Thank you for replying, Jeff. I understand how one can adjust exposure, open up shadows, sharpen, etc. GLOBALLY in PS ACR but the method you described in your old article stresses the ability to selectively apply such changes to specific areas of an image AND do it gradually. Obviously that can be done in PS' Adjustment Layers with masks but in your reply you refer specifically to ACR. I'm curious how you accomplish this level of flexibility and precision in ACR or LR? I must be missing something!