Fixing Direct Sunlight Photos in Lightroom?

[Neville Bailey]

Yesterday I took a few shots in direct sunlight, at about noon, which I know is not the ideal time of day to take shots.

However, the fact is that I did take them, and now I would like to know from any Lightroom experts what techniques (if any) I can use in Lightroom to optimise the photos.

Fortunately I took the pictures in RAW mode, using my Pentax *ist DL DSLR camera, and here is a link to the unprocessed RAW file of one of my photos.

The following is my best attempt in Lightroom 3 of the same photo:



What settings and techniques in Lightroom 3 would you use to improve on this photo, using the RAW file as a starting point?

[Dreamglade]

I'm not really an expert in Lightroom, in fact I've rarely ever used it for fixing photos (as I use PS for that). So I'm not really certain how to go about doing it exactly in LR. But it seems very flat, it needs a little more contrast, perhaps a few stops less of exposure (experiment with - 1/3 increments). You could also possibly try bumping up vibrance a little, the greens seem washed out (whether that's how it really looked or not, it contributes to the 'flatness' of the image)

[RLucas]

In addition to what Dreamglade stated.
I would start by getting the histogram stretched from end to end. Your white point may be up there, but you may want to raise the blacks up to the point where they just start clipping, and then back off a tad.
Also, you could use the adjustment brush to make spot adjustments on the sides of the building and other areas that seem overexposed.