How to Fix Harsh Light With Simple Lightroom Masks

Shooting in harsh midday sunlight is something you’ll probably avoid whenever you can, but sometimes it’s your only option. That kind of light can leave you with dull results, which makes editing an essential part of the process.

Coming to you from Gareth Evans with Park Cameras, this practical video looks at how to take an uninspiring midday shot and make it stronger in Lightroom Classic. Evans starts by addressing framing and straightening, which are easy to overlook in the moment but make a big difference later. He uses the transform tools to adjust tilt and perspective, pulling the background closer and giving the tower in the frame more presence. Once the structure of the shot is improved, he crops and recenters to clean up the composition. This approach shows how basic corrections early in editing can completely shift the balance of an image.

The video also highlights the power of masking for targeted adjustments. Evans creates multiple masks to control exposure and contrast, starting with the sky. Rather than a single automatic selection, he combines a gradient with a sky mask for finer control. He then builds on that with a color range mask, refining the blues and balancing out saturation and luminance. You see how stacking these tools lets you recover detail and give shape to a part of the image that otherwise looks blown out. This process is particularly useful if you’ve got too much empty sky in your own shots.

Another section of the tutorial focuses on guiding the eye through light shaping. Evans darkens the bottom of the frame with a gradient and brightens the central tower using a radial mask, which draws attention to the subject. He even simulates sunlight entering from one side of the frame by feathering a gradient, subtracting from it to keep the foreground natural, and giving the illusion of directional light. These techniques make the edit feel more intentional and teach you ways to manage visual flow beyond just adjusting sliders globally. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Evans.