Smart_Photography_-_January_2016_

changes are non-destructive. If you are

lucky it may be just what the doctor

had ordered but more often it will not

be!

This completes the Basic tool. To sum

up, different sliders of the Basic tool

operate on different tonal regions.

The Presence group is smarter and

works by analysing the image for more

sophisticated results. These alone will

do the job 90% of the time. However,

Lightroom also allows you to adjust

specific tones and colours. These are

called targeted adjustments.

Targeted Adjustments: There are

two tools that support this. The first of

these is the Tone Curve tool and the

second is the HSL / colour / B&W tool.

The former adjusts the tones and the

latter colour. Both these are just below

the Basic tool on the right panel. The

beauty of these tools is that you need

not even identify which tone or colour

you want to change. All you need to

do is to pick that tone or colour on the

image using the Targeted Adjustment

tool (or TAT for short) and then alter it.

First let us look at the Tone Curve tool.

This in appearance and function is

similar to the Photoshop Curves but a

lot more flexible. While this tool can

do a lot of things, the concentration for

the present will be on the TAT.

Example 3: This example will show

you how to use the TAT. The sample

image is a high contrast one (Picture

6-5) with bright highlights and deep

shadows. You need to tone down the

highlights and open up the shadows

to bring out the details in both areas.

In other words you need to reduce

the contrast. On the right panel select

Tone Curve (Picture 6-5↓1). Now click

on Point Curve and choose Linear

(Picture 6-5↓2). You will see that the

resulting curve is a straight line. Click

on the center of the curve (Picture

6-5↓3). I will explain why this is needed

shortly. Since you have touched the

curve, the Point Curve will change from

Linear to Custom. Pick up the TAT

from its home position (Picture 6-5↓4)

by clicking on it. Now take the TAT to

the image area (you will see that the

shape of the cursor has changed to

TAT) and move the cursor over different

tones. You will see that a small circle

will move on the curve. The position

of this small circle is the tonal value

at that point on the image. Click on a

point in the highlight area that has the

tone you want to darken (in this case,

Picture 6-5↓5). This will be immediately

represented as a small fixed circle on

the curve (Picture 6-5↓6). Now drag

the cursor downwards. You will find

that the selected tone will darken and

the curve will be pulled downwards.

Recall that you clicked on the center of

the curve. If you had not done that the

center point will not be anchored and

the whole curve will pushed downwards

which is not something you want. If

this is not clear try one with the center

point removed and you will see what I

mean. Remember that all editing is non-

destructive so you can go back without

any worry. Bring the cursor back to the

TAT home position (Picture 6-5↓4) and

click. Alternately you can also click on

Done at the bottom right of Preview

area. This will complete the change.

You can follow similar steps to boost

Picture 6-4: The image on the left shows before and the one on the right after making adjustments using the Clarity and Vibrance
sliders. The right panel shows the current development settings in effect: Clarity (+) 79 and Vibrance (+) 78.

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Smart Photography January 2016