Using the Recovery Tool
When applying the Recovery tool to the overexposed images, I discovered that it’s possible to achieve a reasonable quality and realistic looking result where overexposure is around 1 f-stop. If the overexposure is greater, the‘re-built’ areas of highlights displays some unrealistic colour cast, with most affected areas turning completely grey.
I also tried the Recovery tool in the Threshold mode (Adobe Lightroom) and found it quite useful.
My key tools used to manage the highlights and shadow clipping remain the following: highlight clipping warning in my camera setting (I usually have it on) and Recovery/ Fill Light/ Blacks tools in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
My final image for this exercise showing the best compromise position of highlight and shadow clipping is below.
