If you want to see a before & after comparison of your image, there are a number of ways to do this. Now you will be able to use the sliders with more precision. To make them bigger, grab the edge of the panel and drag it out (towards the image). Tip 5: Longer slidersĭuring the editing process it can be easy to move the sliders too drastically, especially if you’re working on a small screen. In this instance we’d recommend you zoom in so you can use the brush tool more precisely. If, however, you are trying to brush over an object which has similar tones around it, it won’t always be totally accurate. This tool works by identifying the different tones and exposure levels in your image which it thinks you want to edit.
Make sure the auto mask box is ticked, and when you use the brush on your image there won’t be any ‘colouring outside the lines’. To use auto mask, select the brush tool and scroll down to the bottom of the panel. How much time have you spent cleaning up the edges of your brush tool when painting over something small and specific? The auto mask tool saves so much time when editing, you'll wish you'd discovered it sooner. To do this, right click in the blank space around your image, and choose one of the colour options. Often we think the image is too bright on a screen because it’s backlit, so seeing it against true white can really help get the levels right. You can use a white background to see if your image needs brightening, or a black background to see how dark your image is. It’s the same concept as deciding whether to mount your printed images on a white or black frame. If you have a particularly bright or dark image, it can be helpful to change the background colour in Lightroom to compliment the tones in your image. This also brings us onto the next tip… Tip 3: Changing the background colour This can really help you to determine if there’s anything in your image that you need to change.
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You can also use F for a full screen version of your image with a dark background. Press L again and the background will go completely black. The L key dims the rest of the screen so you can see your image by itself.
There are a couple of keyboard shortcuts for this. When you’re editing your image, it can be really helpful to sit back and analyse your image without any distractions. To rotate the grid, press Shift + O on your keyboard. We like to use this on the golden spiral overlay when we’ve used leading lines in an image. You can also flip and rotate the overlays. Once you’re in the crop tool, press O on your keyboard to cycle through the different grid overlays and choose the one which best fits your image. To access these, head over to the crop tool (or use the shortcut “r” on your keyboard).
You’re probably aware of the rule of thirds, but Lightroom has a number of different grid overlays for different types of composition. Our first Lightroom tip can really help when it comes to lining up your composition. But for now, here are nine of our favourite Lightroom tips and tricks that you may not already know.
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If you're looking for more advice, we also have an in-depth guide on how to edit photos in Lightroom. If you have a large number of astro-photos you're trying to tweak, these tools can help you get the best out of your images and cut down on editing time drastically Once you’ve got to grips with the basics of editing in Adobe Lightroom, knowing which tools and shortcuts can speed up your workflow is an absolute game changer. All of the best photo editing apps have something in common - there are a lot of features! Beyond the obvious editing tools, there are many keyboard shortcuts and hidden workarounds which many of us don’t realize are there.