Image Rescue
Brighten up an underexposed shot quickly and efficiently
This is a grab shot and there wasn’t time to dial in the ideal exposure so the image is underexposed and the composition could do with fine-tuning. We can turn the original raw file into a desaturated, grungy-looking street photo, with the man walking by the door contrasting with the portraits on and above it.
Tick both Lens Correction boxes before using Transform to rotate and straighten the image; in the Basic panel, use the Whites slider and Exposure to brighten it. To increase contrast, push the Clarity and Texture Sliders up to +20 on each. We don’t want the image to be totally black and white, but we do want to hold the colour back, so decrease the Saturation Slider until the right balance is achieved between mono and a hint of colour – about -40 did the trick here. 1 Tick both lens correction boxes and use Transform to improve the composition. 2 Now lighten the image to create better contrast. 3 Next, increase both Clarity and Texture by +20 4 then decrease the Saturation until there is only a hint of colour left.