Dealing with underexposed images

I was taking photos of the local birdlife today. I got a nice shot of a starling with its wing spread, but due to the bright sky the bird itself was underexposed. The shot was in decent focus so I thought I'd play around.

This is the original (it's cropped down, but otherwise untouched)
birds_160406023smoriginalcrop

Now for the processed version. Roughly what I did was: increase the mid-tones and high tones, and reduce the shadow. This gave more detail to the bird. I sharpened the image, and I also added a slight tint to the mid-tones so that it wasn't as washed out. I gave the contrast a couple of notches as well, before bringing up the gamma.

birds_160406023sm

Much better, I reckon.

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Dudley

    18 Apr 2006

    Nicely done!

    There are numerous methods for adjusting the brightness and contrast of an image. Recently, the two commands I like to use are "Curves" and "Gamma".
    According to Ken Rockwell (link http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/ps-contrast.htm ), the curves command also boosts color.
    I will use the gamma correction command when I want to change the brightness and contrast in unison.

  2. Words

    18 Apr 2006

    Thanks for that link. I'm actually using PhotoImpact but the basic controls are the same. I'd always wondered about 'unsharp mask'… still not quite sure but will play around with it.

  3. hungryghost

    18 Apr 2006

    Oh how cool.

    I've been wrestling with similar problems. Have a series of photos taken of tree branches and cherry blossoms against a grey unforgiving sky. The pictures always turn out v. dark like the Before picture of the bird.

    Now I'll have to try some image adjustment and see what I get!

    :cheers:

    hungry

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