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Dec 4, 2021

[Photography] Beauty Dish Photography: The Essential Guide (+ 5 Lighting Setups)

The post Beauty Dish Photography: The Essential Guide (+ 5 Lighting Setups) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Gary Detonnancourt.

Beauty dish photography (+ 5 lighting setups)

The beauty dish is one of my absolute favorite light modifiers – but it can be intimidating for beginners, and can even confuse serious portrait shooters.

That’s why, in this article, I share everything you need to know about beauty dish photography, from the lighting basics all the way to my favorite setups. I also explain when it makes sense to use a beauty dish versus a softbox, so if you’re not sure which way to go, I should be able to help you out.

Let’s get started!

What is a beauty dish?

A beauty dish is a circular lighting modifier with an opaque center, like this:

Like most lighting modifiers, you can combine a beauty dish with a studio strobe or speedlight. Note that a beauty dish blocks light in the center of the strobe and reflects it around the entire dish; this ensures a relatively hard, focused beam of light, though it’s softer than, say, a scrim, a softbox, or an umbrella. Beauty dishes are generally reserved for portraits, for reasons I explain in the next section.

You can buy beauty dishes for most lights, and they’re usually less expensive than other modifiers – but if you don’t want to spend extra money, consider creating a DIY beauty dish (many plans exist online, and I’ve actually made them out of aluminum turkey pans!).

Why are beauty dishes useful?

Beauty dishes are popular in the fashion industry, generally for head-and-shoulders portraits that highlight makeup and hair. Because beauty dish lighting is relatively hard, you can sculpt the subject’s face and show texture in their skin, but without straying into bare-flash territory. Plus, the light falloff is quite rapid, which allows you to emphasize facial features and deemphasize surroundings.

Also, beauty dishes produce stunning catchlights in the eyes (beautiful, circular highlights that draw the viewer into the portrait), and they produce nice shadows under the jaw line.

Beauty dishes are versatile, too; you can change the quality of the light by selecting a dish with a silver or white inner surface (the white surface will reduce specular highlights on the subject’s face). You can also control the spill of light with a grid and further soften the light by adding a sock over the front, like this:

Beauty dish vs softbox: which should you use?

If you’re just getting started with studio portrait photography, you might be struggling to decide between a beauty dish and a softbox. While both these lighting modifiers work great, they do come with several significant differences, so it’s worth carefully considering your options.

As I explained above, beauty dishes are primarily used for portrait photography, especially fashion. So if you’re hoping to shoot still life photos, product photos, or even studio pet photos in addition to standard portrait shots, a softbox is the better buy.

Softboxes are also great for achieving a softer, flattering look – so they’re perfect if you’re hoping to get that “diffused window” effect that portrait photographers love.

Plus, you can buy huge softboxes, which are great for group shots (beauty dishes vary in size, but they never go that big).

On the other hand, the beauty dish look is harder and sculpted, so if you want intense portraits, a beauty dish will serve you well.

Beauty dish photography: getting started

So you’ve decided to use a beauty dish – and maybe even purchased one. What now? How should you proceed?

First, I’d suggest you only use a beauty dish setup on clients or models with very good skin, because the harder lighting can show off imperfections like wrinkles and blemishes. It’s also helpful to find a good makeup and hair artist since you’ll likely be showing off the subject’s face in detail.

(Pro tip: If you want to use a makeup artist but aren’t ready to pay for this service, offer them a trade: makeup in return for professional images, which they can use to expand their portfolios.)

As for the technical details: I’d recommend a lens in the 85-200mm range so you can zoom in for tight headshots. In general, it makes sense to use an aperture of around f/8 to f/11 and an ISO of 100, then adjust the lighting power to achieve the right exposure. I would also recommend using a boom arm, which will help you put the beauty dish in just the right spot without getting in the way of your shot (though beginners can certainly get started with a conventional light stand).

The beauty dish will give you very nice light on your subject’s face, so get that set up first. Then go ahead and add additional lights, if you have them: a rim light behind your subject, a hair light above your subject, and/or a background light to separate the subject from the background.

Below, I share five specific beauty dish lighting setups to get you taking gorgeous images in no time at all:

1. One light with a reflector

This setup, also known as clamshell lighting, is the most typical way to do a beauty-dish photo. Start by positioning your beauty dish right above the subject’s face and point it down slightly, so the center of the dish is aimed at the subject’s forehead, right between the eyes.

The dish should be close enough to your subject to produce soft light, generally within two to four feet. When you set this up, make sure you can see catchlights in the top of your subject’s eyes (try taking a test shot or two and zooming in on your LCD).

Next, add a reflector under the chin to bounce light back up into the subject’s face. This will help minimize shadows under the chin and will add a catchlight at the bottom of the eyes. Note that you’ll need to put your camera between the beauty dish and the reflector, which might take a bit of finesse. Also, to adjust the amount of fill light, you’ll need to push the reflector closer or pull it away.

Some photographers like to add black cards on either side of the subject to create shadows on the sides of the face, but this is optional. And for a more sophisticated effect, try adding a background light or a rim light to make your subject stand out.

2. Two lights in a clamshell pattern

This lighting setup is similar to the clamshell pattern I shared above, except you use a strobe in place of the reflector. So add your beauty dish above the subject pointing down, then position the strobe below the subject pointing up.

What’s the benefit of this setup versus number one? A strobe lets you control the fill light power, which makes filling in shadows much easier. I prefer to use a strip box as fill (set one or two stops darker than the main light).

3. Add a sock over the beauty dish

A sock is a piece of diffusion material that looks like a shower cap (see the image in the Why are beauty dishes useful section above), and it goes directly over the beauty dish. This softens the light on the subject’s face, and if you are getting shiny spots, it will reduce the specularity of the light.

While a naked beauty dish produces sculpted light, a sock will produce a creamy look with less skin texture, like this:

black and white portrait taken with a beauty dish

Note that the goal here is to create either of the clamshell setups I shared above, but with the added sock.

4. Add a grid to the beauty dish

Here’s another method of modifying the beauty dish clamshell setups:

Set your beauty dish above the subject, then add a grid, as shown below.

The grid will focus the beam into more of a spotlight pattern, which can be used to create some interesting effects. Just make sure the grid is pointed directly at the subject, or the light pattern will not strike the face correctly. (The easiest way to check this? Ask the subject if they can see directly through the grid to the light source.)

5. Head outdoors

The beauty dish is a great portable light modifier because it’s more compact than a softbox, and it won’t catch the wind like an umbrella.

Depending on the power of your lights, you can use a beauty dish as a main light or fill light. Feel free to use the straight-down positioning I recommended above, though you can also set it up at a 45-degree angle, like you might use a softbox.

When the light conditions are warm – such as around sunrise or sunset – you may want to add a color temperature orange gel over the beauty dish to help blend the strobe with the sunlight.

woman in the water outdoor beauty dish photography

Beauty dish photography: final words

Hopefully, you can now confidently use a beauty dish. They’re powerful lighting tools, and the effect is amazing.

So if you haven’t already, go out and buy (or make!) a beauty dish. And then do a photoshoot! I guarantee you’ll get some beautiful shots.

Now over to you:

How do you plan to use a beauty dish in your next photoshoot? Which beauty dish do you plan to buy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Portrait Photography

The post Beauty Dish Photography: The Essential Guide (+ 5 Lighting Setups) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Gary Detonnancourt.

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Dec 3, 2021

[Photography] dPS Weekly Photo Challenge – Negative Space

The post dPS Weekly Photo Challenge – Negative Space appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

We’ve had a crack at this previously, but it was a while ago and it’s a brand new day, so why not. What IS ‘negative space’ in photography? Very basically it’s using the open space in an image to draw focus to the subject – your eyes pretty much can’t help but be drawn from the nothingness to the subject.

This week your challenge comes from Sharon Williams a member of our Facebook Group (you should join!) …and after you join you should suggest a challenge (or suggest one in the comments under this post if you don’t do the Facebook thing)

Remember! One photo per challenge, make sure you tag it #dPSWeeklyChallenge and #dPSNegativeSpace if you’re sharing on social media.

dPS Weekly Photo Challenge – Negative Space — Photo by Isaac Benhesed on Unsplash

The white expanse of the table with the simple but eye-catching coffee above is a great example, But it’s not one of mine, the photo below is one of mine (Drone, Mavic 2 Pro) and I think perhaps I went a bit far, the surfer almost too small to find… What do you think? Anyway… gives me the chance to do better this week!

Need help adding YOUR photo into the comments below? Here’s a mini-tutorial!

Weekly Photography Challenge – Looking Up

Simply upload your shot into the comments field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see. Or, if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them.

The post dPS Weekly Photo Challenge – Negative Space appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

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[Photography] The Luminar Neo Release Timeline, Revealed (Plus Program Details)

The post The Luminar Neo Release Timeline, Revealed (Plus Program Details) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Looking for information on the upcoming Luminar Neo? You’re in the right place.

Below, we share all the latest program details, including the release date, a list of editing features, plus how you can buy Luminar Neo for a discounted rate.

When will Luminar Neo be released?

Luminar Neo, the highly anticipated image editor from Skylum, now has an official release timeline:

The program will be available for download “in the beginning of February.” Note that “early bird” purchasers – those who are among the first 30,000 Luminar Neo customers – will receive download access “at the end of January” (though it’s unclear whether the early bird promotion is still ongoing).

You can preorder Luminar Neo on the Luminar website, and for the next few hours, you can still grab it for the Cyber Monday rate.

What is Luminar Neo?

Luminar Neo is an advanced photo editor from Skylum, which will feature an AI-driven workflow greater than both its predecessors, Luminar AI and Luminar 4.

While Luminar Neo will feature the standard set of image editing tools, including exposure adjustments, color adjustments, cropping, and cloning, the program will also boast plenty of Skylum’s patented AI enhancements.

For instance, landscape and travel shooters will love Sky Replacement AI (which allows you to swap skies with the click of a button), while portrait photographers will appreciate the handy Face AI (for speedy portrait retouching). There’s also Atmosphere AI (so you can add fog and other effects), Portrait Bokeh AI (for instantly creating beautiful background blur), and Structure AI (for intelligently boosting image sharpness).

Luminar Neo will also feature a handful of new tools, including:

AI Relight, which applies lighting adjustments based on a 3D depth analysis
AI Sensor Dust Removal, which instantly removes dust and other debris that is affecting your images
AI Power Lines Removal, which identifies and erases any pesky power lines
Portrait Background Removal, which intelligently masks your portrait subjects, then allows you to replace the background

Luminar Neo includes layer-based editing (a feature that was present in Luminar 4 but absent from Luminar AI), and plugin compatibility with Photoshop and Lightroom.

Also, for the first time ever, Luminar will debut alongside a mobile app. Skylum claims that, with its “mobile image-sharing app,” you can “share your ideas between desktop and mobile in one click,” so don’t expect a full-fledged editing app – but those who frequently move images between their smartphone and desktop will undoubtedly appreciate any improved functionality.

How can I get Luminar Neo?

Luminar Neo is available for preorder here.

And for those still on the fence, Skylum does offer a 30-day money back guarantee following the ship date, so if you don’t like the program, you can always return it. You also have the option to purchase both Luminar Neo and Luminar AI with a hefty discount (see the details here).

Now over to you:

Do you plan to purchase Luminar Neo? How do you think it will compare to previous Luminar programs? Are there any features on your wish list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Luminar Neo FAQs

When will Luminar Neo be released?

Luminar Neo will be released “in the beginning of February, 2022.”

How much does Luminar Neo cost?

Luminar Neo will be available for $79 (for a one-seat license) and $99 (for a two-seat license), but it is currently discounted to $59 (for one seat) and $69 (for two seats).

How can I buy Luminar Neo?

You can preorder Luminar Neo right here.

Should I get Luminar Neo or Luminar AI?

Luminar Neo is designed for photographers looking to enhance their photo-editing workflow, whereas Luminar AI is geared toward content creators and others hoping to quickly improve their images. Luminar Neo will be the more powerful editor, though Luminar AI is (likely) easier to use.

The post The Luminar Neo Release Timeline, Revealed (Plus Program Details) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

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Dec 2, 2021

[Photography] How Do Cameras Work? A Guide for Beginners

The post How Do Cameras Work? A Guide for Beginners appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Want to know how cameras work but don’t want to read about complicated mathematics and physics? This is the guide for you.

In this article, I’ll explain how most cameras work, and I’ll also explain the differences between various camera types (such as film versus digital and DSLR versus mirrorless). With this knowledge, you can make an informed choice before buying a new camera – plus, you can better understand what’s going on inside your equipment!

If you’re ready to get started, let’s dive in.

How do cameras work? The basics

If you look at the giant cameras used by photography pioneers, then you check out the latest iPhone camera, you might think they don’t have anything in common.

But in reality, the basic concept of how cameras work hasn’t changed much. Put simply, the light reflected from the subject goes into the camera through a hole; it’s then projected on the back of the camera, where it’s registered by a light-sensitive material (whether a digital sensor or film).

This core process has stayed the same since the invention of photography, though the details have changed. Let’s start at the very beginning, then build up to modern-day camera equipment.

The camera obscura

The forefather of the photographic camera was the camera obscura, first created in 1545 based on a principle that dates back to around 400 BCE.

The first camera obscura was just a dark room with a hole in one of the walls. Whatever was outside of the room would be projected through the hole onto the opposite wall. Because light travels in a straight line, the projection would be upside down, as you can see in the diagram above.

Over time, the camera obscura became smaller – instead of whole rooms, it was made from boxes – and was used to aid artists when drawing.

The pinhole camera

Pinhole camera - How do cameras work — Source: Wikimedia Commons

A camera obscura is just a box with a hole that allows light to project on the opposite side – but once you add in a light-sensitive material, you have a pinhole camera.

It’s a simple item you can create with a shoebox (or any box) painted black. Use a needle or a pin to punch a small hole, then place a negative film or a sheet of photographic paper at the back to register the image projected inside.

In essence, this is how any photographic camera works, even the latest models. Of course, some elements have evolved, as I explain in the next section:

Photographic cameras

simple DSLR diagram — The basic DSLR components.

All cameras, old and new, work under the same principle: light comes through a hole and projects an image on the back of the camera. But different models feature various details, and I can’t go into all the developments, so please bear with me as I talk generically.

Lenses

Unlike pinhole cameras, most current cameras have a lens. Lenses generally include multiple glass elements that bend the light for a sharp, focused image.

The quality of the glass, the way it’s arranged, and the amount of glass inside the lens can impact the quality of the final image. This is one of the reasons why some lenses are more expensive than others.

By moving the lens glass, you can focus the image. And in some (zoom) lenses, you can also change the focal length.

Aperture

Modern lenses contain an aperture, a hole that allows in light. In most cameras, you can control the size of the aperture, much the same way as the pupil in our eyes dilates or contracts to let in more or less light.

The lenses that allow for wider maximum apertures are more expensive and are commonly known as fast lenses. Note that the aperture is expressed in f-numbers, like so: f/1.8, f/2.8, f/6.3, f/9, f/16, etc., where smaller f-numbers correspond to larger apertures.

Shutter

As light moves through the lens toward the camera body, it won’t simply impact the camera sensor or film. There’s a barrier that opens and closes to block the light or allow it through, called the shutter.

Most shutters consist of two curtains. When you press your camera’s shutter button to take a photo, the first curtain slides up to expose the sensor or film to light. Once a predetermined amount of time has passed (the shutter speed), the second curtain covers the sensor or film, and the image-making process stops.

Film/Sensor and ISO

When light reaches the back of the camera, it gets recorded by the film (analog cameras) or the sensor (digital cameras).

I won’t go into much detail here, because I’ve discussed this in-depth down below. I will tell you, however, that films and sensors can have different sensitivities to light, called ISO (or ASA).

By the way, ISO is the third factor you need to consider when exposing a photograph. The ISO, along with the aperture and the shutter speed, form the exposure triangle.

Film vs digital cameras: what’s the difference?

These days, digital cameras are far more popular than film cameras – yet some photographers still prefer film, and the technology is more similar than you might think.

The main difference between film and digital cameras is the medium that registers the image. Digital cameras have a sensor that stores the image as data, while analog cameras use photosensitive film.

A digital camera uses one sensor, by the way – once the camera is built, there’s no changing it. But analog cameras offer all sorts of film types. You can load a traditional camera with negative film (black and white or color), slide film (also known as color reversal and black and white reversal), or infrared film.

Of course, before you load an analog camera, you’ll need to decide which type of film you want to use, how sensitive it should be (the ISO/ASA), and how many pictures you want (conventional film rolls offer 12, 24, or 36 exposures).

You can make some changes afterward, such as pushing or pulling the film, as well as cross processing. However, these changes affect the entire roll and not a single photo.

With digital cameras, you can change nearly every setting from image to image: the ISO, image quality and file format, and whether the shot is in color or black and white.

Photographic films comes in different sizes (35mm, 120mm, 4×5, etc.). In the same way, you can find different digital sensor sizes; I’ll talk more about them in a later section.

Let me emphasize that film is not better than digital or vice-versa. It’s a matter of personal preference, style, and storytelling.

Types of digital cameras

Photographers use many different camera types, but for the purposes of brevity I’ll skip the large and medium format cameras and focus only on the most common options.

DSLR

DSLR stands for digital single-lens reflex, and they are the digital counterpart of the popular SLR film cameras. DSLRs use interchangeable lenses, and the lenses from a DSLR often work on an SLR and vice-versa.

The most distinctive characteristic of the DSLR is a reflex system that allows you to see exactly what you capture through the viewfinder. On the outside of the camera, you’ll see a bump, beneath which sits a series of mirrors.

On the inside, the light that comes through the lens hits a mirror in the back of the camera. This mirror is positioned at such an angle that it reflects the light up toward a pentaprism, where it bounces to hit the viewfinder.

When you push the shutter button on a DSLR, the mirror flips up to let the light pass through to the sensor. That’s why, during a DSLR exposure, you can’t see anything through the viewfinder.

Mirrorless cameras

As the name suggests, mirrorless cameras don’t have a mirror in front of the sensor.

Mirrorless cameras are relatively new. Before 2018 or so, they were considered amateurish because the quality didn’t match that of a DSLR.

Nowadays, mirrorless cameras have full-frame sensors just like DSLRs, so the main difference is in the viewfinder. Because mirrorless cameras don’t feature the mirror used by DSLR technology, there’s no “true” viewfinder image; instead, higher-end mirrorless cameras offer a feed to the camera sensor (so you can preview the image), while most entry-level cameras don’t have a viewfinder at all. (In the latter case, you can only preview the image on the LCD screen in the back.)

Optical viewfinders (DSLRs) and electronic viewfinders (mirrorless) offer various advantages and disadvantages. I won’t get into the details here, but suffice it to say that both work great for pro-level work, and you can rely on either option for beautiful results.

Bridge cameras

Bridge cameras are often called “superzoom cameras,” because they generally feature a wide range of focal lengths – though unlike DSLRs, you can’t swap out the lens.

And while bridge cameras are built like DSLRs, they usually don’t have an optical viewfinder.

The sensor is often small, and to this day, there aren’t any full-frame bridge cameras. In fact, bridge cameras are halfway between a DSLR and a point-and-shoot camera – hence the name, “bridge.”

Point-and-shoot cameras

Point-and-shoot cameras, also known as “compact cameras,” may offer some manual control – but they’re meant to be used in Auto mode, and they’re all about ease of use. You simply point the camera, press the shutter button, and get a photo.

Point-and-shoot cameras have a fixed lens, and while the size is quite small, they have become somewhat irrelevant as smartphones cameras have advanced in power and popularity.

Camera sensors: why do they matter?

At the back of every digital camera, there’s a sensor that records light, and you see the result as a digital photo.

A camera sensor is a grid of photosites that capture photons and convert them into a voltage value. This information is later processed in different ways according to the type of sensor – currently, they can be CCD or CMOS, although CCD is becoming less common.

Each photosite is called a pixel (sensel is a more technical term, but this article is meant to be an introduction, so I’ll stay with the commonly used pixel).

When you see that a camera has 24 megapixels, it produces images formed by 24 million pixels. Don’t be tempted by a high pixel count, though. You’ll have bigger images, yes – but they won’t necessarily be better. Let me elaborate.

Megapixels and image quality

If all the camera sensors work the same way, then what’s the difference? Why should you buy one camera sensor over another? The main reason is that sensors come in different sizes, and so different sensors have different-sized pixels.

Have you ever wondered why a smartphone can have 108 MP and a professional camera only has 30 or 40 MP? It’s because the pixels in that 108 MP smartphone are tiny, whereas the pixels in a 30 MP full-frame DSLR are much larger. Most people know about megapixels and think that more MP equals better image quality, so smartphone camera manufacturers keep increasing the pixel count, but this isn’t always a good thing.

How do the sensor size and pixel size impact your photography?

Bigger pixels (usually found in bigger sensors) have a better high-ISO performance (though note that newer cameras offer better high-ISO performance, as well, so a small, new sensor may be superior to a large, old sensor).
At high ISO values, small pixels lose significant dynamic range.
Larger sensors feature a shallower depth of field than smaller sensors, assuming the image is identically framed. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your needs.
Smaller sensors mean that you have to apply a crop factor to your lens, effectively giving it a longer focal length. For example, a standard 50mm lens on a full-frame camera becomes a 75mm telephoto on a standard APS-C camera. Again, this can be good or bad depending on what you want to shoot.

Sensor sizes

Sensor size comparison how cameras work — Source: Wikimedia Commons

Sensor sizes aren’t standard, and you’ll find that each manufacturer makes their own rules. However, here are some categories that you can use as a starting point:

Medium format: Only certain professionals use sensors this big, so I won’t go into too much detail. However, it’s important to know they exist. The sizes range from 43.8 x 32.9 mm to 53.7 x 40.2 mm.

Full frame: These sensors are the equivalent of 35mm film, which is 36 x 24 mm. It’s the standard size found in professional DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

APS-C: These are commonly referred to as cropped sensors, because they’re cropped in comparison to full-frame sensors. The size varies according to each brand, but many manufacturers, including Nikon, Sony, and Pentax, use 23.6 x 15.6 mm, while Canon uses a 22.3 x 14.9 mm sensor.

Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds: This standard was created by Panasonic and Olympus so that lenses could be compatible across brands. The size is 17.3 x 13 mm.

Sensors used in bridge cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and smartphones are less consistent in size, but they are generally small than the Four-Thirds standard.

How cameras work: final words

As you can see, cameras can be complicated! But hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how cameras work, and you know how to pick a camera of your own.

Now over to you:

Do you have a favorite camera type? Do you shoot with digital or film cameras? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How Do Cameras Work? A Guide for Beginners appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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Dec 1, 2021

[Photography] The Lightroom Masking Tool: A Guide to Lightroom’s New Masking Features

The post The Lightroom Masking Tool: A Guide to Lightroom’s New Masking Features appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

In October 2021, Adobe rolled out a software update that included a revolutionary approach to Lightroom masking. Previously, Lightroom had offered a basic but highly useful set of masking options, including the Radial, Graduated, and Brush filters, which were tweaked and refined over the years to meet the needs of most photographers.

However, these old masking adjustments still relied heavily on you, the photographer, to create masks and then refine them with a set of sliders and options. But thanks to the power of algorithms and artificial intelligence, the October update boosted these tools into the stratosphere, and the result is a profound and extraordinarily useful workflow that has the potential to fundamentally change your approach to photo editing.

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about Lightroom’s updates, including a hands-on explanation of each new feature, along with plenty of examples so you can see exactly how powerful these adjustments really are.

For a comprehensive look at Lightroom’s new Masking tool, read on!

Lightroom masking, explained

When I first started out as a photographer, it didn’t take too long to learn basic photography concepts such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It was the editing process, especially some of the tools and terminology, that sent me reeling and made me want to toss my camera out the window and never return.

One of those difficult concepts was masking.

While masking serves as the bedrock foundation for so much of the editing process, it seemed impenetrable to a newbie like me – at least at first. But in truth, masking is extraordinarily simple, and it’s based on a process that painters have used for centuries.

A mask is simply a cover, much like a mask you might wear on your face. Have you ever used blue tape to make sure paint doesn’t get onto windows and wall trim when doing a bit of home remodeling? Congratulations! You have used the real-world equivalent of the Lightroom Masking tool. The digital version is far more flexible than its real-world counterpart, but the basic idea remains the same: masking lets you cover certain parts of the image, so that you can then safely target edits to specific areas.

stone tower against mountains — The Lightroom Masking tool allowed me to enhance the color of the tower without affecting the surrounding terrain and sky.

Lightroom Masking: what’s new?

For years, the Lightroom masking tools relied entirely on you, the photographer, to indicate where you wanted the mask to be applied, to refine the edges, and to generally do a lot of the heavy lifting. Lightroom didn’t even use the term “mask” for most operations, instead opting for the word “filter” – which wasn’t really an accurate description of the work being done. The sheer power and flexibility of the Radial, Graduated, and Brush filters was amazing, but the workflow was often slow, especially when editing dozens or hundreds of images.

Adobe’s October 2021 update to Lightroom changed all of that by moving these editing tools under a single umbrella of “masking” while increasing the amount of flexibility and customization at your disposal. Lightroom has also augmented your editing with a massive dose of artificial intelligence. Much like Dominic Toretto giving his V8 engine a shot of nitrous in a Fast and Furious movie, the new Lightroom Masking tool supercharges your editing to ridiculous levels and gives you the type of power previously restricted to Photoshop and other high-end applications.

Lightroom Masking Tool, versions compared

Instead of offering a Graduated Filter, Radial Filter, or Adjustment Brush, all these options are now consolidated under one tool, called Masking. Clicking “Masking” brings up the same options as before, but they are now properly labeled as Masks. The best part is the addition of two entirely new features, Select Subject and Select Sky, both of which have the potential to transform your entire approach to photo editing.

Masking feature 1: Select Subject

Have you ever used Lightroom to apply certain edits just to the subject of your image and not the rest of the shot? This process used to involve the Adjustment Brush and a lot of patience – but the new Lightroom Masking tool simplifies everything to a single click.

Click “Select Subject,” and Lightroom will use advanced algorithms and computations to analyze your image and find your main subject. While the results aren’t always perfect, it’s far easier than doing it manually.

After you tap Select Subject, a color overlay will appear atop what Lightroom assumes is the subject, along with a small pop-out Masks floating palette. If you can’t quite discern the mask from the rest of your picture, use the small colored square at the bottom of the floating palette to choose a different overlay color:

Once this initial mask is created, you can adjust all the standard editing parameters: white balance, exposure, contrast, shadows, texture, saturation, hue, and more. Every slider and adjustment from earlier versions of Lightroom is present and accounted for, but now consolidated under one single Masking panel instead of three separate panels.

Masking feature 2: Select Sky

The Select Sky option in Lightroom is practically a love letter to nature and landscape photographers. Whenever I sit down to edit a picture of grand prairies or sweeping vistas, one of the first things I do is create a mask for the sky so I can adjust exposure and white balance. The Graduated filter had always been my preferred tool for this process, but it required a lot of fine-tuning with the Range Mask option and other manual adjustments. It was an effective but slow process, one that didn’t work well if you had more than just a handful of images to edit.

Happily, the new Select Sky masking feature changes all of that.

To use Select Sky, first navigate to a picture in the Develop module that contains a view of the sky. Then select the Masking tool, and click Select Sky. Lightroom will automatically analyze the image:

The process only takes a few seconds, and you’ll ultimately see an overlay showing the masked-out sky portion of the shot. As with the Select Subject feature, you can change the color and opacity of the overlay, and you can perform additional edits, as well:

This automatic process for selecting the sky offers a great starting point, and it will speed up your landscape editing like flooring the pedal on a Tesla Roadster. It’s not always perfect and you might need to make some tweaks to the mask in order to get your edits just right, but it’s much easier than the old method of using a Graduated filter.

Masking feature 3: Mask display customization

Adobe added some incredible quality-of-life improvements to masking in Lightroom, and while they won’t necessarily make your workflow faster, they’ll give you much greater control over how you create and edit your masks.

Regardless of whether you use computational tools like Select Subject and Select Sky or you prefer to create masks on your own without the help of algorithms and automated processes, the enhanced display tools will certainly make your life easier.

Masks in Lightroom now have an overlay color that can be customized simply by clicking the color in the Masking panel, but there’s a lot more you can do than just change the color. You can alter the opacity of the mask overlay by using a slider, which can help your mask stand out against a crowded foreground or background. You can also tell Lightroom to show the overlay color on the mask (affected areas) or on everything except the mask (unaffected areas). Neither the opacity nor the overlay affects your edits, but they are incredibly useful to help you see where your edits are being applied.

Lightroom doesn’t stop there, though. Showing an overlay color is nice, but what if you want to see only the mask? Or only the unaffected areas? Or the mask against a black-and-white version of the image? You now have these options and more:

The Overlay Mode menu offers six choices for how your mask is displayed, and this is like manna from heaven for weary photo editors. None of these options change your edits, but instead give you a lot of useful visual information for seeing precisely where your mask is located on the image.

These overlay modes have the potential to truly transform your editing in Lightroom. Until now, the only tool at your disposal was a color overlay, but with the ability to see exactly where your mask is (and is not) applied, you can create masks that do exactly what you want.

Masking feature 4: Add and Subtract

While you have always been able to add to and subtract from masks and filters in Lightroom, the new Masking tool makes this process easier than ever.

With the masking panel visible, choose Add or Subtract to adjust the mask area. This is great if one of the automated masking processes like Sky Selection or Subject Selection doesn’t quite give you what you are looking for, or if you just want to create your own precise custom masks.

I created an initial mask to lighten up the fly in the image below, but then I created another mask using Select Subject:

The results of the automatic Select Subject option were spot on, with two notable exceptions: the green protrusions on the top-left side of the leaf, and the brown leaf on the right. You can easily see this using the White On Black mask overlay:

Lightroom Masking tool white on black overlay — The White on Black mask overlay lets you easily see portions of your mask that you might want to remove, as well as places you may wish to add.

Fixing this issue is simple with the Subtract tool. Click Subtract to bring up several options that’ll let you subtract parts of your mask. I chose the Brush option, and then carefully brushed out the parts of the mask I did not want.

Previously, you could do these types of operations in Lightroom, but it involved a few more steps and you didn’t have six different mask overlay options to help you refine your edits. The new system is significantly improved, and it makes the editing process fast, simple, and much more enjoyable.

The Lightroom Masking tool: final words

Several years ago, Adobe renamed Lightroom to Lightroom Classic and launched a redesigned Lightroom to appeal to photographers who prefer a more mobile-friendly workflow. There was some degree of trepidation among photographers, myself included, because it seemed like Adobe would leave Lightroom Classic behind and focus all their efforts on the revamped Lightroom.

Thankfully, that has not been the case; Lightroom Classic has received a steady stream of updates, bug fixes, and improvements, including the brand-new Masking tool. This makes me excited for what the future holds, and I can’t wait to see what’s next from Adobe. If you haven’t tried the new Lightroom Masking tool, I encourage you to give it a shot. You might be very pleasantly surprised by what you find!

Now over to you:

What do you think about Lightroom’s new Masking tool? Have you tried it? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post The Lightroom Masking Tool: A Guide to Lightroom’s New Masking Features appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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Dec 4, 2021

[Photography] Beauty Dish Photography: The Essential Guide (+ 5 Lighting Setups)

What is a beauty dish?

Why are beauty dishes useful?

Beauty dish vs softbox: which should you use?

Beauty dish photography: getting started

1. One light with a reflector

2. Two lights in a clamshell pattern

3. Add a sock over the beauty dish

4. Add a grid to the beauty dish

5. Head outdoors

Beauty dish photography: final words

Table of contents

Portrait Photography

Dec 3, 2021

[Photography] dPS Weekly Photo Challenge – Negative Space

[Photography] The Luminar Neo Release Timeline, Revealed (Plus Program Details)

When will Luminar Neo be released?

What is Luminar Neo?

How can I get Luminar Neo?

Luminar Neo FAQs

Dec 2, 2021

[Photography] How Do Cameras Work? A Guide for Beginners

How do cameras work? The basics

The camera obscura

The pinhole camera

Photographic cameras

Lenses

Aperture

Shutter

Film/Sensor and ISO

Film vs digital cameras: what’s the difference?

Types of digital cameras

DSLR

Mirrorless cameras

Bridge cameras

Point-and-shoot cameras

Camera sensors: why do they matter?

Megapixels and image quality

Sensor sizes

How cameras work: final words

Dec 1, 2021

[Photography] The Lightroom Masking Tool: A Guide to Lightroom’s New Masking Features

Lightroom masking, explained

Lightroom Masking: what’s new?

Masking feature 1: Select Subject

Masking feature 2: Select Sky

Masking feature 3: Mask display customization

Masking feature 4: Add and Subtract

The Lightroom Masking tool: final words