Creatively Using the New Lightroom Hue Control

The post Creatively Using the New Lightroom Hue Control appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

Shop for items online and you’re often offered color choices. Would you like that hat in red, orange, blue, green, tan or teal? Click on the item, select your desired color, and the item will change to reflect your color choice.

Now, how about if you could selectively change the color of items in your photos without affecting other colors in the image? Maybe you bought the orange hat, took a photo of yourself in it, and wished you’d instead picked the blue one. No problem, don’t return the hat; you can change its color in your photo with the new Adobe Lightroom Hue Control.

One photo, many color variations using the Lightroom Hue Control tool.

Global versus local adjustments

Reach for the Exposure slider in the Develop Module of Lightroom, and slide it left and right. You will see the entire image get lighter or darker. Any of the other sliders will affect the image similarly. Controls which affect the entire image are called global.

What if you want to adjust just a portion of the image? Brighten up that one tree, do some dodging and burning, bring up the saturation of a sunset, make adjustments that affect only certain areas?

To you so you need to be able to make local adjustments. Lightroom offers three tools with this capability: the Adjustment Brush, the Radial Filter, and the Graduated Filter. Using those tools to add masks to the image will then allow you to apply the effects of the other sliders to just the masked areas.

Adobe photo editing programs

Choose your weapon: Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Photoshop, or Adobe Camera Raw.

In discussing the use of the Lightroom Hue Control, I’ll be using the Adobe product I typically work with: Lightroom Classic. (The new logo now shows LrC.)

This is the version that runs on your local computer and stores images on your own hard drives. There is another version that Adobe simply calls Lightroom (LR). It has a slightly different interface and stores images online in the “cloud.” Then there is Photoshop (PS) with its accompanying tool, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Both versions of Lightroom have the new Hue Control, as does Adobe Camera RAW, so what we cover here can be done with any of those programs.

(Just a gripe with Adobe: Could you not have avoided confusion and named these programs differently?)

Wouldn’t Photoshop be better?

Before we discuss how to change colors in an image using the Lightroom Hue Control tool, I want to briefly address the Photoshop devotees in the crowd. More than a few times when I’ve told seasoned editors that I use Lightroom to edit my images, they will scoff and tell me that “real” photo editors use Photoshop. So let’s get this out of the way, especially as we discuss changing colors in an image.

I will be the first to admit that Photoshop has more sophisticated and precise tools, the ability to make selections, create layers, use color channels, and bring much greater control to what we’ll be showing here. However, Photoshop also has a much steeper learning curve. It also requires more steps to accomplish the task. Can you do a better and more precise job changing the colors of things in a photo with Photoshop? Most likely. But can you often get acceptable results with Lightroom (LrC, LR, or ACR)? Learn the techniques in this article and then you tell me.

What is hue?

Ask a child to hand you the red crayon from the box and they can probably do so. They know what the color “red” looks like. But in the digital photography world, we have different ways of describing color.

Cameras can only “see” three colors: red (R), green (G), and blue (B). And there are only 256 values of each.

That’s why you can describe any color by its RGB value. Pure red is 255, 0, 0; pure green is 0, 255, 0; pure yellow (a combination of red and green) is 255, 255, 0.

In the printing world, where inks and pigments are used to make colors, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are the primary colors, and any color can be created with a CMYK combination (i.e., red is 0, 100, 100, 0).

One way of defining digital color is using the HSL model: Hue, Saturation, and Lightness (or Luminosity).

There is another way of describing color, and that’s the one we’re interested in when using the Lightroom Hue Control. This uses a Hue (H), Saturation (S), and Lightness (or Luminosity) (L) description. Here, hue is synonymous with what we typically call color. Saturation refers to the intensity of the color, with zero saturation being shades of gray. Lightness/Luminosity is how light or dark the color is, with zero being black and 255 being pure white.

A new hue for you

So what we’re able to adjust with the Lightroom Hue Control is just that: the hue. We can make an orange hat blue without changing the saturation (S) or lightness (L). In doing so, we retain the tone and texture in an image while changing its hue/color (H).

Making it local

Lightroom has had tools for globally adjusting color in an image, such as the temperature and tint sliders and the HSL/Color controls, for some time. But those tools worked globally or had limited control over color. With the newest version of Lightroom released in June of 2020 (LrC 9.3, LR 3.3, ACR 12.3), the ability to combine hue adjustment with other tools was added. Now, color can be controlled much more precisely, exactly where you want it, and in combination with other tools. Local control is the ticket.

If you’ve installed the latest version of Lightroom (LrC) or LR or ACR, you will now see this tool.

When, where, and how to use local hue adjustments

Perhaps a good way to learn how to use the new tool is to work through a photo and use it to selectively change some colors. We’ll use the image below of my grandson, William, (who to me in this shot looks like the Peanuts cartoon strip character Linus in the pumpkin patch awaiting the arrival of the “Great Pumpkin.”)

This is the edited photo of William (aka “Linus” in this setting). These are the original colors of the image.

The hat trick: Step-by-step

Let’s take this step by step and change the orange hat to blue using the Lightroom Hue Control.

There are three local adjustment tools in Lightroom: The Graduated Filter, The Radial Filter, and the Adjustment Brush.

We want local adjustment control, and I mentioned Lightroom has three tools that allow this: the Adjustment Brush, the Radial Filter, and the Graduated Filter. The Adjustment Brush is the best choice for selecting only the hat.

Select the Adjustment Brush, and turn on the mask overlay by hitting “O” on your keyboard or by checking the box that says Show Selected Mask Overlay.

Use the Adjustment Brush to roughly paint over the hat. Have the overlay on to see what you’re doing. Here I’ve made the overlay green to see it better.

Start painting over the hat with the Adjustment Brush. You may find that the overlay is red and hard to see on the orange hat, so you can cycle through the overlay colors by tapping Shift and O on your keyboard. I’d recommend turning the mask overlay green, which is much easier to see on the orange hat.

You are going to refine your selection in a minute, so for now, don’t worry about being precise.

Refining your selection

In Photoshop, we would likely make a selection of the hat using the tools provided. And once the hat was selected, we would see what has come to be called the “marching ants” dashed outline of our selection. Don’t look for the ants in Lightroom. There are no “selection” tools here. Instead, we use what are called masks to define where we want our effects applied. There are several ways to refine our selection. They are:

• Use the add and erase features of the Adjustment Brush. You can add to the mask simply by brushing where you want. This is the default and you will see a “+” symbol inside the tool indicating you are adding to the mask. Want to erase or subtract parts of the mask? Hold down the Alt key (Option on a Mac), and the + will turn to a – symbol, indicating you are now subtracting from the mask. Zooming in close and working with a small brush will allow you to fine-tune the mask.
• Another option is to check the Auto Mask box as you paint with the Adjustment Brush.
• A fairly new addition to Lightroom is the Range Mask tool. You have the option to use Color or Luminance to create your mask. Because the hat we are masking is all fairly close to the same color orange here, a range mask should work well.

Think of Auto Mask as an edge detection tool. Check the Auto Mask box and then use the Adjustment Brush to add (+) or subtract (-) from your mask.

If the Adjustment Brush shows a + sign, you can add to the mask. Hold down the Alt key (Option on a Mac) to remove portions of the mask.

Home on the range

So let’s refine our selection of the hat with the Color Range Mask. Here are the steps:

• Select the rough mask that you’ve already created. Then choose Color from the Range Mask dropdown.
• An eyedropper tool will appear next to the Range Mask menu. Click to pick it up, then bring it over the hat.
• Click the left mouse button and drag a small square over a portion of the hat to select a range of the orange colors. (Don’t worry about your mask overlay. It’s selecting the colors underneath.)
• When you let go of the mouse button, the mask will be refined to now cover only the color range you selected. (A tip here: Put the eyedropper back when you are done with this range selection.)
• To better see what was selected, hold down the Alt (Option) key on your keyboard and click the Amount slider for the Range Mask. You can drag the slider to refine the mask even further while doing this. Moving the slider to the right will increase the range of the selection; moving the slider to the left will decrease the range.

The Range Mask will allow you to refine your mask using Color or Luminance.

Using the eyedropper tool in the Color Range Mask, drag a box including samples of the color you wish to mask. Alternatively, click a spot, hold down Shift, and click another spot to choose multiple sample areas. When you let go, the mask will be refined.

To better see what the Range Mask has selected, hold down the Alt key (Option on a Mac) and click and hold the Amount slider.

A whole new hue

Once we’re happy with our selection, it’s time to change the color. Here’s where we will use the new Lightroom Hue Control. Here are the steps:

• It’s best to turn off the overlay option so you can better see the color shift, so press “O” on the keyboard. The overlay will disappear, but as long as the pin for your selection is still selected, you’ll be working with the right selection.
• Go to the rainbow-like Hue control slider. You will see the top slider is set at the existing color; in our case, this is orange. Now, drag the bottom slider toward the color (on the top slider) you wish to change to. You will see the color change in the masked area of the image as you do this. Release the mouse button when the color gets close to the new color you want.
• To further tweak the color, check the Use Fine Adjustment box. Now drag the slider left and right to refine the color as you like (it will barely move).
• You may find you need to refine your mask if areas were missed or overflowed outside your desired area. Use the methods outlined above to fine-tune your mask further.

With your mask selected, use the Hue slider to choose the new color you want.

Further tuning

While your mask is still selected, most of the rest of the Lightroom sliders can be used and will affect only the area in that mask. For example, if the new color is too light or dark, the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks sliders can all be used. You may want to explore what some of the other sliders can do for the newly recolored area.

You may want to use some of the other sliders in Lightroom to refine your new color. Most will work locally within your mask while it is selected.

When you are finished with all the tweaks and recoloring, don’t forget to click the Done button.

Here’s a Before and an After. Notice I also changed some of the diamonds on his sweater using other masks, each done the same way.

Multiple masks and recolored areas

If you need to recolor another area of your image, simply make new selections and repeat the same process:

• Make a rough selection with the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, or Radial Filter. Do this with the overlay on to see where you’re working.
• Fine-tune your selection
• Change the hue as desired. Check the Use Fine Adjustment box to get the color you want.
• Further fine-tune your area with the other sliders in Lightroom

Not just for clothing color changes

In the example above, the color change to the hat was pretty dramatic; we took it from the original orange color to the complete opposite complementary color on the color wheel (blue). Sometimes, though, you only want a subtle change. Perhaps you want to change the shade of green on the leaves of a tree, take out a color cast on a certain object in your shot, or slightly change the color of portions of the sky.

You might also want to omit the step of refining a mask, and simply use the Adjustment Brush, change the color with the Hue slider, and start painting. Subtle color changes to portions of your image might be a way to get the look you want.

The camas blooms are probably closer to the blue shade in the before shot, but for dramatic effect I used the Lightroom Hue Control technique here to make them more purple.

Snapshots along the way

When working on an image in Lightroom and trying new things, it can be a good practice to make Snapshots as you go. That way, if you want to go back to any point in your editing process, you can.

Click the + symbol in the Snapshot panel (or use the shortcut Control/Command + N), give the snapshot a name, and then continue your work. Later, you’ll be able to go back to the snapshot if required. Perhaps you want to show the various color versions of an item but don’t want to save multiple files. Change the color, make a snapshot, change it again, make another snapshot, and so forth. Later, you can bring up the image, go to the named snapshot, and see that color version.

A real plus of Lightroom is being able to make multiple versions without making multiple copies of a file. Work through your image, make multiple color versions, and use the Snapshot feature to save each color variation (all in the same file!). Also, notice here what a nice job the Color Range Mask did of selecting the background color of the blouse and allowing me to change it to purple while retaining the color of the flowers in the pattern.

Color your world

As Adobe adds new tools to its products, we have new ways of editing our photos. We can better achieve the creative looks we like and even have various versions of the same image (all without having to take multiple photos or make multiple copies of an image). I hope you’ll give the new Lightroom Hue Control a try.

And then post some of your before/after images in the comments. I look forward to seeing your creativity.

The post Creatively Using the New Lightroom Hue Control appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

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Sony Announces the a7S III, With 4K/120p and a 9.44M-dot EVF

The post Sony Announces the a7S III, With 4K/120p and a 9.44M-dot EVF appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

After months of rumors, it’s finally official:

The Sony a7S III will hit the shelves in September, offering a whole host of brand new features, including a stellar autofocus system, a class-leading electronic viewfinder, pro-level video recording capabilities, and much more.

Let’s take a closer look.

What is the Sony a7S III?

The a7S III is Sony’s latest video/stills hybrid camera, which replaces the a7S II (a camera that debuted way back in 2015 and was long overdue for an upgrade).

The a7S III is a full-frame mirrorless model and technically designed to excel at both video and still shooting. But there’s a clear lean toward videographers, thanks to advanced recording capabilities such as:

• 4K/120p video (with a 1.1x crop)
• Internally recorded, uncropped 4K/60p video (with a recording limit of 1 hour)
• Internally recorded, uncropped 4K/30p video (with no time limit)
• 10 bit 4:2:2 recording
• S-Log

As you can see, there’s quite a lot to satisfy serious videographers, such as the internal 4K/120p (for high-quality slow-motion footage), as well as unlimited 4K/30p shooting (for projects that require longer recording times).

You also get in-body image stabilization, as well as impressive high-ISO performance and at least 15 stops of dynamic range (according to Sony, anyway).

But while the a7S III is an impressive video contender, how does it look when arranged against more still-centric cameras? Can it hold its own?

Can the a7S III work for still photography?

At first glance, the a7S III is an extraordinarily capable camera for still photographers.

I mentioned the in-body image stabilization above, and that’s a boon for videographers and still photographers alike. You also get dual card slots, important for a select crowd of professional photographers, and a fully-articulating LCD for capturing images (or video) from awkward angles.

And the a7S III packs a 9.44M-dot electronic viewfinder, which is by far the highest resolution EVF currently available in a mirrorless camera (the former EVF champions sit at a still-respectable 5.76M-dot resolution). This should put to rest any claims by photographers that mirrorless EVFs just can’t compete with OVFs, because a near 10M-dot EVF is going to look insanely good.

The a7S III also features a new AF system, offering 759 phase-detection points, as well as 10 frames-per-second continuous shooting with a buffer of 1000+ RAW images.

All this seems extremely impressive, but for one major feature:

Resolution.

The a7S III only packs 12 MP, which is perfect for video but deeply disappointing for still photographers, especially in the current resolution-hungry market. These days, full-frame cameras offer a resolution of at least 20 MP, but often push higher, from 24 MP in the Sony a7 III to 61 MP in the Sony a7R IV.

Of course, there are photographers out there who aren’t caught up in the megapixel craze, and those folks might be willing to use the a7S III for still shooting, assuming they also have significant video needs. But megapixels aren’t just about marketing; a 12 MP camera does offer serious limitations in terms of high-resolution printing, as well as cropping in post-processing.

So while the a7S III is a truly impressive video camera, it (like its predecessors) sacrifices too much to be a serious still photography option for most shooters.

The a7S III will hit the shelves in September for an MSRP of $3500 USD, and is currently available for preorder here.

Now over to you:

What do you think about the a7S III? Are you pleased? Disappointed? And would you use it for still photography? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Sony Announces the a7S III, With 4K/120p and a 9.44M-dot EVF appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography

The post Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Francesco Gola.

In the past few years, thanks to the diffusion of useful accessories and photographic filters with good quality and low prices, the technique of long exposure has become increasingly popular among photography enthusiasts. Even if this technique can be used both in the studio and in an urban environment, the perfect playground for long exposures is landscape photography.

Unfortunately, it often happens that the result we get is far from our expectations, and we end up classifying the long exposure as an impossible technique. However, following this step-by-step guide to long exposure photography, you’ll see how easy it is to get a good result on the first attempt (or almost!).

Step One: Study the weather

A day with a cloudless sky is a good day to drink a beer with friends, not to make long exposures. Likewise, it cannot rain forever, so do not resign yourself to an afternoon with your PlayStation. You should study satellite images rather than the meteorological sites, trying to figure out if there is an incoming storm, or if the downpour is about to end.

Step Two: Visit the location well in advance

Scout the location ahead of time, as you need a lot of time to find the perfect composition, or at least more than the time needed for a “short exposure”. In fact, in a long exposure, the world is completely different from how you see it with your own eyes. You have to try to see it with your mind, looking for a harmonious composition that includes moving subjects, trying to predict the direction of the clouds or the force of the sea.

Try not to put the sun into the composition, because its movement will ruin the shot and it will create an area of overexposure that is not recoverable. If you cannot avoid the sun, wait for it to hide behind a cloud.

Step Three: Use a tripod

Mount your camera on a tripod and install all the accessories such as the remote shutter release and the filter holder (if you are using drop-in filters). However, wait to actually install the filters. This is very important!

Step Four: Compose the image and lock focus

Refine your composition, focus on the subject, and lock the focus. If you are using manual focus, go ahead and turn the lens’s focus ring.

If you are using your camera’s autofocus mode, you should focus by half-pressing the shutter button, and once the focus has been made, while still holding down the shutter button halfway, push the lever from Auto Focus to Manual. In this way, your camera will maintain the focus (alternately, you could use back-button focus).

Step Five: Set the exposure

Now set your camera to Manual (M) mode or Aperture Priority (A/Av) mode. Then set the aperture to an appropriate value for the scene (for landscapes I suggest between f/8 and f/11) and take a “test shot.”

The test is complete when you get a correct exposure. To determine if the exposure is correct, check the histogram (do not trust your display, it is too bright). It is true that there is no universally correct result on the histogram, but there are histograms that are universally incorrect, namely moved completely to the right or left side (the image is respectively overexposed or underexposed).

Once the test shot is successful, write down the shutter speed you used for that shot.

Step Six: Add your filter

Now add your Neutral Density (ND) filter. If the filter is very strong (10 stops, for example), you will not be able to see through the viewfinder or the Live View. Do not worry, because if you have followed the guide up to this point you will notice that we have already made the composition and the focus too. You are blind, but your camera will see everything perfectly.

Step Seven: Change to Bulb mode

Set the shooting mode to Bulb (B) in order to discard the thirty-second limit of the camera. Do not change any of the other settings (ISO and aperture) used in the test shot.

Step Eight: Take your long exposure shot

It is finally time to take our long exposure shot.

But how long will you need to leave the shutter open? It is less difficult than you might expect. First of all, recollect the shutter speed that you noted down from the “test shot” you did in Step Five above. Now you must compensate by the number of stops introduced by the filter.

For example, if your test shot was 1/15th of a second, adding 10 stops will get a shutter speed of approximately 60 seconds. Now you have your shutter speed!

(No need to get stuck in the mathematics: On the internet you can easily find conversion tables and applications for your smartphone that will do the conversion for you.)

Step Nine: Check the histogram again

Once you’ve taken the shot with the calculated shutter speed, check the histogram. If the new histogram is approximately equal to the histogram of the test shot, mission accomplished. If it is shifted too far to the right or to the left, repeat the shot again correcting the shutter speed.

Easy, isn’t it? Now fill your backpack with your camera and filters and go to practice in the field!

The post Step-by-step Guide to Long Exposure Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Francesco Gola.

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Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Men

The post Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Men appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Guest Contributor.

Previously we’ve created posing guides with suggested sample poses to help you get started posing women (also see part 2 for posing women), posing children, posing couples, posing groups, and posing weddings, so today let’s look at some sample starting poses for photographing men.

Men are usually less comfortable with being photographed, so it’s important to set them at ease with posing in order to get good results.

It is always a good idea to prepare before the photoshoot.

Just one more piece of advice: Involve your subject in the process!

He will feel more confident knowing the plan, what he has to “do,” and what kind of outcome is expected. Showing this kind of posing cheat sheet to your model is indeed a very good way to prepare your subject for a photoshoot and make him feel more relaxed and confident at the same time.

So, let’s look at some sample poses for men

1. Very simple pose for a man’s portrait: An upper body shot with crossed arms.

Two things to take care of: Shoulders should be pulled back a little, stomach muscles kept in check.

2. Crossed arms work very well in full height shots as well. In addition, ask him to cross one leg in front of the other. But make sure the body weight is not supported equally on both legs; otherwise, that would look just awkward!

3. A recurring question from your subject might be “Where shall I put my hands?” The solution is actually quite simple. There are four places to keep in mind (mixed in any combination, utilizing both hands).

#1. Loosely by the side.

#2. On the hips.

#3. In the pockets.

#4. Both hands crossed on the chest.

And in addition, hands should always be relaxed, which means no muscle pressure, except when you are photographing a bodybuilder.

4. A casual pose for a man standing upright. Men indeed have a problem with placing their hands; by keeping them fully or partly in the side pockets, you have a sure way to achieve a natural and relaxed pose.

5. Just a slight variation on the previous pose. A piece of clothing over the shoulder, merely a thumb in the pocket, and legs crossed work very well.

6. For a sitting pose, putting the ankle of one leg onto the knee of the other looks relaxed and natural. Shoot slightly from above.

7. Leaning against a wall is just another variant for upright posing.

8. The sideways way of leaning against the same wall. Works very well for both casual and formal shots.

9. A very simple pose for a formal portrait. Items held in the hand (e.g. a laptop, books, or even tools) can work as indicators of the subject’s occupation.

10. Against common belief, it is absolutely fine to make shots of a man sitting partly on a desk. For formal portraits, such a pose might counteract rigidness.

11. A very simple pose for a portrait: A man sitting at a desk. To reveal the subject’s profession, place work-related items on the desk.

12. A slight variation of the previous pose. Very appropriate for formal portraits.

13. To show the work environment while removing the distance created by a foreground object like a desk, take your shot from the backside. The result will be formal but inviting at the same time.

14. A man supporting himself on a desk with arms crossed. Again, you could place work-related items on the desk to point to the subject’s profession.

15. Using a chair as a prop can make a portrait more engaging and interesting. Very suitable when introducing creative people in their work environment.

16. Sitting comfortably in a chair usually works for corporate and formal portraits.

17. An easy and natural pose with a man sitting on the ground. Try different shooting directions and angles.

18. Another variant of a man’s pose while sitting on the ground. Suitable for outdoor locations.

19. An easy and relaxed-looking pose for a sitting man.

20. Informal pose. The man is sitting on the ground resting his back against the wall or some object.

21. Finally, let your subject be the protagonist of your picture. Never be afraid to crop tightly around the model’s face.

That should offer a starting point. Again, remember that there are no absolutes; each sample pose might and should be adjusted depending on your shooting environment and scenario. There is no need to overdo anything.

In reality, all you need for good people portraits is simplicity:

Simple backgrounds, simple clothing, simple poses, and natural expressions.

Check out our other Posing Guides:

• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Women (Part 1)
• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Women (Part 2)
• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Children
• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Couples
• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Groups of People
• Posing Guide: Sample Poses for Photographing Weddings

Grab Our Guide to Portrait Posing

Kaspars Grinvalds is a photographer working and living in Riga, Latvia. He is the author of Posing App where more poses and tips about people photography are available.

The post Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Men appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Guest Contributor.

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