Fun with Photography Featuring Lightroom 2

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Fun with Photography Featuring Lightroom 2: Adjustment Brushes and Basic Sliders

[Refer to this post for information about Adobe Lightroom 2 software and to apply for the academic discount you qualify for as a homeschooler.]

To download this article with step-by-step photo instructions, click here.

Are you having fun with Lightroom yet? This time weʼre going to talk about the adjustment brushes and Basic sliders, which can be found at the top right column when youʼre in the development Module (press D on your keyboard, and make sure the word “Develop” is highlighted on the bar showing the five modules.)

Before you do anything else, go straight to Matt Kloskowskiʼs Lightroom Killer Tips blog and download this set of adjustment brushes, which will give you four more brushes: brightening/whitening teeth, whiten eyes, red lips, and iris enhance. Follow his installation instructions carefully and be sure to restart Lightroom when youʼre finished.

Iʼm going to take a photo of my daughter and show how you can use those brushes and
sliders. First, weʼll start with the original.

It has potential, but can easily be improved with some minor tweaks. Remember, you must be in the Develop Module to edit the photo. Look at the panel on the right and access the adjustment brush by clicking on its icon (circled in white).

To download this article with further step-by-step photo instructions, click here.

First we’ll use the Brighten/Whiten Teeth brush. Click the arrows in the middle column, to the right of “Effect,” to open the drop-down menu. Make your brush the right size (big enough to cover the teeth, but not the lips) and start painting on this effect. You can change the size of your brush either via the brush size slider or by scrolling with the wheel on top of your mouse. You can move the Exposure or Brightness sliders to adjust the whiteness of the teeth, just be careful not to make it look fake. I used the skin softening brush over the bruise on her forehead and the scratch on her arm (kids always have some sort of bruise or scratch).

Next, I clicked “New” and then selected the Brighten Eyes brush to lighten the whites of her eyes. There will be little dots on the picture representing each brush; if you mouse over them, you’ll see where that brush was used (this shows the skin softening brush).  If you decide to edit one of the brushes—say I want to make her teeth whiter—just click the dot for that brush and you can adjust the sliders on the right again.

We’ve edited the photo, but it still looks a little blah, so last, but not least, I’m going to make some tweaks to the Basic sliders. I think they’ll really make the picture pop. We want to make sure the adjustment brush dialogue is closed and that we’re editing the picture as a whole, and tweaking the sliders for one of the brushes. Click the adjustment brush icon to close it. You’ll know that it’s closed when it looks like this, with the Basic tab underneath (which may or may not be open, depending on whether the triangle next to it’s name has been clicked).

These next adjustments are very simple, but make a world of difference in our final image. To lighten and brighten the photo, I’ll drag the Exposure slider to the right until it reads +1.00 (default is 0.00). To keep from washing it out too much, we’ll drag the Blacks slider slightly to the right. I set it at +2.00. Then I nudged the Fill Light over to 18 to add some more light to her face and on her eyes. Really, you can just nudge those sliders around to your heart’s content until you get the effect you want.

Finally, we’ll “frame” the photo by adding vignetting around the edges. Go to the bottom of the Develop settings on the right until you get to the Vignettes. I drug the Amount slider to the left until it said -29.

Once you start playing with those brushes and sliders, you’ll become more familiar with what they do and see how easy it is to tweak your photos. Happy editing!

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Suggestions for future columns? Email me at dawn@heartofthemattermagazine.com

Recommended Resources:
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby
(http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/adobe-photoshop-lightroom-20-book-fordigital-
photographers.html)

Dawn has been homeschooling her eight children–ages pre-K to college–since 1993. Her interests include photography, and both graphic and web design. She is the owner of Barefoot Blog Designs, and also blogs at My Home Sweet Home, her photoblog and The Homeschool Post.