Two Ways to Use Lightroom's Radial Filters for Better Portraits

Lightroom's radial filter tool is tremendously useful for a wide variety of edits. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use it both for emphasizing a portrait subject's eyes and for drawing more attention to their face. 

Coming to you from Anthony Morganti, this excellent video tutorial will show you how to use radial filters to emphasize a portrait subject's face and bring out their eyes a bit more. I personally love the radial filter feature in Lightroom, and I use it to add a light vignette to almost every photo I take since the built-in vignette tool doesn't work for off-center subjects. The thing to remember, particularly with the filter applied to the eyes, is that it is very easy to go overboard. Generally, it is better to err on the side of more subtle edits, as going too far can lead to rather garish results. When you are working with the eyes, a good trick is to zoom way out when you are done. If you have gone a bit overboard, you will likely notice the eyes popping out quite a bit against the rest of the image. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Morganti. 

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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