Punching Up an Image Using Curves

June 17, 2007
 

On a recent trip to Tampa, my friend and I went to a pier on a beach. The sun was blinding that day (perhaps it usually is in Florida). People were fishing for bait fish at the pier and a number of birds were around, such as the one pictured below, to help themselves to what people left behind. I don't always remember to check my histograms especially in a casual setting like this and I overexposed this image.

Original image

Once on the computer, I brought the image into Adobe Lightroom. There I could see areas of overexposure. Using the Exposure slider in the Develop module, I was able to recover the overexposed areas. But the image was still flat. By using the Tone Curve section, I was able to get the image I wanted. I often use 'S' curve settings similar to this. Sometimes I increase the Lights more than shown here. Or I make the Darks darker. I almost never move the Highlights slider.

Lightroom Tone Curve settings

The final image, below, with a bit of vignetting added.

Final image Pentax K10D, 55-200mm DA at 95mm, f/9