Vet sign, original and optimized

Digital cameras have a tonality range that is much more limited than what our eyes can see. Because of that, in some situations the digital file falls far short of what our eyes see when we click the shutter. When I “optimize” an image, my goal is to use software to create an image that is as close as possible to what I was seeing when I clicked the shutter. This photo is an example.

This was a high contrast situation with strong backlighting. The sun was in the sky behind the sign and shining brightly above the low lying haze, backlighting the grass.

Vet sign, original, out of the camera file.

To keep from totally burning out the sky and having an unusable file, I underexposed the foreground when I created the original image.  I knew in advance I would have to work on this file to create an image like my eyes were seeing.

I opened the image in Photoshop and used Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) to optimize the image. I pulled the highlights slider way to the left to tone down the sky. (More about how to do this is in the article linked below.) I pulled the shadows slider way over to the right to lighten up the sign and the grass and trees.

I used the color sliders to bring back the colors of the original scene. I had to boost the contrast too.

Vet sign, final optimized image.

It only took a couple of minutes to turn the original raw file into this final image. It rarely takes me more than one or two minutes to adjust an image with ACR. When I am leading a photo workshop, I ask this question: “Are your best images worth 2 minutes of your time?”

As an artistic choice, I also cropped the final image to give more emphasis to the sign.

In Photoshop you can find ACR by going to the menu at the top and choosing Filter > Camera Raw Filter.  ACR is also in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Elements has all the basic tools, and Photoshop also has an additioinal set of advanced tools. Everything is done in ACR by moving various sliders back and forth to get the look you want.

This sign is near M-66 somewhere in northern Michigan. It made me smile so I decided I needed a photo. I am sure most of this vet’s time was spent out on farms, not hanging out at the office.

See the link below for a step by step example of optimizing an image using ACR.

Link

How to Optimize an Image with Adobe Camera Raw