Add a light Source in Lightroom in 5 Easy Steps
The Lightroom Graduated Filter tool can be used to add a secondary light source to an image where one was not in existence when you shot it. This often works better to rescue an unexposed area of an image than, for example, applying a Shadow/Highlight fix in Photoshop.
1. This image is extremely dark on the right – a problem caused by capturing the carousel horse in broad daylight on a very sunny day..
2. After adjusting the Exposure in Lightroom and tweaking the image using the small Recovery, Clarity and Vibrance sliders the image is still dark in areas where I would like to see more of the detail in the underlying image.
3. To bring in some light on the right, click the Graduated Filter tool and drag the selector in from the right edge of the image so that the midpoint of the filter is over the point where the problem ceases to exist (around the level of the carousel horse’s eye).
4. With the Effect Sliders visible, increase the Exposure and then, if desired, adjust the Brightness and Clarity sliders. Click Close when done.
5. In many cases you will find the Graduated Filter gives better results than, for example, the Shadows/Highlights filter in Photoshop and it’s a lot less work.
25 Responses to “Add a light Source in Lightroom in 5 Easy Steps” - Add Yours
June 13th, 2009 at 12:33 am
This sounds like it is a much better option that using the Fill Light slider
I need to learn a lot more of lightroom it seems! Thanks!
June 13th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Great tip, I wonder if there is something like this I can use in Photoshop CS?
June 13th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Thanks a lot! I didn’t know about it and it seems like a great tool I will use a lot!
June 13th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Thanks for the great tip! I have a recent photo I want to try this on.
June 13th, 2009 at 3:24 am
In Photoshop you could just use an adjustment layer for increasing the exposure and then apply a gradient from white to transparent on the layer mask in the same way the gradient filter is used here. Instead of the adjustment layer, you could also create a new layer, fill it with white, set it to soft light or overlay and mask that layer. Whatever you prefer, results should be nearly the same.
June 13th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Nay, forget my last tip, it would be much easier to just create a new layer, make a gradient from white to transparent and then set the layer to soft light. That way, you don’t need to mask anything.
June 13th, 2009 at 3:32 am
This is also possible in Adobe Raw. Not sure from what version.
June 13th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Wow! This is great. thank you!
June 13th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Helen, I quite simply will put it this way. I enjoy and appreciate your posts. They are extremely informative and I always look forward to new tips from you. Keep up the good work!
June 14th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Raw files + LR grad filter = bliss
I often use multiple grads, with different effects on the same image. And if you shot raw and managed to keep most of the info within the histogram, you have tremendous latitude to adjust the image to your heart’s content.
June 14th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Great article! I’ve been using Lightroom for quite some time now, and have even been using the graduated filter for some time as well, but I’ve only ever really used it for darkening or adding blue hues to a bland sky. I don’t know why it never occured to me to use the graduated filter from the side to create another light source! And I never realized there was a “custom” setting either – all this time I’ve been creating multiple filters to add on top of one another! Thank you so much for this article! It’s opened my eyes!
-NicoleinJapan
June 16th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I’m a dedicated LR user and a fan of the GND tool, but DANG, I didn’t know about turning on the effects sliders! I thought each GND could only do one thing. This is great! Appreciate this post very much.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:43 am
I have Lightroom but I am having problems getting started
June 19th, 2009 at 1:16 am
This tip also applies to Adobe Camera Raw. I use it like this from time to time. Thanks for sharing.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:18 am
A little addition to Helen’s great tip is that you can use multiple instances of a grad filter on one photo, so you could also, for instance, add some light from below by creating a separate grad filer instance and dragging up from the bottom. As always though, be careful not to overdo things – less is often more in these manipulations!
June 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
rusty,
How is this done in Camera Raw? I’ve been trying to go through it but I don’t see an option for the Graduated Filter. I may be missing it….can you let me know where it is? Thanks.
Tyler
June 20th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Well written guide and very handy to boot!
June 21st, 2009 at 2:01 am
With the Effect Sliders visible, increase the Exposure and then, if desired, adjust the Brightness and Clarity sliders. Click Close when done.
WHERE IS the CLICK CLOSE IN LR???
June 21st, 2009 at 3:15 am
Hi Lee..
Look in the image for Step 4 above, you will see it next to the Reset option in the foot of the panel that you are using to set the sliders. It is immediately above the panel name Basic. It’s hard to see if you don’t actually expect it to be there.
cheers
Helen
June 24th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Any suggestions for how to accomplish this in PSE 6…?
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:54 am
I am using Lightroom 3 to develop Raw images & found a very effective means of filling light by graduated filter. It’s a great tool….
November 3rd, 2010 at 1:31 am
I guess if Adobe added layers to Lightroom, no one would really have a need to use Photoshop as much?
November 26th, 2010 at 5:48 am
For some reason, I cannot see the above pictures. All I have is a white box for each photo. Anyone else having that problem? i would like to see them as this article seems to be very interesting. Thanks.
November 26th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
The pictures are quite large so they show as white boxes to start with but they downloaded and show just fine after a few seconds.
September 28th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I’ve been using Lightroom for quite some time now, and now I’m using the graduated filter as well. It’s a great tool to create another light source!
Thank you for sharing!
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