P H O TO S H O P F O R D I G I TA L P H O TO G R A P H E R S

Day Five
Instructor:
Scott Kelby

Todays Lesson:
Your Most Likely Adjustments, Part 2
How to set the Exposure and Shadows in Camera Raw
without blowing out the highlights or plugging up the
shadow areas

Key Concepts:
When were processing our photos in Camera Raw, one of the key things we want to avoid is losing detail
in either the Highlights or the Shadows areas. Our goal is to keep as much detail as possible, and to help us
make sure we dont take things too far, there are two warnings: one that were blowing out the highlights
(meaning theyre so bright that theres no detail), and one that were plugging up the shadow areas (the
shadows have become so dark that theres no detail). Heres how the two warnings work to help us:
(1) If you hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) while dragging the Exposure slider, your preview turns black.
Any areas that appear in color (red, yellow, etc.) are showing loss in just that color. A bigger problem would
be areas which appear in white, which is a loss in all colors, and a total loss of detail. If you see this, drag
the Exposure slider to the left until the white areas have turned black. If they dont turn black, the highlight
problem happened in the camera when you took the shot, and theres no detail there to begin with.
(2) There are Shadows and Highlights checkboxes at the top right of the Camera Raw dialog. When you
turn these on, areas that are blown out in the Highlights appear in red (drag to the left until the red areas
go away). Areas that are blown out in the Shadows appear in blue (drag to the left until the blue is gone)

Keyboard Shortcuts Used:

Hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) as you drag the Exposure Slider to see which areas are blown out
Hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) as you drag the Shadows Slider to see which areas are plugging up

Additional Material Not Covered In Class:

When you open multiple Raw images in Camera Raw, if you press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) and select them
all, any change you make to the top photo in the filmstrip will be made to all the other selected photos. If
youd prefer to edit the fourth or fifth image down, and have all the rest adjusted the same way, try this:
Once all the photos are selected, Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the photo you want to base all your edits
on. That photo will now appear in the preview window, and changes you make to it will also be applied to
all other selected Raw photos.