3 Lightroom Tips That Will Change How You Edit Photos

Author: Neal Date: 2017-09-07

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Lightroom is a fairly simple and simple software to get your head around. But like anything, there are always shortcuts and tricks you can use to improve and simplify your workflow. Try these three top tips to make your life in Lightroom smoother.

Here’s a quick discussion tip:

Accurate brush strokes

Use Lightroom’s brush tools to mask and select areas to get absolutely flawless edges. But as long as you hold down the Cntrl or Cmd key (Windows or Mac), Lightroom will "grab" the edge as quickly as possible.

Sharpen your sharpening adjustment

In Lightroom, the Alt key is magical. It does a whole bunch of stuff; in the case of sharpening, it helps you focus only where you need it.

Holding down the key while moving the Mask slider will turn the image to black and white, highlighting the edges you want to sharpen. This way you can instantly remove the blank background area from your selection.

Holding down the same key while moving the sharpening slider temporarily turns the image to black and white, allowing you to better see the actual sharpening effect.

Highlight issues with Dehaze

The Dehaze tool, under the Effects panel of the Develop window, will detect any sensor dust. This also makes edges more visible, allowing you to help Lightroom remove them using the Defringe tool.

You can also open the field removal tool and check "Visualize points" at the bottom of the window. This will also highlight the dust spots for you.