Sometimes an image is spoiled – like when the flash fails to fire. This happened to me during a very recent shoot – no flash, and to the naked eye the image looked black.
But these images, especially when shot RAW, can sometimes still be used. In the case of the aforementioned image, I did the following in Lightroom’s DEVELOP module:
- In the BASIC pane, I increased both exposure and fill light to the maximum setting.
- I then would have normall converted to B&W, but in this case I did not, since the tungsten ambient light exposed the image basically in red only.
- What I did do, of course, is reduce noise.
- Then I added grain – film grain looks impressive.
The result:
Not bad for a spoiled image!
So the two lessons: (a) always shoot RAW, and (b) Do not throw out bad images just yet – they may be useable.