Editing is a very important step in the creative process
because it can really bring our vision to life
my approach to editing is very similar to my approach to photography:
I try to keep it as simple as possible
in this video, I'll show you how I use masking
some of the most powerful tools we have in our toolbox
in lightroom
to make my images better
my hope with this video is to give you some ideas and some inspiration
that maybe you can apply to your own images
it is very rainy and windy out there
so it's the perfect time to sit down, grab a cup of coffee
and just go through our old images
I'll be using Lightroom but this is something that you
can achieve with pretty much any editing software
and of course, with Lightroom Classic as well
but in this version of Lightroom, we'll find most of our editing tools on the right side
here are the basic most common editing options
this is cropping
the healing brush
and here are the masking tools
under this dotted circle
as we can see, we can create a new mask
the ones that we are going to be talking about mainly in this video
are the brush, the linear gradient and the radial gradient
let's talk first about linear gradients
this is the one that I use the most in my editing
here, I have an example of that in this image I made in madeira last year
I have a linear gradient already applied
the best way to see what this tool can do for us is to hide this gradient
as you can see, the whole bottom left of the frame is much lighter, much brighter
in my opinion, is kind of competing for the attention
what I want the viewer to focus on
in this image is on the trunk and then follow the arm of this tree
or the branch of the tree towards the trees in the background
but this foreground here is kind of making that harder
because it's competing for attention
because it is much brighter
so by applying this linear gradient I am darkening that area
so now your eyes are more focused on the areas of the frame that are higher contrast
in this case, this dark trunk against the white background
and then the transition along the branch towards the trees in the background
alright, so I'm going to show you more examples
this is something that I use very often when I have a lot of foreground
or the foreground is messy and busy
again, just trying to focus the attention of the viewer
on the subject or whatever I want them to look at
this example is a much more subtle one
in this case, the gradient creates a smooth transition from the bottom of the frame
towards the top of the frame where the subject is
this is a compositional technique I like to use a lot
to place my subject on the top of the frame because it gives the subject more importance
it makes it more dominant in the frame
so I have to deal with a lot of foreground in a lot of cases
here, if I hide the gradient, you'll hopefully see how the foreground
the bottom of the frame
is a little bit messy and a little bit busy
so what I did here is I decreased the clarity and I added hazing to this part of the frame
by doing that, I remove a lot of the details
so again, it's all about the competition for attention in the frame
I don't want the viewer to get distracted by what's on the bottom of the frame
by what's on the foreground
I want them to transition very smoothly towards the top, towards the subject
I'm gonna show you a few more examples of images where I apply this same concept
this is an image I made in Riaño
what I want the viewer to focus on is on this bush / tree here
and the background, of course
but as you'll see, the foreground of this image was kind of busy and messy, as well
it was very bright
so that competes for attention in the frame
we are dividing our attention
not just between the bush and the mountains in the background
but now the foreground is a very important component of the image
so by creating this linear gradient here
and by decreasing the exposure
also decreasing the dehazing of that area
I am able to... I think,
focus the attention of the viewer better on the parts of the image I want them to look at
so far, all of the examples show how I darken the foreground of the image
but it's not always the case
sometimes, I use the linear gradient, like in this case, to actually make
some parts of the frame brighter, as you can see here
because in this case -- this is more like a high key image where the subject of the picture is dark
so the attention is going to go to those areas of the image with higher contrast
what I want here is to decrease that contrast on the top of the frame
so your attention goes directly to those houses
there, in the middle of the frame
or the bottom part of the frame
we're going to take a look at the next tool now
this one, instead of being a straight line, it's a circle
or more specifically, an oval
so instead of being called a linear gradient, of course, is called a radial gradient
as you can see here
I already have one created and applied on this image
what I was trying to do with this mask
as you can see in the overlay, the parts of the frame that is affecting
is to emphasize that swirling effect or look to the weeds there
as you can see there, without the overlay -- there you go
so emphasizes that swirling effect that the image had
now, as you can see on the overlay, this is very similar to what a vignette does and achieves
but in this case, the gradient gives us more control over the position of that vignette, say
and the shape, and the size, and everything
so I have another example here, where I have a vignette applied
I like the effect that it has on the bottom of the frame
but I don't like it as much on the top
because it's removing some of the contrast that that mountain has against the brightest sky
so what I'm gonna do...
well, first, I'm going to create a version of this editing so you can see the difference
in both approaches
so I'm gonna remove that vignetting from this image
now, I'm gonna try to create a similar effect with a radial gradient
by default, a radial gradient affects everything that is inside that oval
we want the opposite, so what we need to do is to invert here
this is the option
and now it's affecting everything outside of that oval
so this is more similar to the vignette and to what we are trying to achieve here
as I said, you have more control
you can position this vignette, if you will
wherever you want and you can make it the shape you want
so something like this should be fine for the bottom of the frame
as you can see, it's also affecting the top, it's affecting the mountains
if we leave it like this, it's going to have a very similar effect to what we had before
but one of the advantages of using masking tools like this one
is that we can transform them
with tools like the brush
so we can remove some of that mask from the top
the parts that we don't want
so we can guarantee that this mask
now all the edits that we do to this mask
are only going to affect those parts that we see in red in the frame
that is the bottom of the frame
so a little bit of exposure decrease here
now, we can go to the versions and compare
gradient, vignette
look at the bottom of the frame
this is with the vignette
this is with the gradient
it's very similar but now look at the top of the frame
this is with the gradient, and this is with the vignette
as you can see, the vignette is affecting parts of the image that I don't want to be affected
because I still want that contrast in the sky, the mountains, and the sand dune
so in this case, the radial gradient works much better than the vignette
the last masking tool is the brush
this is very powerful, but it's also the most complicated to use one
I think that the best example I can show you is this image
I made last year in the Pyrenees mountains
as you'll see, I have a few masks
these are linear masks on the top of the frame just to emphasize those clouds
but the most important mask I have is this one
as you can see, it's a brush... it's a mask that is affecting only the stream that you see there
you'll see that the effect is very drastic
because without this mask, this would be the image
this is with the mask
so as you can see, I am adding contrast,
I'm emphasizing that path of the stream and those curves
and it's making the image so much better because of that added contrast
and because your attention goes to the bottom of the frame
your eyes go along the stream
and then you get to the mountain on the top
without it, maybe your eyes will go to the mountain first
and then you'll notice the stream on the bottom
but it's not as contrasty, it's not as powerful as it is with the brush
this is another example where the brush makes a huge difference
a mask is here
this is without the brush
this is with the brush
again, adding that contrast
the grass was frozen this morning, but the road was pretty bright as well
so by darkening the road, I am creating that contrast
and in my opinion, making the image much better
now, the problem with the brush tool is that it can be very time consuming
because, even though you have things that help quite a bit like the auto mask
you have to go little by little, filling and selecting all the stuff that you want to select
but, there is a relatively recent feature in Lightroom that is this one
"select subject"
now, it doesn't work perfectly in every case
but when it works, it works pretty well
it should work pretty well in this image
there you go
because the subject is very clear in the image
so by doing that, it automatically creates using AI a selection
a mask with the tree, with the main subject already selected
now, we can apply edits just to that part of the image, just to the tree
so we can show more details by raising the shadows
or we can hide the details by decreasing them
so that's pretty useful
now as you could see in the overlay, it's not totally accurate
so you might want to go and refine that selection
but it's saved me a lot of time because sometimes, you don't know what the edit is going to look like
so what I do is I just do a quick subject selection
I apply a few edits
and if I like what I see, then I can go and refine the selection or do it myself
by hand using just your typical regular brush
this is probably the most clear example I can show you of how masks can affect an image
this was in Point Reyes
I have just two masks, but you'll see how much of an effect they had on this image
the first one, I created using the select subject feature
just to erase a little bit the shadows on that tree
and to show some of the details
by the way, this is an image I made with my phone
so it doesn't have the greatest dynamic range
but it had enough to show some of those details
the most important mask here is the linear gradient on the bottom right of the frame
look at this
this is the huge difference this mask is making for this image
it's a completely different image, it's a completely different photograph
your attention is not where it should be
with the mask, we focus the viewer on this leaning tree and the trees in the background
but without it, the attention is just scattered all over
because these parts of the frame are so bright that are competing
not just competing for attention, but probably winning for the attention there
so the mask makes this image so much better
this is what these masking tools can do you for your images
of course, things like composition and light are key aspects of photography
but as we've seen, a little bit of editing can bring your vision to life
by taking those already very good raw files
those already very good negatives
and improving them just so slightly to get you there
to create the vision that you had in the field
alright, I hope this video was useful
if you have any questions, leave a comment down below
if you have any other tips or ideas about how to use these tools in lightroom
please leave them in the comments down below as well
as usual, I wanted to thank my Patreons for their very generous support
all of this is possible thanks to you
if you want to support my work as well, you can find the link in description down below
or you can buy my book ONE, which I have more copies of available
the link is gonna be in the description as well
thank you so much for watching, and see in the next one!