Lightroom CC geometry tool tips for Beginners

How Flora got this shot

With small tweaks to the colours, lighting and geometry, Flora perfectly captures the contrast between this modern basketball court and its faded surroundings.

1. Basic adjustments

In the optics panel, Flora uses the built-in lens correction profile for her camera and lens to correct lost sharpness, chromatic aberration, and distortion caused by her wide-angle lens.

2. See things from a different angle with the geometry panel

Because the court is very narrow, Flora alters the vertical and horizontal geometry to change the perspective. In the geometry panel, Flora selects the ‘guided’ upright mode to give her gridlines and then adjusts the ‘vertical’, ‘horizontal’, ‘distortion’ and ‘rotation’ sliders until she’s happy.

About the geometry panel

This panel allows you to remove perspective distortion: it’s perfect for correcting crooked horizons, or buildings with horizontal or vertical lines that aren’t straight. Select one of the pre-set ‘upright’ modes and then use the sliders to adjust the image further.

3. Create cooler tones with the colour mixer

Well-known for its vibrant hues, the Duperré basketball court is the perfect place to play with colour. Using the colour mixer in the colour panel to adjust each colour individually, Flora makes the orange and magenta tones slightly cooler and increases the saturation of the magenta and blue to until she gets a balance of big, bold colours that really make a statement.

About the colour mixer

The colour mixer lets you control the different colours in your image individually. Select a colour and then use the sliders to change its hue, saturation (intensity) and luminance (how vibrant the colour is).

4. Remove imperfections with the healing brush

Permanently exposed to the elements, the walls around the basketball court are starting to show their age. Flora uses the healing brush tool to cover up the marks and get the walls looking as good as new.

About the healing brush

With the healing brush tool, you can remove marks, imperfections or distracting objects from your photos. Simply set your brush size, then cover the mark you want to remove. The tool automatically picks a similar part of the image to use to patch up the mark. Then you can change the selection yourself and adjust the feathering and opacity until it’s completely invisible.

5. Get the lighting just right with the light panel

Flora adds the finishing touches in the light panel, making fine adjustments to lighting, bringing down the highlights, reducing the whites and increasing the contrast.

Flora Métayer

French photographer and Instagramer, Flora Metayer draws inspiration from her city and the diversity she finds there. Flora’s modern reflection of street culture and urban trends has found favour with brands like Adidas, Nikon, Coca-Cola, Google, Nike, Reebok and many more.

Photography has given Flora a new way of looking and, by teaching her to observe and understand it, helped her rediscover her home city. She’d like to show you how, with Lightroom CC, you can see the place you call home in a new light.