Use Curves for local contrast, lifting shadows and more...

Add contrast

In the Adjustment tab, select the Levels & Curves tool. Create a shallow ’S’ curve by clicking to add an anchor point on the upper third of the curve and dragging it slightly up. Now add another anchor point on the lower third and move that down. Your ’S’ curve has added localized contrast to the image.

Recover highlights

To recover highlight information in your image, create an anchor point on the upper part of the line. If you add the anchor point towards the top of the line, and drag the point down, you will start to recover detail in the highlights of your image. If adding contrast via Curves, add additional anchor points to recover highlights.

Lift shadows

Curves can be used to uncover shadow detail by creating anchor points on the lower part of the line. If you add the anchor close to the bottom, and drag the point upwards, you will maximize your chances to uncover detail in the shadows. If adding contrast via Curves, add an additional anchor point to lift the shadows.

Edit individual channels

By clicking the ‘Channels’ dropdown menu, you can select the individual Red, Green or Blue channels. You can now adjust each colour channel by adding anchor points as required. This is a great technique to gain control over your image as it gives you the ability to localize your edits to specific hues in the shot.