Although most digital cameras now provide a variety of metering modes such as spot metering, local metering, and average metering, many photographers are not very clear about their differences and functions, and they do not choose according to the specific situation when shooting. Different metering modes basically use the camera's default average metering. This metering mode is suitable for most shooting situations, but for scenes with backlight or large contrast between light and dark, the picture will often not be accurately exposed. In particular, the LCD brightness of some non-professional digital cameras is not accurate enough. It seems that the brightness is suitable in the camera, but it is dark when placed in the computer, and there is a certain gap between the actual picture effect.
If we neglect to select the appropriate metering mode when shooting, or the results obtained are not satisfactory, then we have to use Photoshop software. Adjusting brightness, contrast, color levels... Adjusting multiple indexes is even more difficult work for people who don't have much PS skills. After working hard for a long time, the expected results may not be achieved. So is there a simpler way to restore the dark scene? Now I will introduce to you a convenient method. It can be optimized with Photoshop and a few steps of correction. Because the contrast between light and dark in the photographed picture is strong and the metering is not accurate. Photos of the problem taken in place .
Open a photo with a dark subject (Figure 1). This is caused by metering the sky, and the ground scene is obviously underexposed.
[Figure 1]
Click the "Image" drop-down menu and select "Copy" (Figure 2). The "Copy Image" dialog box will pop up. Press OK to create copy 1 (Figure 3).
[Figure 2]
[Figure 3]
With the copy selected, click the "Image" drop-down menu and select "Mode" - "Grayscale" (Figure 4) to convert the copy image into grayscale mode. Click the "Filter" drop-down menu and select "Gaussian Blur" (Figure 5). In the pop-up dialog box, the radius value is generally selected from 5-7. You can adjust it according to specific requirements when you are familiar with it (Figure 6, Figure 7) . This step is to prepare for the following demarcation range.
[Figure 4]
[Figure 5]
[Figure 6]
[Figure 7]
Put the copy aside for now, click on the photo opened in the first step, click "Select", select the "Load Selection" option (Figure 8), a dialog box will pop up, and select Invert (Figure 9). After pressing OK, we see that the dark part of the photo to be processed has been selected (Figure 10).
[Figure 8]
[Figure 9]
[Figure 10]
Next, we need to process the selected dark parts. Click the "Edit" drop-down menu, select the "Fill" option (Figure 11), and adjust the options in the dialog box as shown (Figure 12).
[Figure 11]
[Figure 12]
After the dialog box is adjusted, click "OK". We will see that the black part of the photo begins to show gradation. This step can be selected multiple times until you are satisfied. Press Ctrl+D to cancel the dividing line (Figure 13).
[Figure 13]
Compare the before and after pictures, is the effect obvious? This method not only eliminates the need to make multiple adjustments, but also only increases the brightness of the dark parts without losing the level of the bright parts, which is very practical.