Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.
Starting from Lightroom Classic 11.0 (October 2021 release), the following workflows no longer apply. To access the latest tools for local adjustments, see Masking.
The controls in the adjustment panels in the Develop module let you affect the color and tone of an entire photo. But sometimes you don't want to make adjustments globally, to the entire photo. You want to make corrections to a specific area of a photo. For example, you may want to lighten a face to make it stand out in a portrait or enhance the blue sky in a landscape. To make local corrections in Lightroom Classic, you can apply color and tonal adjustments using the Adjustment Brush tool and the Graduated Filter tool.
The Adjustment Brush tool lets you selectively apply Exposure, Clarity, Brightness, and other adjustments to photos by "painting" them onto the photo.
The Graduated Filter tool lets you apply Exposure, Clarity, and other tonal adjustments gradually across a region of a photo. You can make the region as wide or as narrow as you like.
As with all other adjustments applied in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, local adjustments are nondestructive and are not permanently applied to the photo.
Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.
Temp
Adjusts the color temperature of an area of the image, making it warmer or cooler. A graduated filter temperature effect can improve images captured in mixed-lighting conditions.
Tint
Compensates for a green or magenta color cast
Exposure
Sets the overall image brightness. Applying an Exposure local correction can achieve results similar to traditional dodging and burning.
Contrast
Adjusts image contrast, mainly affecting midtones
Highlights
Recovers detail in overexposed highlight areas of an image
Shadows
Recovers detail in underexposed shadow areas of an image
Whites
Adjusts the white points in a photo
Blacks
Adjusts the black points in a photo
Texture
Smoothens or accentuates textured details in your photo. Move the slider to the left to smoothen details; move it to the right to accentuate details. When you adjust the Texture slider, the color or tonality does not change.
Clarity
Adds depth to an image by increasing local contrast
Dehaze
Reduces or increases existing haze in a photo
Hue
Adjusts the hue in a photo. Select Use Fine Adjustment for precise adjustments.
Saturation
Adjusts the vividness of the color
Sharpness
Enhances edge definition to bring out details in the photo. A negative value blurs details.
Noise
Reduces luminance noise, which can become apparent when shadow areas are opened.
Moiré
Removes moiré artifacts, or color aliasing
Defringe
Removes fringe colors along edges
Color
Applies a tint to the area affected by the local correction. Select the hue by clicking the Color swatch. The Color effect is preserved if you convert the photo to black and white.
Other effects
Additional effects are available for specific tasks, such as whitening teeth, enhancing irises, or softening skin tones.
Note: If Burn (Darken), Dodge (Lighten), Iris Enhance, Soften Skin, or Teeth Whitening is not available, choose Lightroom Classic > Preferences (Mac OS) or Edit > Preferences (Windows). In the Presets panel, click Restore Local Adjustment Presets.
Size
Specifies the diameter of the brush tip in pixels.
Feather
Creates a soft-edged transition between the brushed area and the surrounding pixels. When you use the brush, the distance between the inner and outer circle represents the feather amount.
Flow
Controls the rate of application of the adjustment.
Auto Mask
Confines brush strokes to areas of similar color.
Density
Controls the amount of transparency in the stroke.
A pin appears
at the initial application point, and the Mask mode changes to Edit.
For a Graduated Filter effect, three white guides represent the
center, low, and high ranges of the effect.
You can modify Graduated Filter masks using brush controls. Once you've added a mask, to access brush controls, select the Brush option next to New/Edit.
As appropriate, use the + and - (Erase) brushes. Lightroom Classic lets you customize three different filter brushes: A (+), B (+), and Erase (-). You can customize the following settings for these brushes:
Enable the AutoMask option to paint inside the edges of an area. Lightroom Classic masks the area to ensure that your brushstrokes don't go beyond it. When you paint, ensure that the core part of the brush is inside the area you want to paint.
To reset any changes made to the three brushes: A, B, and Erase and revert them to their default states, click Reset Brushes.
To edit an Adjustment Brush or Graduated Filter effect, you can do any of the following:
Updated in the October 2018 release of Lightroom Classic
Using the Color Range Mask, Luminance Range Mask and Depth Range Mask controls , you can quickly create a precise masking area on your photo for applying local adjustments.
You begin by creating a quick initial masking selection with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filter. Then, refine your selection using the Color Range Selector to sample colors within the mask area, Luminance Range Selector or slider to set the luminance range endpoints of the selection mask, or Depth Range Selector or slider to set the depth range endpoints of the selection mask.
depth-range-mask
Depth Range Mask is available for only those photos that have embedded depth map data. As of now, this is limited to HEIC files captured on Apple iPhone 7+, 8+ and X, XS, XS MAX, XR (see the list of supported Apple iPhones) using the Portrait mode in the built-in iOS camera app. If there is no available depth info for an image, Depth option is disabled in the Range Mask drop-down.
After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the mask area based on the depth range of the selection.
Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.
Note:
To apply adjustments with the Depth Range Mask to your existing HEIC images (with embedded depth map) whose Smart Previews were generated in Lightroom Classic CC 7.5, you need to regenerate Smart Previews for such images after upgrading to the latest Lightroom Classic version. This is to ensure that the depth map information is included in the Smart Preview files. Select the files for which you want to regenerate Smart Previews, and then click Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews.
Select the Adjustment Brush tool, the Graduated Filter tool, or the Radial Filter tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.
From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Depth from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.
To select a depth range within the mask area, do any of the following:
The Depth Range Selector tool is an optional shortcut to refine the Range slider based on your selection.
Select the Show Depth Mask check box to view the depth of the image in black and white representation. The part of photo in white represents the foreground, while the part of photo in black represents the background. The red color shows the actual area masked which is an intersection of depth and local adjustment applied.
For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Range or Smoothness slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.
After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.
After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the selection mask based on the colors that you sample within the mask area.
Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.
Select the Brush tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.
From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Color from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.
Use Color Range Selector to sample color within the mask area. Do any of the following:
Adjust the Amount slider to narrow or broaden the range of selected colors.
For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Amount slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.
Press Esc key to exit color sampling.
After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.
After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the mask area based on the luminance range of the selection.
Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.
Select the Adjustment Brush tool, the Graduated Filter tool, or the Radial Filter tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.
From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Luminance from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.
To select a luminance range within the mask area, do any of the following:
The Luminance Range Selector tool is an optional shortcut to refine the Range slider based on your selection.
Select the Show Luminance Mask check box to view the luminance information of the photo in black and white representation. The part in red color shows the actual area masked which is an intersection of luminance and local adjustment applied.
Use the Smoothness slider to adjust how smooth the falloff is at either end of the selected luminance range.
For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Range or Smoothness slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.
After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.
When applying and working with multiple local adjustments, keep in mind the following:
Click any pin to select it. A selected pin has a black center. Non-selected pins are solid white.
Press H once to show the selected pin; press H again to hide all pins; press H a third time to show all pins.
When the Adjustment Brush tool is selected, only adjustment pins are available to edit. When the Graduated Filter tool is selected, only graduated filter pins are available to edit.
The Adjustment Brush tool drawer allows you to specify options for two brushes, A and B. Select a brush by clicking the letter, or switch between brushes by pressing the slash key (/). Brush options "stick" regardless of the effect you choose to apply until you change them.
To create local adjustment effect presets, follow these steps:
The preset appears in the Effect pop-up menu.
Adjustment Brush tool presets do not include brush options.
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