Softening a Harsh Shadow

Hello,

I had a color grading question related to softening a harsh shadow:

EyeHarshShadow.jpg (3.46 KiB) Viewed 1496 times

Unfortunately, I didn't have the best setup for lighting (lesson learned there for sure). Is there anything I can do to target a specific region of an image and try to lighten it? Unfortunately it's 8 bit footage, and I haven't found an optimal way to push this region of the image...

Thanks

You can use a qualifier or a mask (aka Power Window) to restrict any correction to a specific range of values and/or an area. But don’t expect too much, 8 bit will show ugly artifacts when rising shadows, in particular with heavy compression.
If your camera is limited to such formats, perfect lighting and exposure is even more important than with a professional camera.

Thanks. I figured as much. I was hoping to maybe make some very light corrections, but yeah I realized I am limited in my options. Learned from this one.

Thanks again.