Archives for March 2018

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How to Duplicate & Repeat a Transform in Adobe Photoshop

March 31, 2018

I’ve got sort of an esoteric post for you today. What I’m learning about Adobe Photoshop is that there is really no end to what you can do with it. It’s a creative tool and it’s highly unlikely that any of us would ever run out of ways to be creative inside of it. Over the past 20 years that I’ve been working with this application, I’ll tell you that it’s grown by leaps and bounds. But it’s almost depressing to think that I’ve only begun to scratch the surface. There really is so much you can do with this program. It seriously hurts my brain to think about it.

In today’s post, I’m going to focus on a very small task that may only interest a few folks. If you’re one of those folks though, this can truly be a lifesaver. What I’d like to talk about is how to repeat a transformation inside of Adobe Photoshop.

You may be asking yourself why you’d ever want to repeat a transformation. Well, think of it this way; let’s say you’d like to spread a number of similarly sized layers like playing cards on a table. Say you want to make it look like a photo album and you want each and every layer to have the same exact rotation to it. Instead of rotating the fist layer and then manually rotating and repositioning every single layer after that one, you can simply copy the transform (rotation) and have it apply to the following layers. It gives a precise result and it saves a heck of a lot of time.

I’ll also be discussing how you can actually duplicate the previously transformed layer first and then duplicate the transform after that. If this seems difficult to understand, don’t worry about it. All will become clear down below. Just continue reading to learn something new.

The Demo Photo

I already used this photo in one of my previous posts, but I think it will be a perfect fit for this one as well. All I really want out of this picture is one of the pears. I chose this particular photo because the pears have clean edges, which will make the selection task all that much easier.

Selecting a Pear

For this post, I’m going to try to keep things as simple as possible. I merely want to demonstrate what I discussed above. To do that, I’m going to select one of the pears with the Quick Selection Tool and then copy and paste it right back into the same file. I’ll be doing this just so I don’t have to go through the process of creating an entirely new file to specific proportions. I’ll also add a white layer in between the original image and the copied layers above. Basically, it’ll look like I created a new file, but the original will be tucked away down below.

Anyway, like I said, I’ll use the Quick Selection Tool over in the left toolbar for this task.

Once the tool is active, I’ll adjust the size and hardness of the brush and then I’ll click and trace the inside edges of the pear with my mouse pointer until I have what I need inside of the marching ants.

Creating New Layers

Next, I’ll use the keyboard shortcuts of Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste the selected pear right into the image, which will create a new layer with only the pear on it.

After that, I’ll click on the background layer in the Layers panel and then click on the Add New Layer button at the bottom of the same panel. This will create a new layer that sits right above the background image. Using the Paint Bucket Tool, I’ll pour the color white into the new empty layer. This is what the Layers panel will look like when I’m finished with that.

Now I’m set up to begin this tutorial.

Transforming & Duplicating the Transformation

Since this whole thing isn’t about making some crazy difficult transformation, I’ll keep things simple for you. I’ll merely use the Free Transform feature to reposition the center point of the transform bounding box to an area outside and below the object (pear) and then I’ll rotate the pear to the right slightly.

So, to get going, I’ll make sure the single pear layer in the Layers panel is selected. Then, I’ll head up to the Edit > Free Transform menu item and click (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T).

Once I see the transform bounding box outside of the pear object, I’ll click and drag, while holding the Shift key on my keyboard down, one of the corners toward the center of the box. Basically, I just want to shrink the pear a bit, while maintaining the same proportion. That’s what the Shift key does. It keeps the original proportion intact.

Then, I’ll click and drag the center point of the bounding box down below and outside of the box itself. Doing this will change the rotation point of the object. Instead of rotating around the exact center of the box, it’ll rotate around a position beneath the box.

And finally, I’ll hover my mouse pointer just outside of the box and once the pointer turns into a curved double arrow, I’ll click and drag to the right, which will rotate the pear slightly.

And then finally finally, I’ll press the Enter key on my keyboard to accept the change. What I’ll end up with is a pear that looks like it’s leaning over to the side just a tad.

Repeating the Transformation

Okay, now here’s where things get pretty cool. Ask me if I remember the exact measurements of the transformation I just applied to this layer. I’ll tell you that I have no idea. No one ever does; that’s why this little trick is so helpful. If I wanted to repeat this same transformation, I can use the information that Photoshop has magically stored somewhere. It knows what I just did to the first pear, so if I click on the pear layer in the Layers panel to make sure that particular layer is selected and active, I can use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+J to copy that layer.

And then, if I go up to the Edit > Transform > Again menu item and click, the copied layer will have the same exact transform applied to it as the first layer has applied to it.

Now check this out. Look at the result.

Do you see that second pear? It now has the same transformation applied to it as the first one had, but I didn’t have to do any math. Pretty cool.

Duplicating & Repeating the Transformation

Do you remember when I mentioned that this type of tip would be perfect if you were trying to display evenly spaced playing cards or if you were trying to display evenly spaced and rotated photographs? Well, this is what I was talking about. I hope you can see the benefit of this.

In the previous step, I thought the copying of the first layer was somewhat tedious. If I had to duplicate the layer 50 times, I’d get a little tired of doing that. With this in mind, I’ll show you how you can copy the layer and then repeat the transformation, all in one step. All it takes is one slick keyboard shortcut.

The keyboard shortcut for what I did in the previous step is Shift+Ctrl+T. If I add an Alt to that, I’ll be good. So the complete keyboard shortcut to duplicate and then repeat a transformed layer is Alt+Shift+Ctrl+T. If I select the most recent transformed layer and then use this shortcut, let’s say, five times, I’ll end up with this.

Isn’t that awesome? The only trick is trying to find a use for it. But it’s available if you can do that.

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I hope I clearly explained how to transform an object in Adobe Photoshop and then how to repeat that transformation. Then, I explained how to copy the layer and repeat the transformation in one step. If you have any questions about this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Using the Camera Raw Filter & Masking in Adobe Photoshop

March 30, 2018

I’ve got the itch to mess around in Adobe Photoshop again today and I found the perfect photo to work with. I’d like to alter the photo in such a way that I’d end up with one part of it darkened and another part of it reduced in expansiveness. Of course, this means nothing to you because I haven’t exactly explained anything yet. I’ll tell you what I need for this project to be successful though. I’ll need to take advantage of the Camera Raw Filter inside of Adobe Photoshop as well as some masking and some color range selection. The type of project I’ll undertake today and the concepts I’ll explain can be used right now in so many Photoshop workspaces. I’m sure you’ll think of application after application as you’re reading through what I have to share.

In today post, I’d like to modify a photo of the Colosseum in Rome using Adobe Photoshop and Camera Raw. The original photo is just fine and it really doesn’t need much done to it besides a few little tweaks, but I’m not going to let that stop me from experimenting with it. This is the way I learn. I try to think of things I can do to photos and then I get in there and try to get those things to work. Hey, I’ve gotten this far by using this methodology. Why stop now?

The Demo Photo

Here’s the photo I’ll be working with. As I said, there’s nothing wrong with it. I even went in and added some contrast and a few other things to make it pop more.

What I’d like to do is use the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop to add some different colors to the sky and then to drain the orange from the structure itself. Then, I’ll bring the image back into Photoshop and take advantage of some masking and color range selection to bring the orange back, but to only a few of the arches. More than anything else, this post should teach you how to separate out and modify colors by using different tools that are available.

Smart Objects & Camera Raw Filter

To start off with, I’ll need to convert the image I’ll be working with into a Smart Object. To do this, instead of right-clicking on the appropriate layer in the Layers panel and choosing Convert to Smart Object, I’ll head up to the Filter > Convert For Smart Filters menu item and click. Both of these methods have exactly the same effect; they convert the layer in question to a Smart Object. I just wanted to mix things up today, so I chose a different route to get the same task done.

Next, I’ll jump the photo into Camera Raw. The way I’ll do this is to visit the Filter > Camera Raw Filter menu item and click.

Changing Some Colors

Like I mentioned above, one of my goals for this photo is to change some colors in it. Since I’m now in Camera Raw, I’ll click the HSL/Grayscale panel and make sure the Saturation tab is active.

After that, I’ll go up to the top toolbar and click on the Targeted Adjustment Tool to activate it.

I’ll then click on the sky portion of the image and drag to the left and to the right until I see the sky change to my liking. Remember, dragging to the left reduces saturation and dragging to the right increases it. Then, I’ll head back into the HSL/Grayscale panel and click to activate the Hue tab. After that, I’ll bring my pointer back to the sky for some more dragging back and forth. When I see something I like, I’ll stop.

As you can see from the above screenshot, I saturated the sky and added some purple to it. That’s good enough for me.

Now, before I leave the Camera Raw filter, I’d like to do one more thing. I’d like to desaturate the orange and yellow from the arch areas. To do this, I’ll use the Targeted Adjustment Tool once more and, making sure the Saturation tab is active in the HSL/Grayscale panel, I’ll click inside an orange area and drag to the left. If there is any yellow residue remaining, I’ll click inside those areas and drag to the left again. After doing this, in my case, the Orange and Yellow sliders are now sitting all the way to the left.

When I’m finished and I have a purple sky with no orange in the photo, I’ll click the OK button to return to the Photoshop workspace. See how easy it is to manipulate color inside of Camera Raw?

This is what the image looks like so far.

Bringing Some Orange Back

My next goal is to bring some of the orange arches back. Let’s take a look at the Layers panel to see what’s going on.

Okay, if you take a look in the image thumbnail, you probably won’t see any orange color. That’s because it’s being hidden by the Smart Filter effects. To get some of that orange back, I’ll need to duplicate the entire Smart Object layer and then delete the filter part. This sounds more difficult than it is. All I need to do is click on the image layer and drag it down to the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layer panel and let go.

Doing this will give me an exact duplicate of the layer and the filter I had earlier and still have. The next things I’ll do is click and drag the Smart Filters portion of the duplicated layer down to the trash can icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. That will get rid of the filter and will bring me back to the original layer. Here’s what the Layers panel will look like when I’m finished.

As you can see, I have the original layer and the filtered layer. Now, you might be asking yourself why I didn’t just duplicate the layer before I ran it through the Camera Raw filter. That would have had the same effect. Well, I’ll tell you it’s because I forgot to and this was a workaround. There, I said it.

Adding a Mask

Because all of the original image is showing and covering up the modified image, I’d like to remove most of the original, minus the center row of the orange arches. The best way to accomplish something like this is via a layer mask. To add a mask, I’ll make sure the original layer is selected in the Layers panel and then I’ll go down to the bottom of the same panel and click the Add Layer Mask button. Doing this will place a layer mask thumbnail to the right of the original image thumbnail.

Everything is now set up perfectly. I can begin adding some of the orange back. Since the orange is so distinct from the rest of the colors in the image, I think the best tool to use is the Color Range one. To access that, I’ll double-click on the white mask thumbnail, which will open up the Properties panel for the mask itself.

Once the panel opens up, I’ll click the Color Range button.

After the Color Range dialog box opens up, I’ll make sure two specific areas are set correctly. First, I’ll make sure the Localized Color Clusters box is checked and second, I’ll make sure the Add to Sample option is selected. That’s the little dropper with the + sign next to it below the Save button. I’ll just click on that one to activate it.

By the way, if you’d like to learn all about how to use the Color Range feature of Adobe Photoshop, please feel free to browse through the following posts:

How to Adjust Layer Masks by Color Range in Adobe Photoshop

Using Multiple Color Range Masks in Adobe Photoshop

Changing Colors with Color Range Selection in Adobe Photoshop

Once those options are active, I’ll begin clicking around inside the arches. I’ll stop when I feel as though all the orange that can be seen is revealed. While I’m doing this, I’m not too concerned if other arches become illuminated. I’ll deal with them in a moment. When things look good, I’ll click the OK button inside of this dialog to apply the changes.

Here’s the resulting image.

Cleaning Up the Mask

I only have one last thing to do and then I’m finished with this image. I’d like to remove the orange from any arches other then the center row. To do this, I’ll use the Brush Tool and the color black. I’ll select the mask inside the Layers panel to activate it and then I’ll resize the brush. I’ll give it a hard edge and simply paint black over any area where I don’t want to see orange.

When I’m finished with that, I’ll have the image I wanted all along. Take a look.

And here’s a before and after shot.

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I hope I clearly explained how to edit colors using the Camera Raw filter from inside of Adobe Photoshop, as well as how to use layer masks to customize where colors reside in a layer. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Editing Video in Adobe Photoshop & Camera Raw

March 28, 2018

This is one of those posts that is going to wow you. I’m going to share something today that I’m almost certain you didn’t know you could accomplish so easily. If you use Adobe Photoshop to edit and output your video, I think you’ll enjoy what I have to say. And if you already use Camera Raw to edit your photography, you’ll love this even more.

Did you know that Photoshop gives you options to make your video clips look much better than they originally did? I’m not talking about the actual editing that goes on inside of the Timeline panel. What I’m referring to is the applicable adjustments that can be found in the Adjustments panel as well as many of the filters that can be found up in the Filter menu. Did you also know that while these adjustments are really very helpful, even better ones can be found in Camera Raw? Did you know that you can jump a video project over into Camera Raw and edit that video project just as if it were a photograph? You didn’t? Well, this might be your lucky day.

In today’s post, I’ll show you the process of editing and enhancing a video inside of Adobe Camera Raw. The project will begin in Photoshop and then transfer over to Camera Raw for enhancement and then will be sent back to Photoshop for finishing touches and rendering. The results of this type of thing can be outstanding and I’m very excited to share something like this with you.

I will offer one caveat regarding this post though. In order for a complete rendering (output) to occur after editing a video file in Camera Raw, you’ll need enough power from your computer to handle it. Many computers don’t have enough RAM and processing speed to accommodate something like this and upon export, the computer will either hang for a very long time or Photoshop will crash altogether. Basically, every ounce of RAM will be spoken for during the render process and no other resources will be available for other processes. so be warned. While what I’m going to show you below is wicked cool, it’s only for those who can handle it.

Demo video

For this post, I’ll be using a video clip of a man playing guitar. The clip is just under 8MB and is about 25 second long. Here’s a screenshot of the video.

Creating a Smart object

The video file has already been opened into Photoshop. To move this file over to Camera Raw for editing will require that I convert the layer into a Smart Object. The reason for this is because Camera Raw won’t actually be modifying the video itself. It’ll be modifying a layer over the video. It will just seem like the video is being modified. You really don’t need to know this; I just thought I’d share it.

Anyway, to convert the layer, I’ll right-click on the layer itself in the Layers panel and when the menu pops up, I’ll select Convert to Smart Object.

When I do that, the blue layer indicator in the Timeline panel will turn to purple. I’ll also notice the new Smart Object icon in the lower right corner of the layer thumbnail appear.

Jumping the Video to Camera Raw

Editing a video project inside of Camera Raw uses the same process as does editing a photograph inside of Camera Raw. To jump to Camera Raw from Photoshop, I’ll head up to the Filter > Camera Raw Filter menu item and click.

Editing the Video in Camera Raw

Doing the actual editing inside of Camera Raw is very simple. It actually follows the same exact guidelines as any type of edit does. If you’d like to read a post I wrote on how to make a photo look really great inside of Adobe Camera Raw, please follow the below link.

How To Make A Photo “Pop” With Adobe Camera Raw

Here’s a screenshot of the current video I’m working on inside of Camera Raw.

I’ll push a few sliders around as an example and when I’m finished, I’ll click on the OK button. When I do that, Camera Raw will close and the file will update inside of Photoshop. Also, a Smart Filter layer will be created inside the Layers panel and the specific filter will appear below that. If I ever went to get back into Camera Raw for further editing, all I would need to do is double-click on that filter layer.

And from here, I would continue on in Photoshop to finish any other type of necessary video editing. Finally, I’d export the project, which I described in this post.

How cool is that? Do you find this helpful? Would you use this option?

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I hope I clearly explained how you can edit video in Adobe Camera Raw from Photoshop. If you have any questions about this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Modifying an Existing Selection in Adobe Photoshop

March 26, 2018

There is so much in Adobe Photoshop that revolves around making all sorts of selections. I’ve written about many instances on this blog and I’m sure I’ll continue that trend well into the future. Making selections can range from extremely simple to extremely challenging. Things can get complicated quickly, but Adobe has done a fairly incredible job of simplifying our lives over the years. They’ve added some really great tools to assist in this regard.

In today’s post, I’d like to talk about some of the tools available that can help us modify a selection once it’s made in Adobe Photoshop. Now, I’m not talking about how to clean up a selection or how do do any of the available tasks that can be handled in the Select & Mask workspace. I’ve already written about some of them in previous posts. What I’d like to cover today has to do with the options found under the Select > Modify menu. More specifically, the Border, Smooth, Expand, Contract and Feather options.

A Quick Note

My goal for this post is to merely introduce you to a few options you might not know exist. I’m going to try to avoid anything too complex here. I also want you to know that while I may be making straightforward selections down below with the Quick Selection Tool, you can use these same options with any type of selection you make with any selection tool. As long as you see those marching ants, you should have the ability to modify what those marching ants look like and how they behave. Just because I’m only selecting an apple and the selection I happen to be making looks clean and easily workable, know that you can use these options just as easily after making a selection using the Color Range or the Focus Area tools (or any other selection tool). Again, as long as you see those marching ants, you should be good to go.

Demo Photo

For today’s post, I’ll be selecting an apple. The reason I chose this particular photo is because it doesn’t seem to include any sort of a curve ball. I think I can get a nice selection without any drama. That’s all I want right now.

Making the Selection

Since the image is already opened up inside of Photoshop, I’ll go ahead and make my selection. I’ll use the Quick Selection Tool, resize it appropriately and trace around the edges of the apple. If I select too much, I’ll hold down the Alt key on my keyboard and brush over the parts of the selection I’d like to remove. Here’s the output of my efforts. I hope you can see the marching ants in the screenshot below.

Creating a Border

Let’s say you selected an object in a photo, but didn’t really want to capture the entire thing. All you wanted was the outer edge of it. Well, Photoshop has a really handy feature that will allow you to grab just that part of whatever object you select. It’s called the Border option and I’ll show you how it works.

Now that I have the apple selected, I’ll head up to the Select > Modify > Border menu item and click.

When I do this, the Border Selection dialog box will appear, where I can tell Photoshop how thick I’d like the border to actually be. In this case, I think I’ll choose 100 pixels, just so things are obvious and clear to see. When finished, I’ll click on the OK button.

How’s that? Can you think of a case where you might need to use something like this? I’ll admit that I haven’t used this very often, but if I wanted the outer edge of something I selected, I’d know how to get that done.

Smoothing a Selection

There are other areas to smooth out a selection, but by using the Select > Modify > Smooth menu item, you’re probably taking advantage of the easiest method.

Let’s say you used the Magic Wand Tool or another tool that might give you some jagged edges of your marching ants. If you wanted to smooth those edges out, you could do so based on a specified number of pixels. After clicking on that menu item, you’ll be presented with Smooth Selection dialog, where you can specify how smooth you’d like to make things. The higher the number of pixels, the smoother your selection will become.

Just be careful when using this feature because it will also smooth out the selection around any areas you’d like to keep more defined, such as the stem at the top of the apple in my example. If you do use this feature, go ahead and do it, but then reselect any areas you’d like to be defined again.

Expand & Contract a Selection

These options are very straightforward. By clicking on the Select > Modify > Expand or the Select > Modify > Contract menu items, you can either expand or contract the existing selection by a specified number of pixels. When you choose those options, you’ll be presented with the Expand Selection dialog or the Contract Selection dialog. In both, just like the other options above, you’ll have the opportunity to input how many pixels you’d like your change to affect.

Here are two screenshots. I am showing you the resulting expansion and contraction as well as the dialog boxes for both.

Notice the placement of the marching ants in both.

Feathering a Selection

The last option I’ll show you today is the Feather option. By clicking the Select > Modify > Feather menu item, you’ll have the ability to set how soft the edges of the selection will be. By choosing a larger number, you’ll soften the edges more than if you chose a smaller number. When you click that menu item, you’ll be presented the Feather Selection dialog box.

If I specified a number and then clicked the OK button, I wouldn’t see anything change in regards to the marching ants. It’s only when I did something with the selection, such as copy/paste (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V) that I would see what exactly happened. Let’s take a look at the apple after I copied it and pasted it on a transparent background.

I think we can all agree that the apple is feathered.

The goal here is to realize that these additional selection options are available and then to use them when the time arises. You may also want to push things along by thinking of what you might be able to accomplish with a certain type of tool first and then build a project around that.

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I hope I clearly explained how easy it is to modify a selection in Adobe Photoshop after it’s been made. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Creating an Artistic Black & White Photo in Adobe Photoshop

March 23, 2018

I was messing around in Photoshop the other day and I ended up with a really cool take on an ordinary image. I thought I’d share the process I followed with you today. It was so simple and fast that I figured anyone could do it. All I used was adjustment layers, a filter and a blend mode. And what I got was something that I didn’t expect at all.

I played with a few different images and I’ve come to determine that what I did to this one is best applied to mechanical types of photos. Ones where a strong contrast and extreme variances won’t affect things negatively. Make no mistake, the photo output isn’t supposed to accentuate the ordinary; it’s actually supposed to lean towards the artistic side. So keep that in mind.

In today’s post, I’d like to walk through the process I followed while editing the demo photo in Adobe Photoshop. I’ll apply three different adjustment layers with different settings for each. Then, I’ll apply a blur filter and use a blend mode to temper things so that filter isn’t completely overwhelming. I think you’ll enjoy this one.

The Demo Photo

I’ll be using a photo of an old typewriter today. This really is the mechanical look I was speaking of earlier.

Applying the Adjustment Layers

To get the look I’m after, I’d like to first make the image black and white and then increase the contrast and lighten the shadows. For each of these tasks, there’s a preset already installed. That’s what makes these types of edits so easy; I don’t really have to think about anything.

Since the image is already opened in Photoshop, I’ll first right-click on the background image layer and choose the Convert to Smart Object menu item that appears. That will convert the regular layer to a Smart Object, which I’ll need later on.

After that, I’ll head up to the Adjustments panel and click on the Black & White icon to apply the first adjustment layer.

Once the layer is applied to the Layers panel, I’ll head up to the Presets drop-down in the Properties panel that appeared and I’ll choose the High Contrast Blue Filter option. Of course, you’ll need to choose whichever option looks best for your particular photo. In this case, this one looked good with mine.

The photo I’m working on is already taking shape nicely.

Next up, I’ll go back into the Adjustments panel, but this time, I’ll click on the Curves icon. Once the next adjustment layer appears in the Layers panel, I’ll go back into the Presets drop-down and select the Strong Contrast option. Doing this will elevate the artistic aspects of this edit.

And after that, I’ll head back into the Adjustments panel and I’ll click the Levels icon. Once the new adjustment layer appears in the Layers panel and the Properties panel for this adjustment opens, up, I’ll go back into the Presets drop-down one last time and this time, I’ll choose Lighten Shadows.

Let’s take a look at the photo now. There should be some more punch.

Yes, that’s looking very good.

Applying the Blur Filter & Blending Mode

For this last part of the edit, I’m going to apply a Radial Blur. This blur application is the reason I originally converted the image layer to a Smart Object. Whenever applying any type of a filter in Photoshop, it’s always a good idea to apply that filter to a Smart Object. That way, you can go back and edit the filter if need be. There are also other options that become available, as you’ll see below. Namely blend modes.

Okay, to apply the blur, I’ll fist make sure the image layer is selected in the Layers panel. Then, I’ll go up to the top menu and select Filter > Blur > Radial Blur.

Once I do that, I’ll change some settings in the Radial Blur dialog box. I’ll change the Amount, choose Zoom from the Blur Method options and I’ll choose Good from the Quality options.

When I’m finished in there, I’ll click the OK button and this is what I’ll see:

Pretty crazy, right?

Let’s temper that effect down a bit. All I want is the least hint of a burst to overlay the image, so what I’ll need to do is apply an adjustment layer. First, let’s take a look at the Layers panel, just to see what’s going on over there.

As you can see, I now have the three adjustment layers and a Smart Filter. Also, if you’ll notice, I circled a small icon in the filter layer. This icon, if double-clicked, will open up a panel that controls the blending modes that are linked to the filter itself. This is the one I want to adjust, so, I’ll double-click on that small icon now.

After I double-click, the Blending Options dialog box will appear. Inside that box is a drop-down that holds all the blend modes. Since I messed around with this image earlier in the day, I already know that both Overlay and Soft Light work well. In this case, I’ll go with the Overlay option. Once I choose that in the drop-down, I’ll click the OK button to apply the blend mode to the filter.

And that will give me the final image.

That last filter and blend mode did a lot for the photo. It’s like it placed a layer of coolness over the entire thing.

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I hope I clearly explained how you can use adjustment layers, filters and blending modes in Adobe Photoshop to bring out the artistic side of an image. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

How to Adjust Video Audio Volume & Fade In/Out in Adobe Photoshop

March 21, 2018

I’ve been doing a lot of video work in Adobe Photoshop lately and I have to tell you that when it comes to what makes or breaks a video, it’s the audio. It’s strange, because it seems so obvious that the video has to be of some really great quality for folks to admire what’s contained inside of it, but what truly makes the entire project stand out is the audio that accompanies the video. I’ve seen marginal video with excellent audio receive all types of praise. I guess this goes back to the old question of what makes a good film, the movie itself or the soundtrack. Personally, I lean towards the soundtrack.

I’ll be doing a whole lot more writing about video and audio inside of Adobe Photoshop in the future, but I thought a quick post on how to control the audio in a video was in order first. So, with that in mind, I’d like to take some time today to cover which controls manipulate the actual audio volume and which control the fade in and the fade out of that sound. This is super easy stuff, so I don’t think this post will be long at all.

In today’s post, I’m going to use one video clip to demonstrate how to adjust the volume of the audio that came bound to that clip in Photoshop. Then, I’ll demonstrate how to fade that audio in at the beginning of the clip so it’s not abrupt and I’ll also show you how to fade the audio out at the end for a smooth result. And for kicks, I’ll also show you how to mute the audio. Everything I’m going to discuss is contained in one small menu, so there should be no problems.

Before I begin though, I’d like to tell you that, while working in any video editing application, you’ll likely have multiple clips as well as external audio files. The audio controls I show you today are just one piece in a much larger puzzle. This piece is essential though, so use this post as a primer for everything that will come later.

The Demo Video

As I mentioned above, I’ll be using only one clip for this post. The clip is of some video work inside of an old Dodge Dart. Here’s the logo from the dashboard.

Adjusting the Audio Volume

With each individual video clip inside of Photoshop, you have the opportunity to set the audio volume for that clip. What this means is that you can’t have the audio begin quietly and then get louder and then get quiet again. The volume is set for the entire duration of the clip, except for any fades you include. If you’d like to have audio that varies in volume, you’ll either need to create some in another application and import it into your project or cut the clip into smaller sections inside of Photoshop and creatively work on in that way. For now, I’ll simply adjust the volume in the most straightforward way possible.

At the end of each video clip in the Timeline panel, there’s a small arrow. I’ll click that arrow and a menu will appear.

In the above screenshot, I circled the arrow in red. As you can see, there are a few options in the box that pops up. The one we’re interested in is the Audio one. To access that, I’ll click on the button that holds the musical eighth note. When I do that, the audio panel will appear with the controls we want to adjust.

This next part is easy. After listening to the audio contained in the clip and comparing it to other related audio, I’ll either keep the Volume slider set as it is, push it to the right to make the sound louder or push the slider to the left to make the sound quieter. This is where you’ll need to use your “ear.” How does the original audio sound? Is it too loud? Too quiet? That determination will guide your adjustments. In this case, I’ll push the slider to the right so the volume is set to 110%. That seems to work well.

Setting Fade In & Face Out

To set a fade in and fade out, all you need to do is choose the amount of time, in seconds, for which you’d like this fade to occur. The fade in and the fade out are independent of one another, so you can choose different values for each. If you are completely new to this and don’t yet know what the term fade means, it’s basically a transition from no sound to sound or vice-versa.

In my case today, I’ll set the Fade In slider to 2 seconds and the Fade Out slider to 2 seconds as well. This will keep things nice and smooth sounding.

Muting the Audio

Let’s say that you didn’t want any sound at all out of the clip you were working on. Perhaps you imported different audio and you wanted to use that. Well, if you mute the audio that came with the clip, you’d be in good shape. I’m sure you already figured this out, but to mute audio, all you need to do is check the Mute box in that same Audio panel I’ve been working in. That’s it.

Okay, now that I’m finished with that, let me show you the final video. Please listen for the audio. You can clearly tell that I added both fades. The actual volume level is much more difficult to distinguish from what was there originally.

If you’re reading this via email, please click the link below to visit the video on Youtube. These videos don’t show up in the emails that get sent.

How to Adjust Audio Volume & Fade in Adobe Photoshop

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I hope I clearly explained how to adjust the audio volume and the fade in and fade out controls while working on video inside of Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

How to Animate Layer Effects (Styles) with Video in Adobe Photoshop

March 19, 2018

For all of you who enjoy editing video in Adobe Photoshop, this post is going to be super cool. In it, I’m going to explain how to animate layer effects in the Timeline panel. Animating this type of thing is just as easy as animating anything else. All you need to do is to set a beginning state, add a keyframe, move the playhead and define an end state. Photoshop does the rest.

As with anything else relating to video and animation, the technical details are fairly easy to grasp. What’s more important is the creativity involved. In the past and even today, the creative side is what I struggle with the most. Oftentimes, I’ll come up with wild scenarios that require a lot of planning. The good news is that I get things to work the way I want them to (most of the time).

In today’s post, I’m going to animate four quadrants over a playing video. Each quadrant will be derived from a shape and will start off as transparent and will turn a solid color as time passes. For a few of the shapes, the colors will change as well. Each of these changes will be attributable to the actual layer effect changing. The goal I have for this post is to demonstrate how layer effects can be animated. After reading what I have to say below, you should be able to apply the same concept to any other style.

One word about layer effects and styles. In the Layers panel, these things are called Effects. In the palette where these specifications are altered, they’re called Styles. The palette is even called the Layer Style palette. I believe the trend is moving toward calling them Effects on a universal basis, so I’ll stick with that for the rest of this post.

The Demo Video

For this post, I’ll be using a random car video. The video doesn’t necessarily matter for my purposes, so I just picked this one. It’s the animations that are important. Anyway, here’s a screenshot of one frame of the video.

Setting Up the Guides

Since the shapes that will applied over this video will all be of the same dimensions and will need to be positioned with one corner at the absolute center of the video, I’ll first set up some guides. I’ll use the View > Rulers menu item to make sure the rulers are displayed on the top and left sides of my workspace. This option needs to be checked for the rulers to appear.

Next, I’ll click inside the top ruler area and drag my mouse pointer down to the 50% mark of the left ruler. After that, I’ll click inside of the left ruler and drag to the right until I reach the 50% mark of the top ruler. This will give me crossing guides with the intersection at the center of the video.

Creating & Applying the Shapes

Next, I’ll head over to the Rectangle Tool in the left toolbar and make sure that it’s active.

And then, I’ll click and draw a rectangle that’s just a bit larger than the lower left quadrant. I could start in any quadrant; I just chose the lower left one.

It’s important to note here that I already ungrouped the video group in the Layers panel. The way I did that was to right-click on the group layer and choose Ungroup Layers in the menu that appeared. Also, since this new shape layer began all the way at the end of the video in the Timeline panel, I clicked and dragged that layer so its start point was aligned with the video’s start point. I also clicked and dragged the end point of the shape layer so it aligned with the video’s end point.

Since the shape’s color just happens to be white, I’ll leave that as is.

Next, since all four shapes will be the same size, I’ll simply duplicate each one by clicking and dragging the first shape layer I created down to the Create New Layer icon that sits at the bottom of the Layers panel. I’ll do this three times, for a total of four shape layers.

And then, I’ll activate each shape layer by clicking on it in the Layers panel and I’ll drag each one into its own position on the video.

Basically, I’ll have what looks like a white background with the guides crossing in the middle. And as a matter of fact, now that the shapes are all set, I can click and drag those guides right off the workspace to remove them.

Making the Shapes Transparent

Since all the animation and change will occur via the Layer Style palette, I won’t need any sort of innate fill color in the shapes themselves. So, to make them transparent, I’ll head up to the Properties panel that opened automatically and I’ll click the white box. Then, below that, I’ll click the box with the red diagonal line through it. You can see these two boxes in the screenshot below. I circled them in red.

Of course, to make each other shape layer transparent, I’ll first select that layer in the Layers panel and repeat the steps I just explained above. I did just that and now it appears that there is not a white overlay on the video. That’s exactly what I want; four empty rectangle shapes.

Animating the Style of the First Rectangle

Okay, here’s how things are going to work. When the video begins, I’d like the lower left rectangle to start off transparent. Then, as the playhead progresses along the timeline for the first quarter of the video’s length, I’d like the rectangle to transition from transparent to a solid color. Also, I’d like the beginning color to be black and to turn red. So, the animation will be from clear to solid and from black to red. That’s easy. I’ll do it right now.

To start, I’ll push the playhead all the way to the zero second mark. Then, I’ll double-click on the respective layer in the Layers panel and when the Layer Style palette opens up, I’ll click the Color Overlay option in the left column. When that panel opens in the palette, I’ll push the Opacity slider to the left so the value is 0% and I’ll also make sure the Blend Mode drop-down value is set to Normal and I’ll click the color box and change that value to Black.

When I’m finished, I’ll click the OK button and that will be that. The first set of values are ready to go. Again, I’ll make sure the playhead is at the beginning of the video and then I’ll click the small arrow on the layer in the Timeline panel so the animation and keyframe options become exposed. Finally, I’ll click the icon in the Style row to create a new Style keyframe.

Next, I’d like to move the timeline playhead so it sits at one quarter the distance of the entire video. Since, the video is 18 seconds long, I’ll do some math here and move the playhead so it’s on the 4:30 second mark. When it’s there, I’ll go ahead and double-click on the layer in the Layers panel again and revisit the Color Overlay section. Once there, I’ll change the Opacity so its value is 100% and I’ll also change the color so it’s Red. When I click the OK button this time though, the second keyframe will be automatically created, right at the spot on the timeline where the playhead is resting.

And that, my friends, is how you animate a style or effect in Adobe Photoshop. But since I’m not done, I’ll go ahead and finish up the remaining three quadrants. Do do this, I’ll select the next layer, click on the arrow so it opens up in the Timeline panel and I’ll follow the same exact instructions that I laid out above. This time though, I’ll choose different colors and I’ll be using the time in the second quarter of the video. And then I’ll do everything again for the third rectangle and then for the fourth.

Here’s an example of what the keyframes look like:

Basically, the first rectangle transitions for the first quarter of the time, the second rectangle transitions for the second quarter of the time and so forth. It’s fairly straightforward. When the video is finished, it will look like this:

Now, I’ll go ahead and render the video and I’ll upload it to Youtube so you can see the finished product. If this were a real project, I’d most likely have some text fade in towards the end, so it looks like a commercial or something like that.

If you’re reading this post via email, you’ll need to click the link below to see the video. Videos don’t appear in the emails.

Animating an Effect in Video with Adobe Photoshop

Pretty cool, right?

You can animate all types of effects in Photoshop, so it doesn’t have to be just something like what I did today. The sky’s the limit. I encourage you to head into the Layer Style palette to experiment. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

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I hope I clearly explained how to animate a style in Adobe Photoshop using the Timeline panel. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

How to Fill in Empty Edges After Cropping in Adobe Photoshop

March 17, 2018

I have another really cool tip for you today. You can put this one in the “best tips ever” category if you want. It’s going to save a lot of people a lot of headaches. I know it did for me when I first learned about this.

Have you ever rotated and cropped an image, only to be left with those empty areas up in the corners? You know which one’s I’m talking about. The ones that show the transparent checkerboard background. This type of thing is really annoying to deal with because oftentimes we want to keep as much of the image as possible. If all we have to do is a bit of twisting or rotating, wouldn’t it be better to keep those corner areas? I think it would be.

In today’s post, I’m going to show you how you can fill those empty areas in for many cases inside of Adobe Photoshop. While this technique won’t work for all cases, it will for a good majority of them. And it’s a really good technique too because Photoshop these days does an awesome job when it comes to healing and filling.

I’ll first take a regular average photo and rotate it, just to show you what I’m talking about here. Perhaps my descriptions up above wasn’t all that clear. I want you to really know what I’m talking about. After that, I’ll crop the rotated photo, which will leave behind some empty edges. I’ll then use a few tools and some tricks to fill those empty edges so you would never know they were empty in the first place. You’re going to love this post.

The Demo Photo

For this technique to work, you’ll need to use a photo that is hospitable to it. The one I chose has nice homogeneous edges. I think the one below is just perfect.

Rotating & Cropping the Photo

Okay, the image is already opened up inside of Photoshop. To start things off, I’m going to use the Crop Tool to give things a little twist.

Once the tool is active, I’ll place my mouse pointer just outside the outer edge, click and drag up or down. Doing this will give me those empty edges I spoke of above.

Now, let’s say that it was critical that I keep as much of this photo intact, but since those edges are empty, I’m sort of stuck. That doesn’t matter, because with what I’m going to show you below, I can still click and drag the corners of this crop area outward. I’ll do that now so the photo area is the same as when I started. When I’m done, I’ll press Enter on my keyboard to apply the changes.

This is what I’m left with. I’m sure you’ve faced something like this is you’ve spent enough time in Photoshop. It usually happens when you’re dealing with a crooked photo and you’re attempting to straighten it out. In my case, I’m actually making the photo crooked, but just ignore that. I chose a photo with a distinct horizon line so it’s easier to see that the image has been rotated. Anyway, just because you’re trying to straighten a photo out, it doesn’t mean that you’d like to lose part of the photo itself.

Filling in Those Empty Areas

To correct the problem in this image, I’ll head over to the left toolbar and choose the Magic Wand Tool.

After that, I’ll make sure the Contiguous option up in the top options bar is unchecked. That’s important because the areas that will need to be selected aren’t touching one another. After that, I’ll go ahead and select all four empty areas by clicking in just one of them with the tool.

You can see the marching ants surrounding the empty areas in the screenshot above.

The next step is very important as well. In order to avoid a frustrating little detail, I’ll enlarge each selected area by five pixels. If I didn’t do that, you’d see a faint white line that traces each area. I’d like to avoid that.

To enlarge each selected area, I’ll go up to the Select > Modify > Expand menu item and click.

When the Expand Selection dialog box appears, I’ll enter the number 5 and then press OK.

Now, if you look very closely at the marching ants below, you’ll notice that they are encroaching on the image by a few pixels. This is what I want.

This next step will actually fill the empty areas quite wonderfully. I’ll go to the Edit > Fill item up in the top menu.

When the Fill dialog box appears, I’ll choose Content-Aware from the Contents drop-down. I’ll then press the OK button to apply the fill.

Here is what things look like after they’ve been filled.

To get rid of the marching ants, I’ll use the Select > Deselect menu item up top.

And here’s the final product. Doesn’t it look good?

If there were any missed areas or areas that weren’t exactly to my liking, I’d use the Spot Healing Brush Tool to touch them up. Overall, I think this is an excellent method for rectifying a very annoying situation and for keeping as much of the photo as possible when rotating and cropping.

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I hope I clearly explained how to fill in the empty edges when it comes to rotating and cropping an image in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions about this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Aperture Confused? Use Creative Auto Mode on Your Canon Rebel T7i

March 15, 2018

I recently purchased a brand new Canon T7i DSLR camera for my photography endeavors. My last camera was the T3i, which has served me well. On this blog, I’ve written about various aspects of functionality between the T2i, T3i, T4i, T5i, T6i and now the T7i. As you may have guessed, I truly enjoy this line of cameras.

On a side note, I must compliment Canon for their touch screen feature. I mean, where in the world have I been? That is totally awesome.

Anyway, in an effort to write tutorials and posts about (and take photos of) this camera before it gets dust all over it, today I offer you an introduction to an area that isn’t discussed very often. This area has to do with the Creative Auto mode that’s been around for as long as I can remember. Basically, this Creative Auto mode is indicated on the mode dial on the top of the camera by the letters CA. This mode is sort of a combination of a few others. It combines the Auto mode and the Aperture Priority modes into one. And the best part is, it includes a scale where you can choose how blurry or sharp you want the background of a photo to be. Really, this mode is the perfect balance between taking somewhat advanced photographs in a certain priority mode and taking those same advanced photographs with a really easy to read and understand interface. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything below.

Here’s the Problem

Let’s say you aren’t really up to speed when it comes to how the aperture works inside of a lens. You don’t know what steps and stops are and quite honestly, you don’t care. You may not be a professional photographer and you really just want to take certain types of photos that you’ve seen others take. You know the ones – those pictures that have the blurry backgrounds in them.

While I encourage you to learn all about photography, or if you’re interested in just the area of aperture, learn about only that, I completely understand the mindsets of those who don’t want to get too involved. Many of us are the same when it comes to this stuff. We just want a good looking output without having to struggle through all types of lessons and the sort.

So let me ask you a question. Does a larger aperture opening give you a sharper or more blurry background? What about a smaller aperture? Don’t know? Don’t care? Don’t worry. I’ve got something that can help you out and it’s called Creative Auto mode and it’s built right into the Canon Rebel line of cameras.

By the way, if you do want to learn about aperture priority mode, please read through this post I wrote on the topic:

How To Use Your Camera’s Aperture Priority Mode

Accessing Creative Auto Mode

If you look at the top of your camera, you’ll see a CA option on the dial. Turn the dial so that CA is lined up with the tick mark. When it’s there, you should see this screen on the back of your camera.

As you can see, there are four primary functions in this mode. They include some creative filters, the blur or sharpness settings, single or multiple shot, plus timer and the flash settings. On the T6i and T7i, these options are easily accessed by touching the rear view screen with your fingertip. But before you touch the screen, you’ll need to press the Q button that sits just to the right of the screen. That Q button activates things and makes them come alive. If you forget to press this button, don’t fear, the camera will remind you to. I’ll be honest with you here when I say that having to press this button is sort of annoying, but so be it.

Ambience Based Shots

If you press the Q button and then press the Ambience: Standard option in the middle of the screen, you’ll see some further options.

Currently, the available options are Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome. I even went ahead and took some sample shots for you to browse through. They are in this order; Vivid, Soft, Intense and Brighter. Take a look.

Once you find which type of ambience you’d like the photo taken with, you can go ahead and touch that option with your finger. After you do that, you’ll have the ability to set the strength of the ambience on the next screen. Once you do that, you’ll be ready to take your photos.

Use these options at your leisure.

Setting Background Blur

This option is the real gem among the others. This is the one that lets you get around memorizing what the aperture settings mean. To use this one, all you need to know is what degree of sharpness or blur you’d like to apply to the background of your photos. The camera will automatically make all the other settings for you. That’s why Canon calls this mode the Creative Auto mode. It’s mostly auto.

To access the Background Blur setting, simply click the appropriate box on the view screen. It’s highlighted in orange in the photo below.

If you press the option twice, you’ll be brought to the next screen where you can set the blur intensity. In this next photo, the blur setting is still off, as indicated by the orange bar underneath the word Off.

If you touch your finger to one of the bars that sit between the words Blurred and Sharp, you’ll turn this feature on and it’ll be set to whatever you choose.

Once you make this choice, things are set, you can go ahead and take your photos.

Shooting & Timers Options

If you go back to the home screen for this mode and press your finger to the center option, you’ll see that you can change how the camera takes it’s shots. You can take single or continuous photos. You can even set the camera’s timer with this option.

To apply any of these settings, simply press your fingertip to the option you’re interested in.

Auto, On & Off Flash Settings

Finally, if you head back to the home screen for this shooting mode, you can set which type of flash you’d like to camera to operate with. If you touch the bottom right box, you’ll activate the flash setting options screen.

If you touch your finger to any of the three options, you’ll set the built-in flash to do what you want. The first option is to have the camera automatically decide whether or not the flash is needed. The second option is to turn the flash always on and the third option is to turn the flash off. This is handy to have in here because, personally, I don’t ever use the built in flash. I’d like to keep it set to off, which I can do in this mode.

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I hope I clearly introduced you to the Creative Auto mode that’s available on Canon’s Rebel line of DSLR cameras. This is a very handy mode to have because you can get around some of the more challenging aspects of photography while still having fun with different ambience offerings. If you have any questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Exploring the Color & Luminance Range Mask Tool in Adobe Lightroom

March 13, 2018

This exciting feature is brand new for 2018. It’s called the Range Mask and it works alongside the Graduated Filter, Radial Filter and the Adjustment Brush in Adobe Lightroom. Basically, this tool allows you to mask out areas that you’de rather not have affected by the filters I just mentioned. This is a very powerful tool that I’m sure many of you have been waiting for. So, if you’re a fan of either the Graduated Filter or Radial Filter in Lightroom, but have experienced their limitations, please read on below. This new tool may just help you out significantly.

In today’s post, I’m going to merely introduce this tool. I’m not going to get too deep into its intricacies; I’ll save all that for later posts. I’ll use an image of a flower as an example and I’ll apply the two different filters to it. Then, I’ll experiment with both the Color and Luminance features of the tool in an effort to discover what effects they have on the filters. This should be fun.

The Demo Image

For this post, I’ll be using a photo of a blue flower with a yellow center. The reason for this is because I feel that the image will exemplify the information I’d like to convey. There are some darker areas, lighter areas and different colors. Let’s see how far we can get with this one. If something isn’t clear in regards to the image, I’ll try to explain it best I can via test.

Color Range Mask + Radial Filter

Okay, I’m going to start things off by first explaining what the Color Range Mask is. In the most basic sense, this tool will mask out any alterations made via the filter tools I mentioned earlier, except for those I select. So, if I have an image that includes solid purple and solid yellow and I apply the Radial Filter to it with some random change, I can click on the yellow and have any change that’s been applied to the purple disappear. It’s sort of like coloring over an entire piece of paper with a crayon and then erasing part of that coloring in only some areas. In this case, those areas would be based on what colors were underneath that crayon coverage.

Included with this feature area two controls. They are:

Color Range Selector: This is a basic dropper that’s used to select which color you’d like the filter to be applied to. To make it function, all you need to do is click on the tool to activate it and then click on the color you’re interested in changing in the image.

Amount: This one’s fairly self explanatory. Once the color is selected with the dropper, you can control how strong the mask effect is. The slider gets pushed to the right or to the left.

Also, I do want to mention that with this tool, you have the opportunity to click and drag the dropper to select a range of contiguous color. Also, if you hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click around the image, you have the ability to select multiple colors you’d like to keep filtered.

I already have the photo opened up in Adobe Lightroom. For this example, I’ll apply a Radial Filter and will make a few adjustments to it so the flower looks different than it originally did. Let’s see how that looks.

Now let’s see which sliders I pushed to make the blue flower turn purple.

Okay, now, if I head down to the bottom of the slider area in the right panel, I’ll see an area with a Range Mask drop-down. I’ll click that drop-down and select the Color option.

Now here’s the exciting part. I’ve already applied a Radial Filter to this image, but the only problem is, it’s affecting everything inside of that radial. What if I only wanted the filter applied to a specific color in the image. A color such as the yellow center of the flower? I’ll go ahead and click on the Color Range Selector and then I’ll click on the yellow center of the flower to see what happens.

This is what the image looks like after I click the yellow center.

Do you see how everything else was masked out, except for the changes made to the yellow center? Now, I’ll go ahead and click on one of the petals.

After I did this, the effects to the yellow center were masked out and the Radial Filter changes are now only applied to the color on the petals I clicked on. If I wanted to continue, I could hold Shift and click multiple times to expand the range of color the effects would be applied to. I could also click and drag to do the same thing. Finally, I could push the Amount slider to either lessen or increase the amount of change that’s applied to the areas that are affected by the filter. This is what the flower looks like when I reduce the amount all the way to zero.

Really, the concept here is the most important thing to understand. Once you get what this tool does exactly, it all becomes very easy to work with.

Luminance Range Mask + Graduated Filter

For this next example, I’ll delete the Radial Filter I was just working with. After that, I’ll apply the Graduated Filter and will push some sliders around again to make the original flower appear differently.

Here’s the output of the flower.

This is what the sliders look like for this filter.

Again, if I head down to the bottom of the sliders area, I’ll find the same Range Mask drop-down. This time though, I’ll select Luminance from the available options.

When this option is selected, two controls appear. They are:

Range: This option controls which area of the image will be affected, based on its tonal lightness or darkness. There is a range inside of this area that can be set. The range can be compressed to limit the range or uncompressed to expand the range. Also, the compressed range can be moved along the scale of light, from dark to bright.

Smoothness: This control is sort of like feathering the result. You can choose to have a more abrupt effect, which only affects the very specific luminance values you chose above or you can smooth the area out so it’s more liberal with the resulting filter.

There is no dropper with this Luminance option. Everything is controlled right down in the area I outlined above.

Now, I’ll go ahead and set the range for this mask between 80-100. I’ll also push the Smoothness slider all the way to the right, so things are as smooth as they can get.

As you can see, the effect of the filter has been reduced somewhat. It’s now only affecting the brightest areas of the flower petals. Also, since I smoothed the result out, it’s less noticeable. This is one area that you’ll need to play with on your own to see the true power of. It’s pretty remarkable what it can accomplish.

In the next post I write on this topic, I’ll be walking through a real world photographic example of using these tools. If done correctly, the results can be rather profound. Stay tuned.

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I hope I clearly introduced and explained how to use the Range Mask Tool in Adobe Lightroom. If you have any questions about this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

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