Lots of photos can have trouble with highlights and shadows on sunny
days.
As you scroll down this window, the effect of using different shadow actions is
shown, but first lets start with a basic curve...
| Original
You can see that there is not much detail in the (interesting) part of the picture, but the trees are nicely exposed! One could spend hours on this photo - but hell it is only a family snapshot, so just pressing a button for an Action is probably the best way forward. |
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| But how about just a Curve?
We've lost a fair amount of contrast and the colours are a bit faded, but we could correct that later. |
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| Lighten Shadows Action
Just applying this action does help, but we loose the texture in the trees - but you could easily mask that out crudely and quickly (as it wouldn't have to be accurate). |
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| Harsh Sunlight/Shadows Action
This action is kinder to the highlights and is much better than the simple lightening shadows - BUT there is a halo on the bottom left trousers (not easy to see at this scale). The detail on the white jumper is much better and also on the see-saw (if that was important!). |
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| Severe Shadow/HiLight Action
Not so good in the trees and the white jumper detail is lost - and it is a bit flat. Maybe with a bit more care, when selecting the settings, one could make this better.
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| Or just Dodge/Burn on 50% grey?
Doesn't take long, lighten a few areas and the result (at full scale) is pretty awful and one would need some time and experience to do it properly. But as they say - the choice is yours! And you also have to consider how much time you want to spend on it. So all in all (for a quick easy adjustment) the 2nd action is the best - not surprising it's a Dan action! You could add a Local Contrast 4px to pick out the clothes better and have an excellent snapshot.
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