focal length: 34 mm
shutter speed: 1/80
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 640
flash: fired - on camera, bounced

At our last photo club meeting, we did a mini workshop with on-camera external flashes and a little bit of off-camera flash. We were all just happily snapping away when I took this off-kilter shot of our subject. The mysteriousness of the scene intrigued me so I converted it to a black and white image. In the process, I lost a bit of the detail in the shadows where her legs crossed. Using Lightroom 2, I could have added some fill light or maybe used the adjustment brush to increase the exposure there. Instead, I thought of the grad filter. Quick and easy.

I set the grad filter’s exposure just slightly in the positive and decreased the contrast by quite a bit until I liked the balance of shadows and highlights in that area. I kept it fairly dark and shadowy for effect so the change was subtle but enough for me. If you haven’t tried the graduated filter out yet in Lightroom 2, check out my tutorial on it.

To see the effect of the grad filter, you can toggle it on or off by clicking on the little switch underneath the filter’s dialogue box. Pretty handy for when you want to compare the before and after of the effect.

Et, voilà! Details in the shadows recovered! I also did a little cloning to take out some distracting white spots, in case you hadn’t noticed.

So, go out and use your grad filter if you’re lucky to have one. It misses you.

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.