to a photo!
Of course, I still strive to get my pictures as good as they can be IN camera.

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I’m linking up this next image to the following photo challenges.
Love the expression, those little lips, and chubby cheeks!

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Happy JaxPhotobucket

This last image was processed in Lightroom!

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and that’s the power of RAW people!

If I were shooting JPG, I wouldn’t have been able to save them!

8 comments:

  1. WOW...I am just totally amazed by this!!!
    Laurie @ Pride in Photos

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  2. RAW really is amazing. I have had to go back to JPG the last few photos because my computer is running really slow and it makes me so sad. I do have to spend a lot more time making sure that every shot is completely perfect in camera...way too much work when you have a lot to shoot! Hopefully, I get my computer emptied out so I can get back in RAW this week!

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  3. Great save on these. I really love that particular paint the moon action for certain circumstances.

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  4. So, so cute! I'm loving LR4 and PS6. Still have a lot to learn, but they offer fantastic tools.
    Love her long hair. She's just precious ;)

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  5. The difference is incredible! I haven't tried shooting in RAW yet but I too would need to clear out my computer first. It struggles to cope with all of my images in JPEG. x

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  6. Beautiful shot of Alivia - love her little lips! And you are so right- you can not recover hat much exposure using jpg. RAW allows for so much variation - thats why I love it too!! Great examples!! :)

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  7. Wow! What a sweet save. Thank goodness, for she is darling! Joining you from finagle a foto.

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