MAKE INITIAL ADJUSTMENTS
Understand the basic processing that helps to enhance the light
1 CHOOSE FILE
If working with a single RAW file, choose an exposure that has the histogram tending towards the right. If there is a wide range of tones, ensure the histogram is close to, but not touching, the right edge.
2 THERE ESTABLISH THE HIGHLIGHTS
are many ways to enhance the light. Use a curve or exposure slider to darken the brightest areas of the image to their desired tonality – here we are darkening the sky.
3 SELECT DARK AREAS
Let’s lighten the rest of the scene back up. Using an adjustment layer or brush, mask the dark area of the scene. Generally a large, soft brush will disguise the mask best.
4 SET THE AMBIENT LIGHT
Using a curve or exposure slider, lighten up the dark areas of the scene – but not too much. The idea is to provide background illumination and not overpower the enhancement.
5 PAINT IN THE SUNLIGHT
Imagine the sun came out and illuminated the middle of the scene. Using a large, soft brush, create a circular mask in the middle of the frame. You may spend some time refining this.
6 ENHANCE THE LIGHT
Using Curve or Exposure sliders, lighten up the masked area. Options include contrast, colour saturation and colour balance. This example was all done in Capture One.