How to edit portrait photos in Lightroom? One of the most popular photo editing software is Lightroom. This software is designed by Adobe and is better than Photoshop for some things. In this article, we want to teach portrait photo editing with Lightroom. One of the strengths of Lightroom over Photoshop is that it has simpler and more efficient settings for editing photos taken with professional cameras. In other words, photo editing takes less time and may be more desirable. In the following, join us to review the important and main steps of editing a portrait photo using Lightroom in the form of practical examples.
Portrait photo editing with Lightroom and its necessity
Sometimes a professional photographer will check all the settings of the camera or photography app and take pictures with the optimal settings, and as a result, the photo with the least amount of editing has an extraordinary quality. But usually the ambient light conditions and photography settings are not such that the photo is attractive without editing. In addition, most people like to remove facial imperfections and look more beautiful after taking a portrait photo. That’s why it is more or less necessary to edit the photo. Take a look at the example image below to see the difference between pre-edited and post-edited portrait photos:
For photo editing and retouching, you can use Photoshop, which is a comprehensive and powerful software. But there is another optimal choice, and that is Adobe Lightroom software. Adobe has designed this software based on the needs of photographers who need a tool for fast photo editing, and therefore has advantages over Photoshop. Note that this tutorial explains the general principles of portrait editing, while Lightroom is used to edit a variety of images.
In the portrait photo editing tutorial with Lightroom , we will review 15 simple and quick steps of portrait photo optimization in a complete and visual way to clarify how to use Lightroom as well as its advantages over Photoshop in the field of portrait photo editing.
Portrait photo editing training with lightroom and priests
The easiest and fastest way to edit a portrait photo with Lightroom is to use presets or presets. In the process of importing a large number of photos, you can apply the pre-made optimal pre-made on the photos to do some photo editing tasks such as increasing the color concentration and optimizing the brightness and contrast of the photo, as well as removing wrinkles and pimples, etc. , Done automatically on all photos. But how to import and apply Priest: First, in the LIBRARY module, select the Import option. Then in the Source panel, open the folder containing the image. Pay attention to 2 points when importing:
- If the folder contains subfolders and you want to provide a thumbnail of the photo files, you must check the Include Subfolders option.
- Make sure the Add option is selected at the top of the page, not Copy, otherwise you will have duplicate photos.
Then click on the portrait photo to select it. To apply Priest when importing a photo, you must first download the required Priest by searching the Internet from various websites. In the right panel of the page, check the Apply during import option and then select the desired directory. Finally, click on Import to open the photos in Lightroom and be ready to edit them after editing them as defined in Priest. To continue editing the photo, select the Develop module. With the help of Lightroom and Prestige, you can quickly turn photos optimized and edited by other software into beautiful and professional albums.
Learn how to edit a portrait photo with Lightroom and optimize the white balance
The next step is to optimize the settings according to the camera that captured the photo. First open the image with the default settings and then hold down the Alt key to display the options in the Develop module.
The next step is to correct the White Balance. Due to the fact that the lighting and lighting in different environments have different colors, the portrait photo may not have a balanced white color and may look a little warm or cold. Activate the White Balance tool to correct the white balance. You can use its shorts, which is W, for faster work. In the panel next to the screen, use the Temp slider to adjust the color temperature. The further you move the slider to the right, the warmer the colors become redder and yellow, and in contrast, to make it bluer and cooler, the Temp slider has to be shifted to the left. The Tint slider also changes color or tint. For example, if the photo looks too green, you can change the color shade to purple.
Learn how to edit a portrait photo and cut it with Lightroom
One of the easiest things to do in portrait editing is to crop and remove the extra parts of the photo. For this purpose, use the Crop tool in the basic section of the Develop module. You can use the cutting tool shortcut, which is R, for faster speed. Working with cutting tools in this software is just like Photoshop and most photo editing software. In other words, you can move the symbols in the corner or in the middle of the sides by clicking and dragging, and select the part that should be cut.
If you want to cut the image with a ratio of 4 by 3 or so, specify the aspect ratio of the image in the side panel and in front of Aspect. Use the Angle slider in the panel next to the screen to rotate the photo.
Editing highlights and shadows in the portrait photo editing tutorial with Lightroom
Photos are usually not optimal in terms of contrast and brightness, even if you have taken them carefully. To improve the quality of photos, first of all, it is better to study and learn the basics of photography professionally.
If you increase the brightness of all parts of the photo, the shadows will become too bright and the photo will become dull. That’s why you have to change the intensity curve of highlights and shadows manually and watch out for the dark and light parts of the photo. Open the Tone Curve panel to get started in the Develop module. The bottom left corner is for dark spots and shadows, and the top right corner is for highlights and highlights. Manipulate the curve carefully and study its effect on the photo to achieve the desired result. You can also use lower curved sliders for optimization.
Optimize portrait photo colors in Lightroom
In Lightroom, you can use the HSL panel in the Develop module to enhance the colors of your photos. In this panel, color hue, saturation, as well as luminance can be changed. For each of these, several sliders are provided, each corresponding to one of the colors. In other words, in Lightroom, optimizing the concentration of individual colors is easier than most photo editing software, because for each color, a separate slider is provided. Of course, in Photoshop you can also use the Curves panel to change the curves of the three colors red, blue and green, but this is especially complicated for beginners.
Remove pimples and stains from portrait photos with the help of Lightroom
In optimizing brightness and colors, changes are applied to all areas of the image. To remove pimples and blemishes on the face, you should use the Dodge and Burn tools. These two tools are also in the Develop module. Before clicking on the desired points of the photo, you should check the settings in the right panel of the page and select the optimal settings. Then click on the desired points.
You can also use another tool called Spot Removal to remove blemishes and pimples. This tool is also located in the Develop module and the right column of the page. Before clicking on the image to delete the dots, be sure to optimize the settings of this tool. The Size slider specifies the diameter of the delete brush. The Feather slider determines the smoothness and uniformity of the brush, and the Opacity slider determines the transparency of the brush operation.
There is usually noise in RAW or raw photos as well as JPG compressed photos. Especially if the ambient light is low and the camera quality is low. In photo portrait editing training with Lightroom , removing photo noise is an important issue. On the other hand, another way to reduce blemishes and wrinkles on the skin is to use noise reduction tools. But how to reduce noise and increase the resolution of the photo if necessary: For these cases, use the Detail panel in the Develop module. In the right panel of the screen and the Noise Reduction section, drag the Detail slider to the left to reduce fine details such as pimples and wrinkles. There are other settings in this panel to increase the sharpness and sharpness and improve the contrast, which is not bad to try.
Teeth whitening with the help of Lightroom
To whiten the portrait photo and especially the smile, it is necessary to whiten the teeth. For this purpose, you can use the Adjustment Brush tool of the Develop module. After activating this tool, select Teeth Whitening from the Effect drop-down menu. Then brush your teeth until they are white enough. No need to be precise, just select Range Mask: Color and get to work.
Lipstick effect in light room
To change and beautify the lips, you can also use the Adjustment Brush tool and instead of whitening the teeth, use the effect of increasing the color of the color. Change the Temp settings and the Tint or color shade, as well as the contrast, highlight and shadow in the panel next to the screen, and then work with the brush to optimize the lip color.
Brighten and sharpen the eyes in Lightroom
Another important step in teaching portrait photo editing with Lightroom is to make the eyes more beautiful by increasing the sharpness and brightness. For this purpose, the Adjustment Brush is used and the slider is moved as needed, Sharpness or Contrast, as well as Whites as needed. Then work with the brush on the eyes.
Blur portrait photo background
Today’s camera phones and photography apps automatically blur the background in portrait mode. You can do the same manually in Lightroom and other photo editing software. In Lightroom, this is possible using the Adjustment Brush tool. In the settings of this tool, you have to select a relatively large brush diameter and set the Feather slider to 10 to 20% and the Clarity value to minus 100, and then work with the brush on the background points until they are blurred enough.
Save the edited photo in Lightroom
When you have finished editing the portrait photo with Lightroom, select the photo or photos to save the edited photo. If there are multiple photos, it is better to change the view to Grid or Grid mode. Open the Export window and select the desired photos and click on File. In the Export window, specify the important settings including the output folder and how to name the files, and then click the Export button.
Do not forget that in Lightroom software, you can use the options in the lower left corner to compare pre-edited and edited photos. You can also use \ shortcuts, which is selected. Another way to compare photo changes is to use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard.
Finally, we remind you that there are many softwares for editing photos. If your main job and activity is face photography, it is better to use more special software designed for photo retouching, which will naturally be simpler and more efficient than Lightroom.
