What happens when you take a shot and you just love the expression of your subject, but the light lets you down? You take it into Lightroom and sprinkle some magic dust all over it, and in this tutorial, I'll show you exactly how I do that.
Facial expressions and poses in portraits can make or break an image, so it can be so frustrating when you get a brilliant shot but are either let down by your camera settings or the lighting. The best method is to get things right at the source. Reset, check your levels, dial in the right camera settings, meter your light, and go again. But for those of us that don't have that luxury, perhaps that one rare snap of your partner you got before they realized you had a camera in your hand or that candid moment between mother and daughter, it might not be possible to repeat it.
That's where post-production image editing comes in to help. With the aid of Adobe Lightroom Classic, you can save even the worst photos from the brink and breathe new life into your images. This is exactly what I had to do when I just couldn't let go of a test shot I captured at the beginning of a portrait session I had last year. There was something special about the shot that resonated with me, so it was time to get to work.
What's Wrong With the Shot?
Being a test shot, I was still getting my camera and lighting set up, so the light was far too bright and my shadows too dark. Fortunately, though, the image was in focus and I was able to tease out detail using Lightroom.
Make a Profile Treatment
I like to set up the foundation of the image by moving down the tools in the Develop module in a rather linear fashion (especially when I'm trying to make corrections rather than enhancements). I start with a profile treatment adjustment.
Correct the White Balance
My original shot was far too blue and pink, so I made changes manually using the sliders in the Develop module until it looked as I wanted, rather than using a preset white balance or the white balance selector to pick a neutral gray or white.
Boost the Exposure
To regain detail in the shadows, I boosted the exposure so that the entire frame was brighter, but that also meant my lit-portion of the subject was now overexposed.
Make Tonal Adjustments
I corrected the overexposure on the camera-left side of my subject by reducing the highlights slider and then revealed more detail in the shadows by boosting the shadows slider until I could see more on the side of his face and in his clothes.
Correct Lens Distortions
To equal out the frame visually and remove any optical characteristics my lens gave to the photo, I used the lens corrections tab to enable profile corrections.
Brighten the Face
To polish off the shot, I wanted to see a little more in my subject's shaded half of his face, so I used the adjustment brush and boosted the exposure to paint some brightness into the shadow. I did this on the face alone because it's the most important part of this shot.
Not wanting to remove the shadows entirely from the photo (I think the chiaroscuro in this shot is actually one of its selling points), I decided to use the adjustment brush to boost the exposure on my subject's face. I painted only over the shadow area of his face and turned on the mask overlay (O) to show where I was affecting. If I turned up the exposure too high, it would look unrealistic, so I kept it subtle at +0.56.
See the Difference
As you can see above, the edited version of my portrait is much more palatable than the original. The highlights are tamed, there's more detail in the shadows, and the warmth from the altered white balance helps draw you into the subject, as it feels more friendly and inviting. The only other thing to change about this image would be to extend the backdrop, but in terms of exposure and color, I think it's pretty much there.
