Lowering bright areas in photos

[One4u]

Shooting in RAW and was wondering what kind of tools that are best to remove a little bright area for typical images of people / portraits without lowering too much exposure elsewhere in the picture. I say shoot in raw to see it is a raw program in PS with different settings there. Otherwise, I have used the shadow / highlights to date.

[Isaac1]

The simplest and perhaps most effective is to get Exposure down, and then lifting corresponding Brightness to compensate in between them. But theres shadows again as a result of this, it might be an idea to go down Blacks or Shadows or whatever it is called in your converter.

When you lose contrast a little, you can use something such as Curves to correct again. There you can patch for hours if you wish. You are never completely satisfied.

[Jimmy24]

In ACR (in PS) there is a Handle called Recovery, which is for exactly this. It makes the very brightest areas darker, but does not affect the rest of the image somewhat particularly.

[Gusgr8]

I have almost stopped using Recovery. Often feel that it kills too much of the nuances in the top. I feel that the use of Exposure gives me better control over the final result.

But in some cases Recovery is straightforward. Where Exposure cannot do the job.