DEVELOP - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process - page 203

Lightroom of ers local adjustment tools that can be used for dodging and burning:

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• Graduated i lters: linear gradients that can be applied anywhere in the image

• Adjustment brushes: “painted-on” adjustments

Using Lightroom's local adjustments, you can make skin appear smoother, hair
glossier, skies bluer. In many cases, you will i nd you no longer need to use
Photoshop for these tasks.

GRADUATED FILTER
On a camera lens, a split neutral density (nd) i lter (or graduated nd) reduces the
amount of light entering part of the lens in order to balance the exposure between
bright highlights and dark shadows. h e most common use for a split nd is to
balance a bright sky and a darker foreground within a single exposure.

M
Activate/
deactivate
the graduated
i lter tool

'
Invert the
direction of
the gradient

Similarly, Lightroom's graduated i lter tool simulates the ef ect of a split nd i lter
and allows you to apply various adjustments in a smooth, gradual transition. It's
accessed from the tool strip; see Figure 4-71.

Figure 4-71

h e graduated i lter creates linear gradients that are applied in a straight line
between two points: start and end. (Unlike Photoshop, you can't add additional
control points between the start and end of the gradient.) h e graduated i lter
smoothly transitions from full ef ect to no ef ect. Put another way, the strength