How to Edit a Sunrise Rainbow Shot Without Destroying What Made It Beautiful

How to Edit a Sunrise Rainbow Shot Without Destroying What Made It Beautiful

I keep a folder on my desktop called “Saved From Disaster.” It’s where I dump the RAW files that looked hopeless at import and somehow came back to life in post. Most of them are golden hour or sunrise shots where I either clipped the highlights chasing exposure, or crushed the shadows so hard the whole image went muddy. Sunrise light is fast, it’s uneven, and it rewards you with the kind of color that looks fake even when it’s real.