This new capability will allow you to apply very targeted adjustments in Lightroom that you currently would have to apply with masks inside Photoshop.  And right on top of the panel is one you may overlook – color balance.

We’ve blogged before about the varying temperature of different light sources, and problems that can occur when you mix light sources in a single photo.  If this isn’t something you did purposely for an effect, it can be very difficult to balance the light sources.  Now you have a new tool to assist you.

When I was out in our one little snow earlier this year, I managed to create an example of two different color balances in one photo.

I was adjusting my settings on arrival at this gate and noticed how the headlights’ color cast was decidedly orange.  Since this was taken right before we went to Alaska, I never got around to processing all the photos from that shoot.  (That’s lucky because this would have gone straight into the bit bucket.)   You can easily see the clash of the orange (warm) headlights against the blue of the early morning (cool).

With the new brush, I can knock that orange right into submission, cooling it so the light looks like it fits into the scene better.  Most of your viewers would never question that the light might not match reality; it would just seem to fit better.

Here is another example where your viewers’ perceptions of what is correct might not match reality.

When I came back from Alaska this summer, I had some shots from the glaciers.  If you’ve ever seen glaciers, you’ll immediately notice their deep blue coloring.  Many people looking at this photo of gulls on an ice flow asked me about the blueness of the birds.  “Why are the birds blue? Did you tint them to match the ice?”  (Once co-workers know you dabble in the evil world of Photoshop, they’ll question everything you do – even if you didn’t use it.)

Of course, I could go into Photoshop and warm up the color balance on the gulls and mask the rest of the image.  It won’t take too much effort.  Just add a new layer; adjust the color balance; mask the base image to reveal the warmer gulls; save to file; and you’re done.  Or you can stay in Lightroom and make the changes with the new Adjustment Brush.

Doing all that is possible in a single program makes more sense.  And another big advantage to working in Lightroom is Adobe’s policy that all Lightroom adjustments are completely reversible.  If I decide I’ve gone too far with warming up the gulls, I can change it instantly with the slider or easily revert to the original.  All the original pixels are still there.

I find it funny that people who proclaim they don’t like it when I resort to Photoshop are happier with the warmer tones on the gulls (“Everyone knows seagulls don’t look that blue”).  In order to make them happy, I had to adjust the image away from the original pixels.  And now both parties know I didn’t use Photoshop. 

There are many programs to assist you in post-processing, but Adobe’s Photoshop is the standard.  If you want more than just Photoshop for your work, there are many software companies with plug-ins that allow additional, specialized adjustments.  You always want to get the best image possible in the camera, but I still enjoy working on images inside the digital darkroom.

Recently, I was adding a few touches to a friend’s image, and she asked me to change her eye color.  She wanted to see how she would look with blue or green eyes.  Off we go to Photoshop….

When you look at an eye closely, you see that the iris is not a single color, but a mixture of colors with one color dominating.  You can’t just go into the image and paint in a color if you want the image to look natural.  I put in a hue/saturation adjustment layer, with the controls set to master, which causes a color shift in all the colors of the image.  I added a mask on the adjustment layer to ensure the eyes were the only things that changed in the image.  The black mask hides all the adjustments.  Use a paintbrush, set to white, to reveal the adjustments you want to see.

Here are the different versions.

This is really a pretty easy fix, and you can make some very radical color shifts if that is your intent.  You can use this technique to change the colors of all kinds of things.  Why it could even save your life.  What if you were hamming it up with your Army buds, at the North Bridge in Concord, some time in  April of ’75, just before a famous battle, and now you want to be a part of the rebel cause?  Well, you just grab the image and perform a simple adjustment.  Your red coat becomes blue, and you are on the winning side. 

What in the heck is a white balance?  Essentially, different light sources produce light at differing temperatures, and this can give colors an unnatural cast in your photo.  For example, a candle light will make objects appear more orange (warmer); deep shade can make things appear more blue (cooler).  Our eyes and brains adjust to the casts, but a camera just records what it sees, including unadjusted color casts.  (There is an in-depth tutorial here for those you want to dig deeper.) 

Camera algorithms attempt to adjust for the most common light sources and render the images close to their proper color values.  An incorrect setting causes an unnatural color shift.  If you are making jpeg images, the color shift will be locked into the image.   This flower photo illustrates those shifts at different settings.

After a custom white balance, you can see that the Auto was pretty close. 

If you are taking your photographs in RAW, you can adjust the white balance in post processing.  So why should you take the time to set a fixed white balance if Auto is pretty close?  “Pretty close” is not consistent.  This really matters if your photo session involves many photos.  When you shoot lots of images around a location, there will be some variations in your camera’s solution to white balance each time you press the shutter release. These variations matter when you’re trying to edit and synchronize hundreds of photos from a model shoot or wedding.  In fact, if you shoot in RAW and use an image processor like Lightroom or Aperture, you’re better off locking in an incorrect white balance setting than using Auto.  Lock in any setting other than Auto. At least your white balance setting will remain consistent.  Once you’ve imported the RAW images into the program, you can take your time to fix the white balance on one image and synchronize all the others with that correction.  Voila! Consistent, accurate white balance across your entire shoot.

There are additional tools – outside the camera – that can assist you in setting or synchronizing consistent and accurate white balance.  We’ll review a couple of them in the near future.  I hope you’ll continue to take greater control of your camera and its settings.  Your photography will continue to improve as learn how to fine tune your camera to achieve the image you are trying to capture.  Have fun.

So today, I had some personal business in the morning and wanted to just gather my thoughts for the afternoon.  I headed out to the Shenandoah Valley through the lovely town of Sperryville to catch the tail end of the fall foliage.  It peaked last week and would have been nice, but cold soaking rain is not my favorite. 

In Sperryville, next door to the general store is a maple tree, resplendent in orange and gold.  The sun was a little bit high in the sky, but I was able to filter the light for some nice backlighting.  

Across the way, a small B&B had the pumpkins on the porch, and the porch had a view of the tree.

Up and across the Blue Ridge to the river—didn’t see grandma’s house anywhere.  It’s tough, sometimes to get good photos here as the persistent haze is what gives the mountains their name.  A little boast on the clarity slider on an applied gradient, helps cut through to see the distant colors. 

Finally, back home.  Folks, don’t forget to really look around your own back, or in this case front yard for fall color.  I planted this Japanese Maple, 6 years ago and have watched it grow with the house. 

I shot a bunch of pictures from the river overlook with the intention of building a panorama.  We’ll see how that turns out, if it works I’ll write about it.  Oh, if not, it will never be seen.  That is the last tip for today, if you want people to believe you are a good photographer, don’t show off your bad or average work.  Be selective, very selective.