10 THINGS LIGHTROOM USERS

NEED IN PHOTOSHOP
WITH MATT KLOSKOWSKI

Instructor Biography: Matt Kloskowski

Matt Kloskowski is the Vice President of Photography at onOne
and a Tampa based landscape photographer. Hes a best selling
author of over 20 books on Photography, Lightroom, and
Photoshop and teaches at seminars and conferences around
the world.
Website: www.mattk.com

Using Photoshop from Lightroom

In Lightroom you can access the Preferences by going to LIGHTROOM (or
edit)>PREFERENCES... click on the External Editing tab. These preferences tell Lightroom
what kind of file to send over to Photoshop.
*Its best to leave the
settings at their default
Take

photo

from

Lightroom to PSgo to PHOTO> EDIT

IN> EDIT IN ADOBE
PHOTOSHOP

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The Edit Photo with Adobe Photoshop option box will pop up if your files arent RAW.
Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments- makes a copy of your image so that the
adjustments you made in lightroom are visible
Edit a Copy- creates a copy of your unedited file to work on in Photoshop
Edit Original- is only an option when youre working with non-RAW files. It will actually
change the original image
Open Multiple Files as Layers in Photoshop
Select the images you want to open in Lightroom. Go to PHOTO> EDIT IN> OPEN AS
LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP...
When youre done with your edits in Photoshop go to FILE>SAVE (do not change the
name or any settings) and PS will save your new edits, masks, layers etc. and take it back
to Lightroom for you.
Once back in Lightroom you will see your .TIFF version of the image that you just edited
in photoshop. You can continue to make adjustments to the image in Lightroom or you
can reopen it in photoshop to make changes to your layers and masks etc.
Enhancing Reflection
Select your images in LR and go to PHOTO> EDIT IN> EDIT IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP...
Use your Quick Selection Tool (or other selection tool) to select the area of the background
image

where

the

new

reflection will be. Go to

the image youre taking
the reflection from and
go to SELECT>ALL then
copy the image. Now go
back to your background
image

(the

selection

should still be active) go to

EDIT> PASTE SPECIAL>
PASTE INTO.

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Photoshop will Paste the second image into the first but will automatically create a Layer
mask in the shape of the selection you made. Select the reflection layer to move and
resize it as desired. When finished, change the opacity of the reflection layer so it looks
more realistic.
Removing Glare from Glasses (composite method)
Start by taking 2 photos of the person. One with and one without their glasses on.
Have them remain as still as possible between the two images. Select both images in
Lightroom, go to PHOTO>EDIT IN> OPEN AS LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP...

Align the 2 layers by selecting the top layer and changing

the blend mode to Difference. This will allow you to see both
layers and when anything is Black its the same as the image
below it. Use this to align the pupils of the eyes then change
the Blend Mode back to Normal.
Add a Black layer mask to the layer without glasses by
holding down Option or Alt and click the New Mask Icon.
Now using a white brush paint over the glare in the glasses
to reveal the eyes on the other layer.

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Portrait Retouching in Lightroom

Eyes
Go to the Develop Module and select
your adjustment brush.
Change

the

sliders

to

increase

exposure, saturation and contrast.

Teeth
With your adjustment brush selected
make sure you are creating a New
adjustment by clicking New. Move
the Saturation slider down just a little
bit to help remove some of the yellow
without making it look unnatural. You
can also increase the exposure a little
bit.

click on the effect menu drop down to save your brush

settings for often used adjustments

Skin
Blemish Removal- Select the Spot
Removal tool. Click on the spot to be
removed and drag the source circle
to the desired area. You can change
the opacity to simply lighten things
such as moles instead of removing
them completely.
Skin Softening- Use your Adjustment Brush tool to paint on the skin then move the
Clarity slider to the left a little bit to help smooth the skin.

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Retouching in Photoshop
Lightroom has simple, effective but limited tool for retouching. If you need something
more robust select your photo then go to EDIT> EDIT IN> EDIT IN PHOTOSHOP... to
open a copy in Photoshop.
Clone tool- Paint and exact copy from a source spot in the image
Healing Brush tool- looks at surrounding pixels as well as source spot to help blend away
blemishes.
Do all your retouching on a new layer by
clicking the New Layer icon at the bottom
of the Layers Panel. Make sure your Source
(at the top of the document) is set to All
Layers.
Hold down the Option key and click on a
point in the image you want to use as a
source then paint over the blemish to be
removed.
Lighten Dark Areas- to lighten dark areas such as under the eyes, change the blend
mode on your retouching layer to Lighten and drop the opacity to 20% then use the
Clone Stamp tool to brush on the dark areas.
Lighten Wrinkles- Open your image in Photoshop then add a New Layer. Use the Healing
Brush tool to paint over wrinkles. This should make them disappear completely so when
youre finished be sure to drop the opacity of your retouch layer to make it look more
natural.

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COMPOSITING
Since Lightroom doesnt have the ability to do layers it isnt possible to do compositing
in LR.
Complex SelectionsOpen your photos in Photoshop
as

layers

then

copy

and

paste your subject onto your

background

image.

Resize

subject as needed then choose

the Quick Selection tool to
select your subject. Zoom in to
make sure you have an accurate
selection on your subject.
To select the hair, click the Refine Edge button at
the top of the document. In the options box that
comes up set your radius on the low end, then click
the brush icon next the Edge Detection section.
Next, use the brush to loosely paint around the
small bits of hair to include them in the selection.
If there is some color cast happening along the
small hairs (from the subjects original background)
click on the Decontaminate Colors box and use
the Amount slider to adjust the color cast.

Panoramas-

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Select your photos for the panorama in Lightroom and go to PHOTO>EDIT IN> MERGE
TO PANORAMA IN PHOTOSHOP
If you dont need a massive file for printing, its a good idea to save your individual photos
as .JPGs before starting this process to save a lot of time (up to 5 minutes or more!)
Next, go to LAYER> MERGE VISIBLE to flatten the image. From here you can just use the

crop tool to get rid of the white bits at the edges. OR you can try to fill it by grabbing
your Quick Selection tool, click the transparent/white area around the edges, go to EDIT>
FILL and choose Content-Aware from the drop down menu. If it does a pretty good job
of filling in the image, use your Clone Stamp tool to fix any weird spots.

HDR & SKIES

To create an HDR image you need to have at least
3 images of varying exposure that capture the
range of properly lit detail.

Select your images in Lightroom then go to

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PHOTO> EDIT IN> MERGE TO HDR PRO IN PHOTOSHOP... If youre using RAW files
change the Mode from 32 bit to 16 bit to access the options sliders.
Gamma- removes contrast and has a flattening effect

Exposure- changes the overall exposure of the image

Detail- adds sharpness and contrast to detail areas
Remove Ghosts- removes objects that are moving through the image such as a car
Save your image and head back to Lightroom. In the Develop Module scroll down to the
Lens Corrections panel and use the Transform sliders to correct the perspective if you
need to.
Replacing SkiesSelect your images and go to PHOTO> EDIT IT> OPEN AS LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP.
Put your sky layer on top of other layers in the Layers Panel then click the eyeball icon to
hide its visibility. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the sky in your subject image.

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If there are tricky areas of the selection such as

trees, click the Refine Edge button at the top of the
document and click the brush icon. Then paint on the
overlapping tree section. Hit Ok.
Turn on the visibility of the sky layer and make sure
its active in the Layers Panel. Click the layer mask
icon at the bottom of the Panel and it will add a
mask to the sky layer with everything
automatically hidden except for your
selection.
To reposition the part of the sky that
you want to show through click the
link between the layer and the mask
to unlink them. Click on the thumbnail
of the sky and reposition it.

CONTENT AWARE & LIQUIFY

Removing objects with Content Aware- Bring your
image into Photoshop and with the Lasso tool make
a selection around the object you want to remove. Hit
the delete key and in the pop-up box choose Content-Aware from the drop down. If the
first try doesnt give a great result, go back and try a more accurate selection.
Liquify- Bring your image into Photoshop. PHOTO> EDIT IN> EDIT IN
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP... in Photoshop go to FILTER> LIQUIFY.... Zoom
in to the area you want to change and with the Forward Warp tool
brush the edges in the direction you want them to move.

Blending Layers
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To create collage style images, select your images in Lightroom and then open them in
photoshop layers by going to PHOTO> EDIT IT> OPEN AS LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP
Add a mask to the layer you want to blend and click on the mask thumbnail to make it
active. Grab the Gradient tool
and use it to help create an
even fade effect. (must use
black to white on the mask)
For more control grab your
brush tool and make it soft
then use black to blend away
areas you dont need.
Adding Text
Open your photo into Photoshop. Click on the Text tool and type on your image. Photoshop
will make the text automatically on its own layer.
With the Type tool selected you have a lot of options with your type. To open the Options
Panel for the Type tool go to WINDOW> CHARACTER

Image Inside of Text

Open your images as layers
into photoshop. Type the
text you want and move
your image layer above
the text layer. With the
image layer selected, Go to
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LAYER>CREATE CLIPPING MASK

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Notes:

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