The real news is that we gained the Point Color panel that allows for much finer control over a customizable range of color. The HSL panel remains unchanged and is still quite useful. So, what does Point Color do that the HSL panel cannot? There are two key functions of Point Color that differentiate it from HSL, first being that Point Color allows us to fine tune the range of affected colors with a high degree of control, whereas each specified color in the HSL panel affects an unchangeable range of similar colors.

We’ll look at some example photos to show why that is important. The second key difference is that Point Color is available as a global adjustment (affecting all selected colors in the entire photo at once) and as a local adjustment in the Masking panel. Taken together it means that while HSL can be quite useful when you are happy with adjusting the predetermined range of colors affected by each slider, we now have a tool that gives us far more control to narrow in on a very specific range of colors and make desired adjustments both globally and locally. Let’s look at some examples to see how this works.

Getting Oriented

When you first view the Point Color panel there is not much to see, but as soon as you grab the Sample Spot Color (Eyedropper) tool and click on the color you want to sample it comes to life. Note, I have expanded all the disclosure triangles in the panel to reveal all the options.

Next to the eyedropper you’ll see a color swatch representing the selected color (note, as you adjust the color this swatch will change to show both the original selected color and the adjusted color). Below that is a large color field displaying the selected color (indicated with a black pin) within the range of hues that will be affected. Below the color field is a color bar displaying a larger view of the selected color (this also changes to show the original and adjusted color). To the right of the color field is a color rectangle that shows the selected color within a range of luminance values.

With the color selected you can now adjust that color’s hue, saturation, and luminance as desired by dragging within the color field or color rectangle or by moving the Hue Shift, Saturation Shift, or Luminance Shift sliders. Dragging left or right within the color field adjusts the Hue Shift. Dragging up or down in the color field adjusts the Sat. Shift. Dragging up or down in the color rectangle adjusts the Lum. Shift. As you make adjustments by dragging in the color field, you’ll see how the corresponding sliders move in concert. Likewise, moving any of the sliders results in seeing a white circle move in the corresponding color field to represent the resulting change.

Putting in Practice

Let’s say I wanted to shift the color of this young woman’s dress from a very saturated red to a less saturated pink. If I were to use the Targeted Adjustment tool in the Mixer tab I could try to shift the hue, saturation, and luminance towards a more pink color, but because the original color was so similar in hue to her skin tone, the end result is less than desirable. There’s no way to constrain the range of affected hues with this tool or use it with Masking.

Let’s reset those adjustments and switch to the Point Color tool. I’ve used the eyedropper to sample the color of the dress. Looking at the colors in the color field I can tell I’m going to run into the same issue I had before, so let’s use the Range controls to see if I can limit the range of affected color to avoid affecting her skin and lips. The Range slider can be shifted right to expand the range of affected color or shifted left to decrease the range. With the Range disclosure triangle expanded we can access more granular controls for fine tuning the hue, saturation, and luminance range I want to adjust. In a case like this it can be helpful to check the Visualize Range box, which changes the unaffected colors to grayscale and leaves only the affected range in color.

Now we can clearly see areas of her arms and face that will be affected if I don’t constrain the range of affected colors.

With the range dialed in to just affect the dress I can now make the desired shifts in hue, saturation, and luminance to change the color of the dress without affecting her skin.

That type of adjustment was just not possible before using HSL alone since we had no way to customize the range of hues being affected by the adjustment. As close as the color in the dress was to some of the color in her skin tone, I was able to limit the affected range of hues narrowly enough to effectively isolate the dress from her skin, but there’s even more power in Point Color than in just limiting the range.

Point Color in Masking

In that example I was just (barely) able to isolate the color I wanted to adjust from the subject’s skin tones, but what if limiting the range of colors wasn’t possible, or the same color existed in more than one place within the photo, and you only wanted to adjust one location? That’s where Point Color’s other difference over the Mixer (HSL/Color) can be found, which is in Masking. I’m going to reset/remove the global Point Color adjustment by double-clicking the Point Color label at the top of the panel. Alternatively, you can right-click a color swatch and choose to delete the swatch (or all swatches) from the contextual menu, which does the same thing.

Next, click the Masking icon to enter that tool. Since I have a person in this photo I can leverage the AI-based masking ability to select just her dress with a single click on the Clothes checkbox under Person Mask Options, then click Create Mask.

With her dress masked, I can expand the Point Color panel and use the eyedropper to sample the color of her dress as I did before. With Masking, you’ll likely see the overlay by default at first, but as soon as you select the eyedropper the mask is hidden so you can see what you are sampling. Thanks to the mask I don’t need to worry about constraining the color range as this adjustment (and any other adjustment I decide to apply to this mask) will only affect her dress. That means I can just focus on adjusting the color of the dress right away.

There’s often more than one way to achieve an adjustment, and the right way will depend on the photo and what you are trying to achieve. With Point Color you have such a fine level of control that just wasn’t possible in Lightroom before, and we still can utilize the HSL/Color controls too. This opens wonderful possibilities for fine tuning skin tones, removing color casts from shadows, adjusting product photography to better match the desired color, and so much more.

The post Get to Know Point Color in Lightroom Classic appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

[Editor’s note: It seemed fitting that my last blog post of the year should be my last column in Photoshop User magazine, which ceased publication with the December issue. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have written my Under the Loupe column for so many years. – Rob]

When you first expand the panel, you’ll see everything is grayed out until you check the box next to Apply, which brings it to life and applies the settings to the selected photo.

By default, it uses AI to create a depth map of the photo and applies the default blur amount of 50. Having a photo with a clearly distinguishable subject will improve the quality of the depth map it creates. With this photo, I was impressed with how well it detected the subjects and even the default settings helped to separate them from the background. This tool is no replacement for in-camera depth of field blur and won’t replace any of my fast lenses, but in this case the photo was shot with the Canon RF600mm f/11 lens, so I couldn’t open the aperture any wider. My goal is to use Lens Blur to help the owl and squirrel stand out more from the busy background, without it looking too fake (obviously in the eye of the beholder).

Let’s get oriented to the panel. The Blur Amount slider does exactly what it says, and if you take it to 100, you’ll see we’re heading into fake looking blur territory. Below that slider are five different bokeh options, and hovering your cursor over each will reveal a pop-up with its name and description. The first is the most normal looking, but definitely worth clicking each one and exploring how each affects the photo. A photo with out of focus light sources will really show the differences between each option. If your photo does contain out of focus light sources (imagine a string of holiday lights in the background), then the Boost slider can be used to adjust the brightness of those light sources (the effect is very subtle on a photo like this).

For some photos, simply adjusting the desired Blur Amount and Bokeh option may be all you need to get the desired effect. If you want to fine tune things further or if the AI generated depth map doesn’t quite work for your photo, you can manually select what is in focus using the Focal Range controls. At the top of the Focal Range pane are icons for the AI generated depth map and a crosshair icon that allows you to click (or click-drag) over the region of the photo you want to be in focus. I think the AI did a good job of finding the desired subject, but there are some areas I want to refine, so I’ll leave the AI depth map and explore how I can modify what is in focus and what is blurred.

To really see how the depth map is working you’ll want to check the Visualize Depth box, which displays a color-coded depth map overlay on the photo. The warmer the color the nearer to the camera while the cooler the color the further away. You can see these are the colors displayed in the Focal Range pane as well. To visualize what exactly is in focus, keep the checkbox checked, then click on the handle within Focal Range. Dragging left or right will change what is in focus and you’ll see the in-focus area of the photo displayed in white. You can also reduce or increase the size of the rectangle to further refine what is in focus and what is blurred.

For this photo, I tried to reduce the size of the in-focus area as much as possible to ensure the owl and squirrel were in focus along with the branch they are on, but there were still some areas of the owl that remain slightly out of focus, and this is where the Focus and Blur brushes at the bottom of the panel come into play. The Focus brush allows for painting in areas that we want to be in focus, while the Blur brush allows for painting in areas that we want more blurred. The Size, Feather, and Flow sliders work just the same as they do for the brush in the Masking panel. There is even an Auto Mask checkbox that works great when brushing over an object with clear edges between it and the adjacent area. In this case, I’ll select the Focus brush, reduce its size (the left and right bracket keys also adjust brush size here) to fit within the area of the owl not fully in focus, and paint over its back and tail to include those areas in focus.

You can paint with the overlay on or off as desired. Use the Amount slider to blend your adjusted area in with the rest of the photo. Zooming into 100% shows some areas along in focus objects that need help along the edges, such as the branch coming up in front of the owl. Switching to the Blur brush, I can fine tune those edges to clean that up and match the blur along the edge to the background’s level of blur. Just as when brushing in Masking, hold the spacebar and click on the image to zoom in/out, or to click and pan around.

When done brushing with either tool, use the Amount slider to fine tune the look to all the areas you brushed and blend with the rest of the photo. If you want to make a new brush adjustment, click the + sign next to the brushes to begin a new adjustment with a different amount setting. In this case I wanted to ease the transition of blur on the bottom branch as it heads into the background below the animals. Now, I know this is not the same as true lens blur done in-camera, but I do like having the ability to make the subjects stand out of a busy background in a subtle way with quite a bit of control. Be sure to use the eye icon on the Lens Blur panel as you go to see the photo without Lens Blur for comparison.

For a more exaggerated example, I’ll take a photo with a very wide depth of field and give it a strong blur effect to simulate a shallow depth of field. After letting Lightroom create its AI depth map I’ll grab the Point/Area Focus tool to manually click on the car to tighten the area of focus even more.

I’ll turn on Visualize Depth, and further refine the area I want to be in focus around the car.

I’ve got the area dialed in, but due to the car windows we can see into the background, but those areas are still in focus. Grabbing the Blur brush, I can brush over the areas within the windows to match the blur with the background.

With a new Blur brush, using a lower Flow setting to slowly build up the effect, I can paint on the hill behind the car to separate it from the car with a more subtle blur. If you accidentally paint over the wrong area, you can hold the Option (PC: Alt) key to flip the brush to an eraser to erase any errant strokes. By using a lower flow and multiple brush instances, you can build up layers of blur. In an otherworldly image like this, I think the added blur can enhance its look (again, subject to taste), and the Lens Blur tool provides a pretty high degree of control even in its Early Access state. I look forward to seeing how this tool evolves and how it can help us achieve a final look beyond what our cameras and lenses can do alone.

As a final note I’d like to thank Scott Kelby, Chris Main, Kim Doty, Barbara Thompson, Jessica Maldonado, Margie Rosenstien, and Angela Naymick, along with all the rest of the behind-the-scenes team that have made Photoshop User magazine so wonderful for so many years. I’m sorry to see this is the final issue, but it has been an honor and a privilege to have been able to write for it since Lightroom first came on the scene. Thank you to all who have read these issues, and I hope to see you still in the KelbyOne community and LightroomKillerTips.com. – Rob

The post Exploring the New Lens Blur Panel appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

When you launch the new version of Lightroom Classic it will walk you through the process of updating a copy of your current catalog to work with the new version. The copy is updated leaving your original catalog unchanged, so if you have a problem with the update you can easily go back to the state just after updating. Assuming all goes well, and you move forward in the new version, be sure to eventually delete that old catalog from the previous version as it will just take up space.

Lens Blur

An Early Release version of a new panel, called Lens Blur has arrived. Early Access means it is still a work in progress. No, it is not as good as achieving shallow depth of field in camera, but I think it is pretty good for improving what was done in camera with a few clicks and slider moves. I look forward to seeing this feature improve.

Point Color

We’ve gained even more control over the colors in our photo with the new Point Color feature. We’ll take a deeper dive into this soon, but for now start to explore how this works by expanding the (renamed from HSL/Color) Color Mixer panel, clicking the eye dropper tool, and sampling the color you want to edit.

With a color sampled the panel comes to life and you can begin adjusting the hue, saturation, and luminance with far greater control than we’ve ever had before.

Click the Mixer tab to access the HSL controls we’ve had for years.

HDR Edit and Output

We’ve been creating and editing high dynamic range (HDR) images for a long time, but as HDR displays become more accessible we’ve needed better tools for editing HDR images to be displayed their best on HDR monitors. The new HDR Edit and output features are designed to do just that. There’s a lot more to say and explore with this feature, so look for a follow up post in the near future devoted to just this. For now, read what the ACR team has to say about it.

Filter Develop Presets (LrC)

If you’re like me and have a growing number of Develop presets sitting in your Presets panel, then this small update may be most welcome. Just like we have the ability to filter the Folders and Collections panels, we now have that same functionality in the Presets panel. Simply start typing in the search field at the top of the panel and only preset groups and presets that match the text will appear. Useful naming of your presets just became more important.

And no update would be complete without some boosts to performance in LrC, most notably when reading and writing to XMP, converting to DNG, moving folders on your drive, and loading of photos in Develop. There is one very significant update in Lightroom for Mac/Windows that even Lightroom Classic users will want to check out.

Preview in History and Snapshots (LrC)

Just like we’ve been able to quickly preview the effect of a preset by moving the cursor over the desired preset, we can now similarly preview snapshots and history steps by moving the cursor over the desired snapshot or history step.

Local Tab (Lr for Mac/Win)

I’m very excited to see how this feature will evolve, but with this update we now have the ability to access and edit photos stored on our local hard drives without first importing them into Lr. Clicking the Local tab gives you file browser access to your drives where you can navigate to a folder of photos, browse those photos and edit them at will without ever seeing the import dialog and without having to upload those photos to the Adobe cloud. This is a real change in thinking for this cloud-based app! Edits are stored locally.

Keep in mind that photos edited locally can always be imported and synced if you wish (so you can access them on other devices running synced Lr apps), but you do not have to do this. We even have the ability to rename local folders and move photos between folders.

There may not be any features that feel as game changing as Masking or Denoise, but there’s still a lot of cool and interesting functionality to learn and see how to best incorporate into our existing and possibly new workflows. Stay tuned!

The post Adobe MAX Updates appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

As long as you keep scrolling, you get access to all of the tools. The new editing interface is much simpler and cleaner and fits without scrolling.

To get there, tap the 3-dot menu in iOS (3-line menu on Android) and go into App settings.

There, look for Early Access and tap that …

Then toggle on New Editor to enable to the new editing interface before tapping the X to close out of App settings. You can also go into that menu to send feedback to Adobe through the app.

A few things to note:

• You can find the Geometry tools under the Crop tool
• If you want to enable the visibility of the Profiles and Optics icons, tap the 3-dot menu and go under View options (if enabled, they’ll appear when you tap Edit)
• Also under the 3-dot menu you can quickly jump to Info and Rating tools

When you tap Edit, you’ll see the icons for the editing tools appear above the bottom toolbar.

I’m still giving it a test run, and I’m not sure what to think, but one thing I noticed on iOS is that when you rotate your device to landscape orientation you lose the editing tools and just see the photo alone. I did find it useful to have the tools along the side when editing some landscape orientated photos. I do appreciate the opportunity to explore, test, and give feedback before it becomes a final change. You can always disable Early access and go back to the original editing layout (for now). Try it and let me know what you think!

The post Get Early Access to a New Way to Edit in Lightroom for Mobile appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Basic Workflow Tips

Before diving into the new features, I want to review a few aspects of the LrC to Photoshop workflow that should keep you out of trouble. First, make sure that when you update LrC to a new version you are also updating the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plug-in at the same time. When LrC sends a copy with Lightroom adjustments to Photoshop it uses ACR to render the photo that appears in Photoshop. Keeping those two programs at a compatible version will smooth out your workflow and ensure the photo is rendered correctly.

Second, pay attention to where you are selecting the photo in LrC before you send to Photoshop. If you use collections and you want the copy to be added to the same collection as the source photo, ensure you have the collection selected in the Collections panel (as opposed to a collection set or smart collection). If you only use folders, then ensure you have the desired folder selected in the Folders panel. Then make sure the sorting option for that collection or folder is set to Filename or Capture Time so that the resulting copy shows up right next to the source photo when your editing is done. Once you are done editing in Photoshop, use the File > Save command to automatically add the copy back to the LrC catalog and save it to the same folder as the source photo.

Since almost the dawn of (Lightroom) time, we’ve had the following choices under the Photo > Edit In menu for sending from LrC to Ps:

• Edit in Photoshop
• Open as Smart Object in Photoshop
• Merge to Panorama in Photoshop
• Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop
• Open as Layers in Photoshop

Ever since the Photo Merge options were added to LrC for creating panoramas and HDR (and HDR panos) I think most of us have stopped using those options within Photoshop, but it is worth noting they still work and can be useful if LrC’s own functions don’t deliver desired results. The April update allows us to choose the version of Photoshop (based on what’s installed on your computer) and adds a new option to Open as Smart Object Layers in Photoshop, which provides the most flexibility for a non-destructive workflow when using multiple photos on layers. Let’s look at how to use those new options.

Choosing Photoshop Version

Historically, the latest version of Photoshop installed always became the primary external editor without any way to change that, and if you only had one version of Photoshop installed, then it wasn’t really a problem. However, there can be good reasons to have more than one version of Photoshop installed, and if so, you may want LrC to send the copy to a specific version of Photoshop for a given job. For example, perhaps you have the new public Beta version of Photoshop installed, but because it is a Beta version you don’t want to use it for some photos. Alternatively, you might have an older version of Photoshop installed because it still works with a favorite old plug-in, and you might want to use that sometimes. Whatever your reasons, the April update for LrC allows us to choose the desired version of Photoshop from the LrC preferences. Here’s how:

Step One: Ensure you have LrC version 12.3 (or later) installed.

Step Two: Go to Lightroom Classic > Preferences > External Editing (PC: Edit > Preferences > External Editing) to open the preferences.

Step Three: Click the Photoshop Version drop-down menu and choose the desired version of Photoshop (if you have more than one version installed), then close the preferences.

Heads up, at the time of this writing there seems to be a bug in the Windows version of LrC affecting this feature, as I’ve heard from some folks on Windows that no drop-down appears. It is being discussed on the Adobe forum, but I’ve not seen a definitive solution yet. Hopefully this will be resolved soon if it affects you.

In this instance I’ve chosen the Adobe Photoshop (Beta) so that I can experiment with the new Remove Tool on one of my photos. As you can see from the screenshot, I also have an older version of Photoshop installed, and I could’ve chosen that if it fit my needs. Now I can use the Photo > Edit in > Edit in Photoshop command or Command+E (PC: Ctrl+E) as normal and the copy with Lightroom adjustments (because it is a raw photo with edits) will simply open in Photoshop Beta.

Side note, check out this video created by Adobe on how to install Beta apps if you are interested in testing them.

The Remove Tool in Photoshop Beta uses AI to replace the area you brush with new pixels in an amazingly realistic way (learn more about the Remove Tool). There may still be areas that need more TLC with another tool, but I was impressed with how well it removed the branch in front of this turkey’s face. When the editing is done, use the File > Save command as normal to add the copy to your catalog and then return to LrC.

Tune in next week as we finish up this look by exploring new options for opening as smart objects in Photoshop from LrC.

The post New Options in the Lightroom Classic to Photoshop Workflow appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Add and Remove Grain in Masking (LrC and Lr desktop)

When you create a new mask, you’ll find there is now a Grain section in the Effects panel that looks just like the Grain options we’re already familiar with in the main Effects panel. By default, Amount is set to 0, and dragging it to the right will add grain to the masked area. If you’ve applied Grain globally (in the main Effects panel), then you can use this tool to reduce the appearance of the grain in the masked area (or increase it further). Changing the values on the Size and Roughness sliders in the Masking panel will change those same settings in the main/global Effects panel. This connection between Grain in Masking and globally in the Effects panel allows you to fine tune the final effect.

Refine Saturation – RGB Point Tone Curve (LrC and Lr desktop)

There’s a new addition to the RGB point curve in the Tone Curve panel called, Refine Saturation. As soon as you start creating a new point curve you’ll see this slider appear under the tone curve. It starts at 100, which is the same result as we’ve have previously. What’s new is that we can drag it to the left to reduce the amount of saturation that occurs when making an adjustment with a curve. So, let’s say we want to use a curve to brighten up an image, but the colors are already pretty saturated, we can now apply that subtle curve to boost brightness, then use the Refine Saturation slider to throttle the saturation boost that would have normally occurred. First photo below set to 100 (default) and second photo with Refine Saturation set to 8 (set to 0 to retain original color saturation).

Color Mix (LrC)

The Color section of the HSL/Color panel now has indicators that appear under each color that has been adjusted so we don’t have to drill down into each one just to see if there is an adjustment, which is small, but welcome.

Additionally, there’s a new shortcut that’s pretty cool. If you hold down the Option key (PC: Alt) while making an adjustment with the Color Mix sliders or the HSL TAT (target adjustment tool) you will see the hue you are adjusting in color with the rest of the photo in grayscale to alternatively visualize your adjustment.

New Process Version

You may not notice this, but there is a new process version in town called Version 6, and it is a small change to the previous PV to do a better job in reducing banding in some photos.

Book Module Photo Cell Alignment

When making a book, we have new alignment buttons in the Cell panel (select a photo cell to enable this panel) for how the photo is aligned within the selected cell.

Edit Replay (Lr mobile only)

If you’ve ever wanted an easy way to share a short video of how you edited a photo in Lightroom, this new feature is for you. Currently this is only available in Lightroom on iOS and Android. First, go about your usual edit routine. When you’re satisfied that you’re done, tap the Share icon and you’ll see a new option called Create edit replay.

Tapping this will automatically create a short video that you can save to your device or share directly to social media. It shows a before and after view, then shows the stages after each major edit and ends with the final look of the photo. Give it a try and see what you think. If you share to social media and tag @Lightroom you may even get featured.

There was also a significant interface update to Lr for mobile that I think deserves a dedicated post, so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the update and let me know what you think of the new features.

The post June Update for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Camera Raw appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

AI-powered Denoise

A new AI-powered tool has been added to aid us in removing noise from our photos. Built into the Enhance set of features (Super Resolution and Raw details), we now have the ability to reduce noise with a single click. You can launch Denoise from the Detail panel in Develop, or via the Photo > Enhance menu.

With a photo selected, click Denoise to open the Enhance Preview. Here you can adjust the Amount slider (50 is the default) to adjust the intensity of noise reduction (higher values are more aggressive in removing noise and can smooth detail more). Click and hold on the preview to see before and after views.

Once you’ve chosen the Amount value, click Enhance to create the new DNG copy with Denoise applied. Adobe recommends applying Denoise before other adjustments. This feature currently only works on Bayer and X-Trans RAW images. I’ve been very impressed with the results so far, and I think it works better than the existing noise removal tools found in Lightroom making this a great addition.

Enhanced photos will now have a new badge visible in Grid view and the Filmstrip. In addition, there is a new preference setting on the File Handling tab of the Preferences to automatically add a keyword to the enhanced photo indicating whichever of the features were used to create the enhanced version (Denoise, Super Resolution, or Raw Details). You’ll want to check out Eric Chan’s Denoise Demystified article to learn more from the ACR team.

Edit Indicators and Eyeballs

A simple but very useful feature is the addition of new indicators to quickly see which panels contain edits as well as a new eyeball icon that you can click and hold to temporarily disable the adjustments in a given panel. This is a feature that has existed in Lightroom since the beginning and I am so glad to see it has made its way into Lightroom Classic.

Dots will appear under tools in the Toolstrip (like Masking) to indicate if a tool has been used. On each panel, a dark eyeball indicates no settings in that panel have been applied, while a lit eyeball indicates a panel with settings. This can be so helpful determining what settings are included in a given preset, just click the preset and see which lights come on.

Masking Updates

Masking tools continue to evolve and improve. Now, under People masking we have the ability to automatically generate masks for facial hair and clothes.

In addition, Curves adjustments have now also made their way into Lightroom Classic. We have had this in Camera Raw, and I’m glad to see this has been added to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom for desktop.

Edit in Photoshop

Sure, we’ve been able to send photos to edit in Photoshop since the dawn of time, but with this update we’ve gained a couple of cool additions. The first is that we can now choose which version of Photoshop we want to use as the primary external editor. Head over to the External Editor tab of the Preferences to see the new drop-down. This is really helpful for those of us exploring the Photoshop Beta or who just like to use more than one version of Photoshop.

Beyond that, we can now select multiple photos in LrC and use the Photo > Edit In menu to access a new option to open as Smart Object Layers in Photoshop. Very cool! There’s a lot to love and explore in this update. I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts on the new features!

The post April Updates for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Camera Raw appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

This is the first “dot” release for this version, bringing LrC up to 12.1, Lr up to 6.1, and ACR up to 15.1.

The first upgraded feature to know about is directed at Canon shooters who use Macs with Apple Silicon chips. Shooting tethered is now supported natively for Canon, however you do still need to launch LrC using Rosetta before shooting tethered with Nikon. Adobe maintains the full list of supported cameras as well as troubleshooting help.

The big change you should be aware of happened within the Masking panel. Once you apply a mask you’ll discover the Masking sliders have been grouped into Tone, Color, Presence, and Detail. Each group can be closed independently.

To further reduce scolling, you can right-click one of those new panel headers and choose Solo Mode, so that only one panel will be open at a time, and when you click to expand a new panel it will close the one you were just using as it opens the new one.

Also note that the Reset Sliders Automatically checkbox moved up to the top of the panel.

Each panel group also has an associated eye icon that you can click and hold to disable the visibility of the settings in that panel for a quick before and after view. When panels are collapsed and you have a mask group selected, the eye icon will be grayed out for any panels where all settings are zero and lit up for panels that contain settings.

One last new tweak related to Masking is hidden in the three-dot menu next to any mask group in the Masks panel, and it is labeled, Delete All Empty Masks. This is useful if you apply an Adaptive AI preset, sync photos that include an AI generated mask, or use the Copy/Paste function when including Masks. Let’s say you have one photo of a person where their eyes and teeth are visible and you have created AI-based masks for those features, and then you sync or copy/paste those masks to a different photo of a person where their mouth is closed, and no teeth are visible. In that situation you’ll end up with an empty mask for teeth. Now imagine that situation but include more masks that may not apply to the photo, just open Masking, click the three-dot menu next to any mask, and choose Delete All Empty Masks to clean them out.

OK, that’s the key stuff in this release. Happy Holidays!

The post December Update for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Camera Raw appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Masking Interface Changes

You’ll see more details about why in a moment, but to accommodate the new features added the panel that houses the masking tools has evolved. Here’s how it looks in Lightroom Classic.

Aside from the new features, I want to make you aware that Color Range, Luminance Range, and Depth Range are now found under the Range popup. Also, note that there is a new Edit icon (to the left of the Crop icon) under the Histogram to make it easier to jump back to the regular editing panels from other modes. The exciting new stuff–Select Background, Select Subject, and Select People–is available in LrC, ACR, and Lr for Mac/Win currently.

Select Background

Prior to this release we could select a background by first using Select Subject, then inverting that selection to get the background. Adobe has simplified that process by giving us the ability to click the Select Background button and get it done in one step.

Select Objects

Moving down the panel, the next new feature comes in two flavors, though both can get you to the same destination. Let’s say you wanted to select just a single strawberry in this photo. Click the Objects icon in the panel to open the Select Objects controls. There is a Brush Select mode and a Rectangle Select mode, and as you guessed, when using Brush Select you paint over the object you want to select and then the software creates a mask for just that object. With Rectangle Select you draw out a rectangular selection over the object to create a mask. Choose the option that works best for a given photo.

Select People

If you thought Masking changed the game when it was released last year, you’re going to be over the moon about the new ability to select individual people and even isolate key facial features. Not only does the AI recognize a person as a subject, but it differentiates people from other subjects and provides us with the ability to make masks of their face skin, body skin, eyebrows, eye sclera, iris and pupil, lips, teeth, and hair! It can even tell if someone isn’t smiling and not show the option for teeth. You’ve really got to try this to see how powerfully this is going to change workflows for portrait editing!

Be sure to try it on photos of multiple people!

Content-Aware Remove

The Spot Removal tool (now just called Healing) in Lightroom Classic has always had a bad reputation when used for more than getting rid of sensor spots. Well, those days are gone! Clicking the Healing icon (band aid) gives you access to the three modes of the Healing too. The first is the newest, which is Content-Aware Remove. The other modes are the ones we’ve had all along.

Select Content-Aware Remove then paint over an object in your photo and let Content-Aware do its thing. Like Content-Aware in Photoshop, it is not perfect, but does a much better job than the old tool.

You can click the Refresh button in the panel to update the Content-Aware fill or press CMD (PC: Ctrl) and drag on the photo after brushing to manually select a source.

Adaptive Presets for People Masks

Adding to the two other sets of adaptive presets, meaning presets that utilize AI-based masking to make selections and then apply adjustments, we have gained a new set of presets called Adaptive: Portrait. Give them a spin and then make your own adaptive presets!

Swap Left and Right Panel Groups (LrC)

As a predominantly left-handed person, I like the intention behind this new preference setting. First, to find this new feature head to Lightroom Classic > Preferences > Interface (PC: Edit > Preferences > Interface), and locate the Swap Left and Right Panel groups checkbox.

Checking that box will swap the contents of the Left and Right Panel groups for every module upon restart of the program.

[Editor’s note: I made a mistake in my original post because I completely missed the accompanying checkbox for Swap only Develop Left and Right panel groups. My apologies for my previous rant (now deleted), and my gratitude to Rikk for pointing that out. ] So, that out of the way …

As a lefty, the only place it really matters to me (and I realize this is subjective) is in Develop, and only when using a tablet device that allows me to edit on screen with a stylus or via touch. Why so specific? Because with the panels on the right side, when using a stylus on screen (like with a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro or Microsoft Surface) your big dumb left arm covers the photo! Having all the editing panels on the left side for this specific situation is very welcome, so thank you, Adobe.

I use this same feature on my iPad, as it has a setting called Left-handed editing, and when enabled it places just the editing panels on the left side.

Compare View with Edit (Lr Mac/Win)

Compare view arrived in Lr for Mac/Win a while ago, but now we can use it when editing too.

Mask Amount Slider (Lr Mac/Win)

A small, but welcome addition is the Amount slider at the top of the Masking panel when you apply edits and want to tone them down or amp them up.

Other Improvements

As with all updates and new versions we gained support for new cameras, new lenses, and many bug fixes. There have also been performance enhancements made to Lightroom Classic, specifically on export and switching between photos. Be sure to check out Adobe’s own rundown of new features to learn more. Enjoy MAX!

The post October 2022 Release for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Camera Raw appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

New to Lightroom Classic

One of Lightroom Classic’s greatest abilities is to filter the contents of your library to help you find/view exactly what you want to see. I’ve written about all the ways you can filter your library in the past, but specifically as it relates to the Metadata button on the Library filter. Prior to the update we could add or remove a column, as shown below:

But now we can choose to add a new column on either the left or the right, tada!

Ok, I did say it was a small new feature, but that’s not all, they have also added a “Kind” filter in the Filmstrip filter area. This previously only existed in the Attribute section of the Library Filter bar, so it makes sense to have it more accessible here now too.

Lightroom Classic Bug Fixes

While no new features were added to Adobe Camera Raw, it did also get the same support for new cameras and lenses, so there is now a new version for Mac and Win (v14.5), which should resolve the bug caused by having Camera Raw 14.4.1. Nice. In addition, a small, but annoying bug of having the ASCII code for a space, %20, appear in the Identity Plate where a space should be is now gone.

You can check out the full list of published bug fixes here.

New to Lightroom mobile

Back in the June update I posted about the new video editing features, and while we could see the rotate and flip controls when attempting to edit video on iOS they were grayed out.

This update has now brought them to life, so rotate and flip to your heart’s content.

There was also an update for Android for those using foldable devices, Chromebooks, and Pixelbooks to give it a more “dynamic and adaptive screen” but since I don’t own any of the above I can’t share a screen capture, but you can see one here. There were also a few Lightroom specific bug fixes included too. So maybe not the flashiest of updates, but I’ll take steady progress and fixes as we head towards Adobe MAX.

I hope you’ll join me at Photoshop World!

I’m excited to be part of the amazing roster of instructors at this year’s Photoshop World, from August 30th to September 1st. It is all virtual (hopefully for the last time), so you can tune in from where ever you are. You’ll get 3 full days of multiple tracks of learning on Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography. You can even rewatch sessions for a year after its over, so if you miss any part of the live event you can always catch it later. Register and take your skills up a few more notches!

The post August Update to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Camera Raw appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.