Exposure Correction

How to Actually Fix a Backlit Candid Portrait (Without Lugging Around Studio Gear)
Video Tutorials

How to Actually Fix a Backlit Candid Portrait (Without Lugging Around Studio Gear)

There’s a specific kind of photo that shows up in everyone’s catalog and causes a small amount of existential dread: the backlit candid. You know the one. The light is beautiful, the moment is real, and the subject looks like they’re being interviewed in a witness protection program. I have folders full of these from outdoor events, and for a long time my solution was to either slap a Lightroom preset on them and hope for the best, or just quietly move them to trash.

Stop Guessing Your Exposure: A Camera Raw Workflow That Actually Works
Video Tutorials

Stop Guessing Your Exposure: A Camera Raw Workflow That Actually Works

Exposure problems are the dirty secret of a lot of client work. You get a great shot, the composition is solid, the subject looks fantastic, and then you open it in Photoshop and realize half the image is either blown out or buried in shadows. I’ve been there more times than I care to admit. The temptation is to reach for Curves or Levels and start dragging things around until it looks “good enough” — which usually means you’ve overcorrected the highlights trying to save the shadows, or vice versa.