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    Default detail recovery

    How does one recover detail in the black areas of photos. eg: the black neck in a canada goose or the black head of a dog.

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    Alfred Forns
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    Hi Roy

    Your best bet is having the proper exposure. You need to make sure there is data on the last box to the right in the histogram. Underexposing gives you the lack of detail which you want to get later in PS.

    When you open the shadows there will be some noise introduced and also it makes the dark areas look funky. You can use shadow/highlight to bring in some detail but don't over do it.... do most of your work in camera !!!!

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    Roy- If there is detail to recover (i.e., the blacks are not all blocked up at 0) I use any of the following in Photoshop:

    1. Burn tool
    2. Shadows and Highlights
    3. Layer->New, Overlay, fill with 50% grey, then paint dark areas with a soft white brush
    4. Quickmask to select dark areas and use Levels or Curves

    Agree with Alfred that the problem you often face is revealing unacceptable amounts of noise when you do this.

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    Axel Hildebrandt
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    Another technique is to use the curve tool in your RAW converter.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    John, you meant "Dodge Tool" instead of "Burn Tool" (burn makes it even darker).

    Fill flash works wonders for me for black details. Expose for the whites (using the expose for right technique described by Al) and let fill-flash do its work on the rest.

    I sometimes like the "Fill-flash" tool in Lightroom...works very well if not overdone (but looks awful if too aggressive with it though).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux View Post
    John, you meant "Dodge Tool" instead of "Burn Tool" (burn makes it even darker).

    Fill flash works wonders for me for black details. Expose for the whites (using the expose for right technique described by Al) and let fill-flash do its work on the rest.

    I sometimes like the "Fill-flash" tool in Lightroom...works very well if not overdone (but looks awful if too aggressive with it though).
    Correct Daniel. Thanks.

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    I do most of this work in raw format (Lightroom). Push exposure, add recovery to protect the whites, bring the black slider to the far left and the play with fill. Then I adjust contrast with curve and add some saturation if need be. After, I convert to Photoshop where I run the noise reduction(Noise Ninja). It will be needed if you pushed a lot to reveal details in the blacks. If it still does not please me, I try S&H. After that, I give-up and wish I used enough fill flash to start with.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Roy Priest View Post
    How does one recover detail in the black areas of photos. eg: the black neck in a canada goose or the black head of a dog.
    Do you shoot raw?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alfred Forns View Post
    Hi Roy

    Your best bet is having the proper exposure. You need to make sure there is data on the last box to the right in the histogram. Underexposing gives you the lack of detail which you want to get later in PS.

    When you open the shadows there will be some noise introduced and also it makes the dark areas look funky. You can use shadow/highlight to bring in some detail but don't over do it.... do most of your work in camera !!!!
    Alfred, I was expecting this reply.:) I am working hard and studying anything I can find to enhance my technique. I've tried what I know in PS but as you say the noise is unacceptable. Thank you.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John Chardine View Post
    Roy- If there is detail to recover (i.e., the blacks are not all blocked up at 0) I use any of the following in Photoshop:

    1. Burn tool
    2. Shadows and Highlights
    3. Layer->New, Overlay, fill with 50% grey, then paint dark areas with a soft white brush
    4. Quickmask to select dark areas and use Levels or Curves

    Agree with Alfred that the problem you often face is revealing unacceptable amounts of noise when you do this.
    John, thanks for the suggestions. I will try experiment and see what happens.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rene Quenneville View Post
    I do most of this work in raw format (Lightroom). Push exposure, add recovery to protect the whites, bring the black slider to the far left and the play with fill. Then I adjust contrast with curve and add some saturation if need be. After, I convert to Photoshop where I run the noise reduction(Noise Ninja). It will be needed if you pushed a lot to reveal details in the blacks. If it still does not please me, I try S&H. After that, I give-up and wish I used enough fill flash to start with.
    Rene, I have just got lightroom and I am looking for tutorials. I also just got Noise Ninja and find it very intimidating. The flash is a good idea as for now I only have the pop up flash.

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    Quote Originally Posted by David Thomasson View Post
    Do you shoot raw?
    Yes, I do shoot raw.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Roy Priest View Post
    Yes, I do shoot raw.
    To get the most out of the raw file, try this:

    1. Open in ACR and adjust so that no highlights are clipped. Don't worry about shadows details at this point. Open in Photoshop as a smart object.
    2. Right click on that layer in the layers palette and choose "New smart object via copy."
    3. Double click on the layer icon of that copy and it will open in ACR. Now adjust for shadow details (increase exposure, reduce black levels, increase brightness, whatever it takes).
    4. Click OK and that copy will open with those adjustment in PS. Place a black mask on that layer and paint with white where you want to restore shadow details.

    An advantage of this approach is that you can re-open either of these layers in ACR and make further adjustments on each independently.

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