Editing Camera Raw

[satelinebassman]

My question is this. When editing blown highlights and clipped shadows using the histogram in Adobe Camera Raw, how do you know when you have adjusted everything correctly in the histogram? What colors should the arrows at the top be when you have it just right? Thanks everyone for your help.

[kcoppock]

If you see a peak on the right edge, your highlights are blown. If you see a peak on the left, the shadows are clipped. It's also possible that only a single (or two) channel is blown/clipped, in which case the result might still be just fine.

Generally as long as you don't have those peaks, you're okay as far as clipping is concerned. There might be some instances (specular highlights, etc.) where having pure white tones is acceptable, so you can just check the Highlights box to show where exactly the tones are being clipped, and which channels are being clipped, and see if it's adversely affecting important parts of your image.

The same thing goes for shadows as well. Especially if you're shooting something on a black backdrop, or say if you're shooting the moon, you'll definitely have a peak on the left, but that doesn't mean an incorrect exposure. It's best to look on a case-by-case, see where the clipping is occurring, but as a general rule, just keep on eye on the extremes of the graph.