Find out more from Colin Smith at Photoshop Cafe.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
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Adobe released the October 2021 Update to Lightroom Classic. This video will walk you through what’s new.
“Discover how easy it is to make local adjustments to your photographs using Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw’s new Masking panel and tools including: Select Subject, Select Sky, Radial and Linear Gradients, Brush, Color and Luminance Range Masking and more!”
View more on Julianne Kost’s blog.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
You want your photographs to glow - right? So what’s better than one kind of glow? How about three?
You can get there by not succumbing to the classic temptations to clip shadows and/or highlights to produce a more obviously dramatic but a less lively, nuanced, and expressive tonal scale. Instead, hold the full dynamic range with a real black and white and also create gorgeous separation in the values nearest to them.
So many times we give the lion’s share of the contrast to the midtones. Midtone contrast is really important. But that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice the light in highlights by making them too hot to look at comfortably or in shadows making them so dark they turn to murky mud. You can hold separation in these extreme ends of the tonal scale and produce beautiful qualities of light that complement not just contrast. Here’s how.
Before
After
Curves offers more precise tonal control than any other tool. So when I need precision dodging and burning (about 80% of the time) I use Curves, which means I use Photoshop (PS).
I look forward to the day we can make local adjustments with Curves in Lightroom and Camera Raw. But currently, Lightroom (LR) and Camera Raw (ACR) don’t have this feature, yet. But can’t you do something similar in Lightroom (LR) or Adobe Camera Raw’s (ACR) using the six Basics sliders (Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks), in combination with the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, or Radial Filter, even in combination with Color, Luminance, or Depth Range Masks? If close is good enough, yes. If you want to make your images really shine, no.
Is it hard to dodge and burn with Curves in Photoshop? No. It’s easy.
Make a mask based on saturation in seconds. Then use it to affect the saturation highlights or shadows selectively.
Find more of Unmesh Dinda’s content here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
Mastering selections and masking will help you take your images to the next level.
Local Adjustments In Lightroom and Camera Raw | Coming Soon
When To Use Lightroom’s Local Adjustment Tools | Coming Soon
Why Photoshop’s Local Adjustment Capabilities Are Superior To Lightroom’s | Coming Soon
Photoshop’s Marquee Tools
Quick rectangular and elliptical selections.
Photoshop’s Lasso Selection Tools
Go to drawing tools for irregular selections.
Photoshop’s Magic Wand & Quick Selection Tools
Let Photoshop do the work for you.
Two Keys To Combine All Of Photoshop’s Tools
Easily add or subtract from selections.
Viewing Masks
You can see a mask in a number of ways.
Mask Key Commands
Key commands make masking and selections faster and easier.
Painting The Simplest & Most Useful Masks In Photoshop
Photoshop’s Quick Mask Combines All Selection And Brush Tools
Eight Useful Tips For Brushing Masks In Photoshop
How To Make Masking Easier With Photoshop
Fine Tuning Gradients
Fine tune your gradients with masking techniques.
Combining Masks | Coming Soon
Frame (11/10) | .99
Make your images stronger by locally adjusting the frame.
Points (11/10) | .99
Make your images stronger by locally adjusting points.
Lines (11/10) | .99
Make your images stronger by locally adjusting lines.
Planes (11/10) | .99
Make your images stronger by locally adjusting planes.
Video – Photoshop Masking Key Commands
Video – Photoshop Making 2 Masks For 1 Layer
Video – Photoshop Feathering Selections & Masks
Video – Photoshop Combining Gradient Masks
Get sophisticated selections quickly.
Photoshop offers two great selection tools that use pattern recognition to make the process easier and faster – the Magic Wand tool and the Quick Selection tool. They get complex jobs done quickly and the results they generate can be quite sophisticated. But which one do you choose?