Image Rescue

A few quick fixes turn this shot into the cat’s whiskers

This scene of a cat looking out of an old cottage window has plenty going for it – but the shot is a bit underexposed, and we need to tighten up the composition.

To start with, I ticked Enable Profile Corrections in Lightroom’s Lens Correction panel 1 , then used the Transform Panel to improve the wonky window frame. It wasn’t perfectly straight, and it didn’t need to be – the old windows aren’t actually level anyway – but by using the Guided Upright Tool I could improve it a bit 2 . I also used the Scale slider to enlarge the image within the frame and

to lose the surrounding brickwork, which wasn’t adding anything.

This image will look better in black and white; pressing V on the keyboard immediately changed it to mono. Now I could improve the exposure using the Whites and Black sliders in the Basics Panel. I increased the Whites and lowered the Blacks for greater contrast 3 .

Finally I wanted to bring out the cat even more. Taking an Adjustment Brush, I carefully painted over it and lightened the shadows and whites subtly to make sure the moggy was standing out enough 4 .