Above: Here’s the image we’re going to work on, and while there are a number of things I would probably remove along that left wall, I’m mostly concerned with that bright spot at the bottom of the stairs, right in front of the vase (it looks like a light beaming through kind of a crescent-shaped opening.

STEP ONE: We head to the Develop Module and I’m going to zoom in tight on the area we’re working on. Next, I click on the Remove Tool in the toolbar (it’s shown as circled here in red. Its icon looks like an eraser). Then, I painted over the bright spot with the tool, as seen above).

STEP TWO: And here is the result, which is pretty bad, but that’s often what you get with this tool (at least, that’s been my experience. Sometimes, it works pretty well, as long as what you’re removing is really simple, but it really falls down on more complicated fixes.

OK, let’s hit “undo” (Command-Z on Mac, Ctrl-Z on Windows) and try again, but this time, we’re going to turn on the Generative AI checkbox (as seen circled above in red).

STEP THREE: With Generative AI turned on, you use the tool like you always would, so I just painted over the bright spot again (as seen above). Now click the ‘Apply’ button to let it do its thing.

Above: After a few seconds, here’s the first result. I say “first” because it gives you three options. The first result is pretty darn good.

Above: To see one of the other results (called ‘Variations’), click the left and right arrow buttons in the Remove panel (circled here in red). I usually find that the 2nd or 3rd variation looks best, but every once in a while, #1 wins out. That’s why it’s important to view all three.

You can clearly see how vastly better this new AI feature makes the removal process, so I leave that checkbox on all the time—I don’t see any reason to go to the “worse result” version of the tool. High-five to Adobe for bringing this to Lightroom. It’s a game-changer when it comes to removing distractions.

Travel Photographers: How to Shoot Like a Pro On Your Next Vacation

We just released a brand new course on how to shoot travel photography like a pro, and we shot the entire course on location in beautiful Santorini, Greece (even though it’s shot in Santorini, the techniques are not about shooting in Greece – you’d apply these same techniques no matter where your travels take you. Check out the official trailer below (it’s just 60-seconds, but you’ll get the idea):

You can buy the course for $29 or watch it and all our other courses on travel photography (and everything else, including a ton of courses on Lightroom) by becoming a KelbyOne member for just $20 a month (cancel anytime and it’s 100% money-back guaranteed!).

Here’s the link to the course.

That’s it for today – hope you have an awesome Monday!

-Scott

The post Does Lightroom’s Remove Tool’s Generative AI Feature Really Make a Big Difference? appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Told ya it was short (and sweet), and I hope it was helpful.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

-Scott

The post Great Little One-Minute Video For Help in Setting Your White Balance appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

I’ve been doing a series of in-depth photo guides for travel photographers for KelbyOne, and I’ve done it for locations all over the world (Paris, London, Lisbon, Rome, New York, Tuscany, Venice, and more), where I share the best places to shoot, the GPS coordinates; I show images from each location and give as many insights as I can. I did one for Chicago as well and one of the locations I talked about was a parking garage where you can shoot down on an intersection of the “L” (Elevated trains). When my co-host for the course, Larry Becker, saw the behind-the-scenes shot of me taking the shot (shown above), he asked how I could possibly get the shot straight at the angle I was shooting from. The answer? Lightroom’s Guided Edit. Here’s how I used it to fix the perspective issue:

STEP ONE: Here’s the shot, taken at the angle you see in the behind-the-scenes shot. To straighten the photo, go to the Transform panel and click on the Guide Button. When you click on this, nothing happens because there are two other steps. One is to click on the Guided Upright Tool (shown circled above), and then next is to drag it out over areas you want to be straightened (we’ll do that in the next step).

STEP TWO: I’m going to click and drag out the tool along the left track (I added a red two-headed arrow here to show you where I’m dragging. The tool itself lays down a white line, but it was hard to see it in this small capture, so I added the red line just as a visual. When you use this tool, the lines will be white. When you drag out the first line, nothing happens yet either.

STEP THREE: When you draw the 2nd Guide Edit line out (as seen here, where I dragged along the track on the right of my first line) you can see the image starts to straighten out. Depending on the image, you might only need two lines, but in this case, the image still looks skewed (the tracks look like they’re leaning downward from right to left through the horizontal middle of the image).

STEP FOUR: Here’s the third line — right down the tracks in the center.

STEP FIVE: I dragged the fourth and final line down the opposite tack, and you can see it’s pretty close now, but look up at the top center track, and you can see that when the fourth Guided Edit line did its thing to straighten out the image, it make the top centerline off by a little. Easily fixed because you can reposition the lines once they’re in place by clicking and dragging.

STEP SIX: I dragged the little repositioning dot on the top line (not quite sure that’s its real name) shown circled above in red and dragged it upward so it’s straight along the track again, and the image readjusts (as you can see here) and now it’s nice and straight.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

–Scott

The post How To Use Lightroom’s “Guided Upright” To Fix Lens Perspective Problems appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Thanks, Mimo! I look forward to seeing him this weekend!

Well, I’ve got thousands and thousands of shots to still go through from shooting two airshows this weekend, one at Ft. Worth NAS and the Sun n Fun Fly-in. I had a fantastic time at both (more on this later), but I’ll work on some tomorrow – gotta hit the sack. Have a great Monday everybody!

-Scott

The post Mimo-Style Black and White Look in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

The Lightroom Conference is almost here!

Our two-day, two-track online Lightroom Conference is coming up in just 11-days. Details and tickets here (sign up now to save $150).

Come with me to Antarctica next February for the trip of a lifetime

I’m joining a team of incredibly talented instructors as part of the Meunch workshop’s incredible trip to Antarctica. You’ve got to check out the video – it’s one of those one-in-a-lifetime bucket list types of experiences for photographers, and you don’t want to miss out. Here’s the link with more details (make sure you watch the video below – so inspiring!).

Joe McNally’s Ellis Island workshop is coming up next month.

Joe gets his participants special access to areas on Ellis Island that are normally off-limits to the public. It gives you the opportunity to create some really fascinating images.

The next one is coming up on May 25, 2024, and is limited to just 25 people. I have two friends who have taken this workshop with Joe, and they just couldn’t rave about it enough. The details are right here 

And now, onto today’s tip below:

Have an awesome weekend, everybody!

-Scott

P.S. If you’re thinking of shooting the Eclipse next week, make sure you check out our guide for shooting it safely (for you and your gear), on this past Wednesday’s episode of “The Grid” where Erik Kuna shares all the thing you need to know (including the latest weather predictions). Here’s the link.

The post My Favorite Duotone Look Lightroom Trick (and some workshop and conference news) appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

That’s all there is to uncluttering your right side panels and making your workflow more efficient.

I updated my “About Me” page

Man, was that thing out-of-date (it had been since the pandemic, at least, so I brought things up to date. If you’ve got a couple of minutes to kill, here’s the link (or click about me at the top of the page).

Have a great Lightroom Tip Tuesday!

-Scott

P.S. Just 14 days to the Lightroom Conference 2024 online.

The post Lightroom Tip Tuesday: How to Reorder (or Hide) Your Panels in the Develop Module appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Here are two different ways to get rid of it. Let’s go!

Above: here’s an example of the corner vignetting we’re talking about (the type (caused by your lens) that I’m talking about (it’s not just your lens, it’s a lot of lenses. It is very common, very irritating, and different from the type of edge darkening we add for effect, which is even all the way around the outside edges — not just in the corners).

METHOD ONE: By just applying a built-in lens profile, you can usually get rid of edge vignetting. Literally just one click. Go to the Lens Correction Panel (in Classic), or in Lightroom (cloud), it’s called the ‘Optics’ panel, and click on “Enable Profile Correction.” That’s all there is to it. Lightroom looks through its database to find a profile for the exact make and model of your lens and it either fixes or mostly fixes the vignetting issue. Compare the corners in the image above, where I turned on the Lens Profile Correction checkbox, versus the one in the previous capture. Quite a difference for just one click. But you can take it a bit further.

Once you’ve applied a Lens Profile, if it didn’t get rid of all the vignetting, you can “fine-tune” the adjustment using the Vignette slider at the bottom of that same panel. Just slide it to the right until the vignetting is gone (as seen above, where I fine-tuned what was left over right outta there!).

METHOD TWO: The other method is the totally manual way, where you skip the whole Lens Profile thing and instead, in that same panel, click the ‘Manual” tab up top, and there you’ll find the main Vignetting slider control (seen above). This is a much broader vignetting control (not just fine-tuning like the other slider), plus right below it is a Midpoint slider for controlling the position of your correction (so it’s either right up in the corner or it extends way into the image — your choice). I reset the image and just used the Vignetting slider and Midpoint slider to adjust the image you see above.

There ya go — short and sweet on removing edge vignetting. Hope you found that helpful.

Join Joe McNally in a special Ellis Island Workshop

This is something really unique – once or twice a year, Joe does a pretty unique workshop in that he gets his participants special access to areas on Ellis Island that are normally off-limits to the public. It gives you the opportunity to create some really fascinating images.

The next one is coming up on May 25, 2024, and is limited to just 25 people. I have two friends who have taken this workshop with Joe, and they just couldn’t rave about it enough. The details are right here (if you get to go, just know in advance—I’m jealous!).

Have a great week, everybody. I hope you’ll stop by again tomorrow for my latest “Lightroom Tip Tuesday” quick video.

-Scott

P.S. The countdown is on to our two-day, two-track online Lightroom Conference. Just 15 days until it kicks off (well, actually, it kicks off the day before with an included pre-conference session). Details and tickets here (sign up now to save $150).

The post How To Remove Darkening in the Corners of Your Image appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

It’s surprisingly easy, but it really makes a difference and works like a charm.

Just a few weeks away from the Lightroom Conference 2024

It’s a two-day, two-track conference (with a pre-conference session the day before included). We’re talking 20+ Lightroom training sessions; an all-star crew of instructors, and you can save a bundle if you sign up right now at kelbyonelive.com – check out the trailer below with more details:

Get your ticket right now at kelbyonelive.com

Have a great Easter weekend, everybody!

-Scott

P.S. Our workshop with Joe McNally – the one I talked about earlier in the week, is now sold out. If you want to get on the cancellation waiting list, head to kelbyone.com/workshops

The post The Quick Trick For Sharpening Women’s or Children’s Skin appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Really handy, right?

Have a great Lightroom Tip Tuesday!

-Scott

The post Lightroom Tip Tuesday: How To Reset One (or a bunch) of Lightroom Sliders Really Fast! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Hope you found that helpful!

Thursday I’m Off To England

I’m very excited to be speaking at ‘The Photography Show’ at the NEC in Birmingham. I’m speaking this Saturday, Sunday and Monday on everything from Photoshop to Travel Photography and AI, and I’m doing two book signings at the Rocky Nook booth. Plus, on Friday night, I’m shooting my first major league Rugby match – all in all, I am super psyched! I hope I get to meet you there in person. Tickets are at photographyshow.com

Have a great Lightroom Tip Tuesday!

-Scott

P.S. Have you signed up for the Lightroom Conference (you can save $100 if you register now). Here’s the link.

The post Lightroom Tip Tuesday: Adding Extraordinary Contrast appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.