editing fast the shadows and the highlights

alaios

Hi all,
I have been shooting the other day some tennis games at noon with a tele lens (I was not allowed to use flash close to the atheletes or get any closer).
The shots I got in terms of composition are okay and some look very good. The problem I have though is the harsh noon lighting and the blown highlights and deep shadows it created.

I can try to alleviate the problem a bit in camera raw by darkening and opening up the hightlights respectively with the paint tool in photoshops camera raw tool. Unfortunately this look to be very time demanding to do for all the shots I have. Is it possible somehow to speed up the process a bit?

I would like to thank you in advance for your help

Regards
Alex

Richard

For a quick and dirty approach you could try using the Photoshop shadow/highlight tool. You might also want to try the recover slider in camera raw to restore lost highlights before you drop into PS. Don't expect miracles from either one, though--if you have both blown highlights and plugged shadows, you've exceeded the dynamic range of the camera and there's only so much one can easily do about it in post.

alaios

true but what else could different at the conditions I explained?

basflt

Use Lightroom

Then you "darkening and opening up the highlights respectively" on one image and use copy / paste on the rest of the series .
Using the sync function does the same .

pathfinder

What Bas said.

One can also dial back the contrast setting in the RAW converter step, in ACR or Lightroom, as a preset on import. Then add back the contrast as needed for each image later.

The funny thing is that in bright sunlight with harsh shadows, the players would never notice a flash gun used for a bit of fill light. There are some arenas which will not let anyone use flash with horses at a rodeo, and I have seen some being photographed with large studio strobes, and the horses reacted the same. No apparent response.

For an experiment, set yourself out in mid day sun, and then have someone shoot your portrait with a flash set for fill flash about 1 stop below ambient with the flash 5-6 feet away from you. I submit you will hardly notice the speedlite unless you are looking directly at it. Across a tennis court, you would not be bothered by it a bit, but authorities always want to seem like they are looking out for the players.


Or you could wait for a cloud in the sky to soften the sunlight