Target specific parts of a scene with local adjustments in Photoshop CC

One of the main challenges with landscapes is in balancing out bright skies with any darker landscape areas, especially if the foreground is in deep evening shade. Let's be honest, many of us when editing a landscape like this where the contrast between land and sky is too great, might simply lift the Shadows and drop the Highlights. It's a quick universal fix that may help to pull detail ?out of the lightest and darkest portions of the frame, but can also lead to an image looking over-processed, or almost HDR-like. Sometimes it's better to take a more targeted approach instead.