In this video, you will learn how to paint edit some part of a photo in Lightroom CC.
You can follow along with any photo or you can download the sample file from the Adobe page for this tutorial.
Once you input the sample file into Lightroom CC you will see it in the photo grid.
Double click on it to open it.
After you apply global adjustments from the Edit panel, sometimes you may need to apply local adjustments as well.
For example, you may need to lighten a dark subject from a backlit photo, Change the color of an object or color correctly specific area.
In this example, we will add a brightening effect to make it seem as if the phone is emitting light in hitting her face.
You can use one or a combination of three targeted adjustment tools to make these edits.
In this video, we will focus on the Brush tool, but much of what you will learn is relevant to both the linear gradient and the radial gradient.
They can all apply the same adjustments.
The difference is in the shape of the area that each tool creates.
Click on the Brush icon to open the settings.
These adjustments are not global.
They will only affect the areas that you paint on.
Also, these are sticky settings which means that Lightroom CC will remember that previously used settings.
To reset the settings to default, right click on any slider and select Reset All Sliders, then set your brush settings.
Start with adjusting the size of the brush, you can use the Size slider, or you can use the left bracket key on the keyboard to reduce the brush size or the right bracket key to increase it.
If you click on this triangle to the far right of the slider you will see additional controls.
Feather determines the sharpness of the brush edge.
Set it to 50.
Flow sets the amount of paint applied on each stroke.
So, when you paint, your building up the effect.
For this example, use a Flow of 90 so that your adjustments are easier to see with one brush stroke.
Density controls the maximum opacity that the brush paints. 100% opacity works in this case.
If your image has hard edges, then you can enable the Auto Mask which automatically prevents brush strokes from going beyond the edges.
For now, this option is not necessary.
Click on the triangle icon to collapse the additional controls and set the Exposure to an extreme to make the adjustments easier to see as you paint.
Then, paint over her face in areas that you think the light from the phone would hit.
You don't have to be precise, you can edit the brush strokes later.
Now you can fine tune the adjustment sliders.
Start with Exposure, bring it down a bit, then, drag the Highlights slider to the right to brighten them up.
If the face starts to look flat, you can increase the Clarity which adds contrast in the mid tones, and it makes the details pop and you can also add Saturation.
Notice the pin over the brush stroke.
If you don't see it tap on the O key until the overlay label reads Show Tool Overlay.
This panel represents the brush adjustment, when you hover over it, you will see the red mass that shows that areas that you painted over.
If you hover out of the image, the pin will disappear, and it will reappear when you hover back in.
The overlays will help you visualize and select the adjustments that you have applied.
I'll keep tapping the O key to cycle back to the mask overlay.
Notice how I painted over a part of the background.
If you want to subtract from your adjustment, then click on the Eraser icon which is only available when you have an adjustment selected.
If you painted over an area with a straight edge like the side of her face, then the Auto Mask could help. enable it, then hover over the background and make sure that the center of the cursor is on the background and not her face and click and drag to erase.
Lightroom CC will recognize the sharp edge and it will only erase the brush stroke from the background and not her face.
Tap the O key several times until you cycle back to the Show Tool Overlay where the blue pin is visible, but not the red mask.
If you want to make different adjustments somewhere else in the photo, you can add a new brush.
Click on the plus icon then paint over her hands.
A new pin representing the second brush appears, the same settings will be applied, but you can change them by moving one or more sliders.
I'll bring down the Exposure to make the light on her hands less bright.
If you need to go back and edit the original brush adjustment, click on its pin and adjust the sliders.
When you're done, click on the Show Original icon to see the original image and click again to see the edited version.
Lightroom CC automatically syncs your adjustments to all your devices.
Your edits are not permanent, you can adjust them at any time.
Now, you know how to paint edits on parts of a photo in Lightroom CC.
Go ahead and try these techniques on your photos.
