It’s very important for a photographer to have control of their image, especially when shooting RAW. I was therefore very interested in the new highlights and whites sliders within Lightroom 4 beta .. but I wasn’t really ready for what they were going to let me do.
Recover maximum highlight detail with Lightroom 4
It’s my goal as a RAW photographer to use as much of the sensor as possible in a single capture in some cases. The Fill Light and Highlight Recovery tools in Lightroom 3 allowed me to do that to some extent, but I was always aware there was more sensor data which I just didn’t have access to.
Well, now I do.
Take a look at the images below showing original images, images processed using Highlight Recovery in Lightroom 3 and the new Highlights and Whites sliders in Lightroom 4 Beta. I know you don’t always want to get this amount of detail back and sometimes “blooming” light in the distance can make a photograph, but having the choice is incredible.
On to the photos…
This first photo shows a lit curtain behind a bride. I was aware that I must get the exposure right for the skin tones so couldn’t worry too much about the background. I’m amazed at how much detail Lightroom 4 beta has pulled back into the scene. Zoomed in, I can see a lot of the details of the folds in the curtain which I just can’t see in the Lightroom 3 render.
This second photo shows a scene which was captured as a silhouette. I was aware that the majority of the sky would be in range of the sensor and pulling some of the detail back in Lightroom 3 shows this. However, look how much further you can go with Lightroom 4 beta!
Finally, this is a shot of Concordes nose. Again, I had to make an exposure decision and concentrated on the people to the right (which are cropped off this test image). Even with the highlight recovery slider on full, Lightroom 3 does not manage to fully recover the highlights. However, Lightroom 4 beta creates smooth transitions between the highlights and the midtones, to render an image which is not overexposed anywhere.
Any problems?
Well, the only problem I can see so far is that pulling a lot of highlight detail back does tend to make Chromatic Abberation show up more, which is a shame. As with anything, you can also use the new tools too much, rendering the image unusual looking.
Conclusion
I’ve known for some time that the highlight recovery slider in Lightroom 3 left a lot of the captured data unattainable. However Lightroom 4 solves that problem. Used effective it can be a fantastic new tool in the photographers arsenal, allowing the full range of your cameras sensor to be used and producing a more HDR type effect from a single image.
Roll on higher usable dynamic range!
Capture One Pro 6
I was asked to compare this with Capture One. Here’s a render of the same scene as the first image with highlight and shadow sliders both set to full..
What do you think?
Leave a comment…
All photographs and materials (c) Phil Drinkwater Photography
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4 comments
Great review Phil, very interesting read!
Very interesting blog
I downloaded the beta yesterday after being very very happy with using LR3 i didnt really expect the little changes to be so good-im an interior photographer and today did extensive testing on the highlights slider….. it is very good. My only gripe so far is that the previous “fill in” slider seemed to work alot better for what i do the the “whites”…..oh and the white/balance control on the adjustment brush is also a pretty awesome tool to have in ones armoury-just washed some unavoidable colour casting away today!
Be interesting to see the update price?!
Regards
James
It does an amazing job of pulling the original highlights right back into range and not affecting the rest of the image too much. Impressive.
So far the CA removal tool doesn’t look like it’s done a massive amount for me, but I’ve not looked in detail.
Great review Phil, I’ve done a few experiments and it really is a great step forward. Do you find the new CA correction has improved? Have a look at a few sunny day wedding dress/Dark suited groom pictures. It does a really good job and the new Black slider has some subtlety too. Also Church windows respond well to the highlight slider.
All best Si