1 We have a simple example portrait in our Library Module
that we want to edit. The shot is reasonably exposed as
the photographer intended but it could do with a number of
edits to really make it shine. The aim of this workflow, is to do as
much in Lightroom as possible without the aid of Photoshop.
3
You can address the colour balance first by opening
the Basic Tools panel and clicking on the White Balance
eyedropper tool. Using this tool, you can click anywhere on
your image that you know to be a neutral colour; Lightroom will
automatically apply adjustments to colour correct the shot.
4 In this case, simply move the cursor over the white of the
model’s eye, or any area known to be a neutral colour. A
small window shows an enlarged area of the pixels currently
beneath your cursor and also the current mix of red, green and
blue values that make up that colour.5
When you click your cursor on that area, Lightroom will
calculate what Temp and Tint adjustments needs to be
made to the photo in order to bring the area you clicked to a
neutral state with red, green and blue of equal colour values.
Temp goes from default zero to -12 and Tint goes to -12.6
Now you can add some basic adjustments to lift
brightness, contrast, tone and saturation. First, the
Exposure value can be boosted to about +0.55. Highlights can
be ropped a little to -30 and Whites can go to about +10 to
keep highlights bright without loss of detail.2
Having had a chance to look at the image in the Develop
Module, a couple of things are already apparent. The
colour balance is a little off since the backdrop is quite
overpwering and her face looks a little warm; also, her skin has a
few blemishes that could do with some attention.
http://www.bdmpublications.com 135PORTRAIT RETOUCHING