Preserve highlight and shadow details in an image

You use the Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls to correct the exposure in images shot in complex lighting conditions. For example, you can use the Highlights & Shadows controls to correct the exposure of the darker areas (shadows) of an image that was otherwise correctly exposed for silhouette. You can also use the Highlights & Shadows controls to retrieve detail in extremely bright areas of an image. This is particularly useful when adjusting images of clouds or snow, or images correctly exposed for the shadow areas. Using the Highlights & Shadows controls is the best way to optimize your image’s exposure in the highlights, midtones, or shadows without compromising detail in the other areas of tonality.

You can also brush the Highlights & Shadows adjustment on specific areas of an image. For more information, see Apply brushed adjustments.

When you want to adjust the brightness values in the highlight areas of the image without affecting the midtones and shadows, you adjust the Highlights parameter. Although the human eye is more sensitive to details in shadow areas than in highlight areas, such as snow, there is usually a fair amount of visual information that you can retrieve in the highlights using the Highlights parameter controls. Another example of when to use the Highlights controls is when the background of your image is correctly exposed, and the foreground of the image is slightly overexposed. In this case, you use the Highlights controls to make the overexposed foreground match the exposure of the correctly exposed background.

Figure. Image before and after a Highlights adjustment.

Adjusting the shadow areas in an image is necessary when the shadow areas are underexposed. A good example is an image shot in a doorway, where the background is correctly exposed but the foreground is a little underexposed. Adjusting the shadows lightens the pixels in the shadow areas only, bringing out detail that would normally have been shades of black or dark gray.

Figure. Image before and after a Shadows adjustment.

You can also adjust the amount of contrast in the midtones of the image using the Mid Contrast parameter controls.

Note: The Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls have been updated in Aperture 3.3 for ease of use, reduced halo effect with shadow adjustments, improved highlight detail recovery, and better overall performance. Images that were adjusted using the original Highlights & Shadows controls are not upgraded by default. You can upgrade an image to use the new Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls, or you can continue to use the original Highlights & Shadows controls.

Adjust the highlights, shadows, and midtone contrast in an image

Select a photo.
In the Highlights & Shadows area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the following settings:
- To recover details in the highlight areas of the image: Use the Highlights parameter controls.
- To recover details in the shadow areas of the image: Use the Shadows parameter controls.
- To adjust the amount of contrast in the midtones of the image: Use the Mid Contrast parameter controls.

Upgrade an image to use the new Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls

When you upgrade your image to use the new Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls, Aperture removes the old Highlights & Shadows adjustment and reprocesses the image using the new adjustment. The image’s appearance may change.

Select a photo with a Highlights & Shadows adjustment that was applied using a previous version of Aperture.
An Upgrade button appears at the top of the Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls in the Adjustments inspector and the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD.
Click the Upgrade button.
The image is upgraded to use the new Highlights & Shadows adjustment, and the new controls appear. The highlight and shadow details in the image may change.

Adjust an image using the legacy Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls

If you don’t want to upgrade an image to use the new Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls, you can still fine-tune a Highlights & Shadows adjustment that was applied to the image using a previous version of Aperture.

Note: When Highlights & Shadows adjustments are applied to an image for the first time in Aperture 3.3 or later, only the new Highlights & Shadows controls appear.

Select a photo with a Highlights & Shadows adjustment that was applied using a previous version of Aperture.
An Upgrade button appears at the top of the Highlights & Shadows adjustment controls indicating that the Highlights & Shadows adjustment was applied to the image using a previous version of Aperture.
In the Highlights & Shadows area of the Adjustments inspector or the Adjustments pane of the Inspector HUD, specify the following settings:
- To recover details in the highlight areas of the image: Use the Highlights parameter controls.
- To recover details in the shadow areas of the image: Use the Shadows parameter controls.
If you want to adjust the Highlights & Shadows advanced settings, click the Advanced disclosure triangle to show the advanced Highlights & Shadows controls, and specify the following settings:
- To set the area Aperture uses to determine each pixel’s tonality: Use the Radius parameter controls.
- To set the amount of saturation applied during a Highlights & Shadows adjustment: Use the Color Correction parameter controls.
- To set the range of tones that are modified in the highlights: Use the High Tonal Width parameter controls.
- To set the amount of contrast in the midtones: Use the Mid Contrast parameter controls.
- To set the range of tones that are modified in the shadows: Use the Low Tonal Width parameter controls.