While this isn't as immediately striking as some of the shots I've been posting recently it's one that I really enjoyed working on, mostly because I knew that it had the potential to look a whole lot better than the original. Overall the post-production wasn't especially complicated – eight masked curves for contrast, another for tone, and a channel mixer adjustment to partially desaturate the image – but the key to this one was the curve I used to adjust the back of the chair: a very steep S-curve, that brightened all but the very darkest shadows. This balances the light between the seat and back of the chair, but also gives the impression that the chair was lit by a harder light source than the rest of the scene.

As always, let me know what you think.

If you're a subscriber to our tutorials you can download the image as I've added it as our latest Mini-PSD.

captured camera lens focal length aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO flash image quality RAW converter image editor plugins (etc) cropped?

11.21am on 11/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/2.8 1/50 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation