Smart_Photography_-_January_2016_

is touching the extreme left (called
pegged to the left or clipped
shadows) then it means that some
parts of the image have become pure
black without detail. These are also
called blocked shadows.

On the other hand, if you find that the
histogram is touching the extreme
right (pegged to the right or clipped
highlights), it means that some
parts of the image have blown out
without detail. These are also called
blown highlights. This is in fact more
troublesome than the previous case, as
the lost highlight details can never be
restored.

Basic tool: The different sliders
(Picture 6-1↓2) of this tool are
separated into three groups, White
Balance, Tone and Presence. You
need to look at the Tone group first.
This group controls the following
parameters. Each of these except the
Contrast works on a particular range of
tones, called regions (Picture 6-2).

Exposure (Picture 6-1↓3): Region 3
(Exposure slider): Sets the overall
exposure and exposure values shown
are similar to the f/ stops of your
camera. It works on the mid-tones.

Highlights (Picture 6-1↓5): Region 4
(Highlights slider): Dragging to the
right will brighten the highlights while
reducing clipping. Dragging to the left
will darken highlights (overexposed
areas).

Shadows (Picture 6-1↓6): Region 2
(Shadows slider): Dragging to the left
will darken the shadow areas while
reducing clipping. Dragging to the right
will brighten shadows (underexposed
areas).

Whites (Picture 6-1↓7): Region 5
(Whites slider): Adjusts white clipping.
Dragging to the left will reduce clipped
highlights.

Blacks (Picture 6-1↓8): Region 1
(Blacks slider): Adjusts black clipping.
Dragging to left will make shadow
regions darker and sliding to the right
will reduce black clipping.

Contrast (Picture 6-1↓4): This adjusts

the overall contrast. However, this

task is taken care of when you adjust

the other sliders which in fact give

you more control. You will also

shortly learn about the Clarity slider,

which operates on contrast in a more

sophisticated way.

Note: Clicking and moving the mouse

while keeping the mouse button

pressed is dragging.

To get a better idea, move the cursor,

over each of the sliders (except

Contrast) and you will see that a faint

gray band appears on the Histogram.

The active slider acts only within those

band of tones. For example, if you want

to open some shadows, just drag the

Shadows slider to the right. There is no

need to select the shadow areas as you

would do in Photoshop!

Clipping Indicators: One of the

reasons why many photographers do

a bad job of development of images

is that they overdo it. If you drag any

of the sliders (except Contrast) to the

extremes then clipping can occur at

both ends. Fortunately, Lightroom

provides a number of indicators to

point this out. Notice that there are

two little triangles at the top corners

of the Histogram. These are Black

(Shadow) clipping indicator (Picture

6-1↓9) and White (Highlight) clipping

indicator (Picture 6-1↓10). Both of

them are in gray colour and when

clipping occurs they will turn them

white. So, you must keep an eye on

these when you are adjusting the

sliders.

They can do even more if you activate

them by clicking on them. The borders

of the little boxes will now become

white indicating their active state. They

will now show you more information,

directly on the image itself in the

Preview area. Clipped shadows will

be shown in blue colour and clipped

highlights will be shown in red. Thus,

you will exactly be able to locate the

clipped areas. Readers may recall that

this is very similar to the highlight

warning of the playback screen of your

D-SLR but with the warning extended

to blocked shadows also.

As if these are not enough, Lightroom

provides one more visual aid. When

you are dragging the sliders (except

the Contrast slider), keep the Alt key

pressed. If you are using Highlights and

Whites sliders, the Preview area will

turn black. If you are using Exposure,

Shadows and Blacks sliders it will

turn white. As you drag the sliders, the

clipped areas will appearing as patches

telling you exactly which areas are

getting clipped.

Example 1: The effect of these

sliders discussed so far can be best

understood with an example (Picture

6-3). This shows in the Preview

area, the unmodified (Before) image

above and the developed (After)

one below. The right panel shows

the various parameters that have

Picture 6-2: Tonal regions over which the sliders operate.

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Smart Photography January 2016