Week 1 Example 5

[mikemeister_admin]

I didn't set the shadows, highlights or neutrals, but I increased both the contrast and saturation in LAB.

Richard

[ggroess]

By increasing the contrast you did move the shadow and highlight ends of the curve in effect you did set a shadow and highlight just not as strong as you could. 

One thing we all should remember is that the shadow and highlight thresholds should be set for significant detail.  In other words you should set the Shadow and highlight so that you get the contrast range you want while still keeping detail in shadow and highlight areas that are significant to the image. 

In this image you can drive the shadow end of the curve further because the darker shadows do enhance the overall look of the image.  The curve I applied to your image does that but I bring back some of the highlight details in the petals by moving the middle of the curve as shown...it also reduce some of the saturation a bit but the color is so strong it could take a bit of de-saturation. 

Greg