Crushed blacks
Also known as: crushed shadows, clipped blacks, blocked-up shadows
Shadows so dark that their detail merges into flat black. It can come from underexposure, a strong contrast curve or heavy grading after shooting.
Updated
What it means
Crushed blacks are the shadow version of highlight clipping. Dark areas such as a black jacket, a tree trunk or the inside of a car fall below the lowest level the image represents, and all their texture disappears into a solid black patch.
Sometimes it happens at recording, when a scene is underexposed or the camera applies a punchy contrast curve. More often it happens in editing, when contrast is pushed or a strong look is applied, pulling the darkest tones down to zero.
A little crushing can look stylish and cinematic, but too much hides important detail and makes footage look heavy.
How it works in practice
Check shadows with a histogram or waveform: a tall spike piled against the left edge means a lot of the image is crushed. Lift the black level slightly, or ease off the contrast curve, until the darkest areas hold a hint of texture.
At recording time, a flat profile keeps more shadow information, and correct exposure avoids pushing everything into darkness. For a rider in a dark jacket against bright snow, decide whether you prefer slightly crushed shadows or slightly clipped highlights, because a small sensor cannot keep both.
Watching on several screens matters, since phones often render shadows darker than laptops.
What to watch out for
Lifting crushed shadows in the edit only reveals noise and blocky artifacts, not lost detail. Prevent crushing at recording time rather than relying on a rescue.
Strong contrast looks that come from popular LUTs often crush blacks by design. Apply them at reduced strength, or adjust the black level after applying.
Platform recompression tends to crush dark areas further, because codecs spend little data on shadows. Leave a bit of extra shadow detail in your export so it survives the upload, and check the result on the platform itself rather than only in your editor.
How RawClip handles it
RawClip does not grade footage, so shadows stay as your camera recorded them. Clips with readable detail in dark areas give the AI more to work with, and it cuts the best moments of the day into one highlight.