Lightroom’s Secret Weapon – Alt/Choose Keyboard Modifiers • PhotoTraces

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It’s onerous to overestimate the significance of keyboard shortcuts in Lightroom or in another enhancing program. Shortcuts assist us pace up and optimize our enhancing workflow. Yow will discover the tutorial devoted completely to probably the most helpful keyboard shortcuts in Lightroom right here.

Lightroom’s Secret Weapon - Alt/Opt Keyboard Modifiers

There are additionally keyboard keys that don’t act precisely as shortcuts as a result of they work together with present instruments and serve the aim to change or lengthen their default features. I name these “Keyboard Modifiers.”

Some of the highly effective keyboard modifiers in Lightroom is the Alt (PC), Possibility (Mac) key. Through the use of the Alt/Possibility key in several areas of Lightroom, we are able to lengthen this system’s usefulness and even the practical vary of the assorted enhancing instruments.

In at present’s tutorial, I’ll clarify how one can lengthen the performance of various areas of Lightroom utilizing Alt/Possibility keyboard modifiers.

Develop Module

I all the time begin with the Develop Module as a result of that is the place I spend the vast majority of my time. It’s also the place the Alt/Possibility modifiers are probably the most helpful and efficient.

Solo Mode

Within the Lightroom Develop Module, there are 9 primary enhancing panels. If you open all of those panels, it’s simple to get misplaced endlessly scrolling as you attempt to discover the precise enhancing slider to your wants. Solo Mode helps you remove muddle by permitting you to have just one enhancing panel open (prolonged).

When Solo Mode is lively and also you open any of the enhancing panels—just like the Cut up Firming, for instance—it closes all the opposite panels. Solo Mode is probably the most helpful when your display actual property is restricted like when utilizing a laptop computer.

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In Solo Mode just one panel is lively

To activate Solo Mode, press the Alt/Possibility key and click on the header of any enhancing panel. To deactivate Solo Mode, maintain the Alt/Possibility key pressed and click on any of the enhancing panels once more.

I exploit Solo Mode 99% of the time, even after I use a desktop pc with a big monitor. Solo Mode retains my UI neater.

Now, let’s dive into every enhancing panel and the instruments within the Develop Mannequin to see how we are able to lengthen their functionalities through the use of the Alt/Possibility modifiers.  

The Fundamental Panel

Reset Sliders

The most typical and hottest use of the Alt/Possibility secret’s to reset a number of enhancing sliders to their default values. This performance works in nearly all of the panels together with the Fundamental Panel.

By holding the Alt/Possibility key down, the brand new choices (Reset Tone and Reset Presence) seem. By clicking the “reset choices,” you’ll reset all of the enhancing sliders to zero.

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Reset choices within the Fundamental Panel

Present Spotlight Clipping

By holding down the Alt/Possibility key whereas dragging the Publicity, Highlights, or Whites sliders, you’ll be able to see if any areas of the picture have clipped highlights.

The white space of the preview signifies that each one three coloration channels (crimson, inexperienced, blue) are blown.

The crimson, inexperienced, and blue areas present that just one channel is clipped.

The cyan, magenta, and yellow areas point out that two out of three channels are clipped.

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Present Spotlight Clipping within the Fundamental Panel

This performance is extraordinarily helpful when evaluating if the overexposed areas of the picture will be recovered. As a normal rule, if just one channel is clipped, there’s a good likelihood of recovering it. However when two or three channels are clipped or blown, you’re most definitely out of luck.

Present Shadow Clipping

By urgent the Alt/Possibility key whereas dragging the Shadows or Blacks sliders, you’ll be able to see the areas of the picture with clipped shadows.

The black areas of the picture point out that each one three coloration channels have clipped shadows.

The crimson, inexperienced, and blue areas point out that just one channel is clipped.

The cyan, magenta, and yellow areas point out that two out of three channels have clipped shadows.

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Present Shadow Clipping within the Fundamental Panel

The Tone Curve Panel

Within the Tone Curve Panel, you’ll be able to modify the tone curve through the use of the Area Sliders. Should you want higher precision, you’ll be able to edit the tone curve immediately by altering the form of the curve for the person coloration channels (crimson, inexperienced, blue) or the mixed channel.

Reset Area Sliders

By urgent the Alt/Possibility key when utilizing the Area Sliders, you’ll be able to entry the choice to reset all 4 Area Sliders to the default values (zero).

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Resetting the Tone Curve Changes

Entry Wonderful Tune Changes

When enhancing the tone curve immediately, the Alt/Possibility modifier works in another way. The Alt/Possibility key adjustments the sensitivity of the mouse motion and lets you make extra refined changes. This works extraordinarily nicely when mixed with the Shift key, which constrains the mouse motion to solely the Y-axis.

HSL/Coloration Panel

Within the HSL/Coloration Panel, the Alt/Possibility modifier has just one perform—it resets the enhancing sliders to zero. The panel has 24 whole enhancing sliders. It could be a chore to reset them one after the other.

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Resetting the HSL/Coloration Panel

That is the panel the place I exploit the reset choices probably the most typically.

Cut up Firming Panel

You’ll be able to reset the Highlights and Shadows whereas holding down the Alt/Possibility key.

Visualizing the Cut up Firming Impact

Maintain down the Alt/Possibility key whereas transferring the Spotlight Hue or Shadow Hue sliders to see the colour you chose at 100% saturation earlier than you dial it up. As soon as once more, this can be a very helpful visualization software that I exploit very often.

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Visualizing the Cut up Firming Impact

Element Panel

The enhancing sliders within the Element Panel make it easier to take management of sharpening the picture and lowering any digital noise.

By holding down the Alt/Possibility key, you’ve entry to the Reset Sharpening and Reset Noise Discount choices.

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Resetting the Element Panel

Visualizing Sharpening Impact

By holding down the Alt/Possibility key and transferring the Quantity slider, the picture turns right into a black and white preview that lets you higher assess the sharpening results.

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Visualizing Sharpening Impact

If you press the Alt/Possibility key and drag the Radius or Element slider, the picture preview turns to a impartial grey and solely the areas affected by the sharpening are proven in white. That is priceless.

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Visualizing Sharpening Impact – Radius, Particulars

The Masking enhancing slider helps you reduce the impact of sharpening by narrowing the affected space. The mixture of the Masking enhancing slider and the Alt/Possibility secret’s probably the most helpful visible helper in the complete Element Panel. It exhibits the realm affected by sharpening in white and retains the unaffected areas in black. That is one of the simplest ways to restrict the sharpening impact to the sides and go away the flat areas just like the sky or water unaffected.

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Visualizing Sharpening Picture Masking Impact

Visualizing Noise Discount Impact

Maintain down the Alt/Possibility key whereas dragging the Luminance, Element, or Distinction sliders. This exhibits the picture in black and white as a way to higher consider the noise discount impact.

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Visualizing Noise Discount Impact

Lens Correction Panel

Through the use of the Alt/Possibility keyboard modifier, you’ve entry to the next reset choices: Reset Quantity, Reset Distortion, Reset Defringe, Reset Vignetting.

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Resetting Lens Correction Panel

Visualizing Defringing

As soon as once more, the primary energy of the Alt/Possibility key within the Defringe part of the Lens Correction Panel is the flexibility to visualise the affected areas. As a rule, the chromatic aberration impacts small areas of the picture across the edges. It’s simple to overcook defringing and alter the colours of the adjoining areas.

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It’s troublesome to judge the Defringing when the picture is in full coloration

Maintain the Alt/Possibility key down whereas transferring the purple or inexperienced Quantity sliders to see the areas affected by the enhancing sliders from mild gray to pure black. The unaffected areas of the picture are proven in white.

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Visualizing the Quantity of Defringing

Maintain the Alt/Possibility down whereas dragging the purple or inexperienced Hue sliders to visualise the vary of tones affected by the enhancing sliders.

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Visualizing the vary of Defringing

Remodel Panel

With the Alt/Possibility keyboard modifier, you’ve the flexibility to reset the enhancing sliders within the following areas: Reset Upright and Reset Remodel.

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Resetting the Remodel Panel

Results Panel

The Reset Put up-Crop Vignetting and Reset Grain seem once you maintain down the Alt/Possibility key.

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Resetting the Results Panel

Visualizing Vignetting

Maintain down the Alt/Possibility key whereas transferring the Midpoint, Roundness, Feather, or Highlights slider to see the impact of vignetting if the Quantity worth was set to +100 or to -100. This can be a very helpful visualization software to correctly estimate the quantity and form of vignetting that’s required for any given picture.

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Visualizing Vignetting

Calibration Panel

Maintain down the Alt/Possibility key to entry the reset choices.

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Resetting the Calibration Panel

Crop Overlay

The Alt/Possibility key doesn’t invoke the reset choices within the Crop Overlay Panel as a result of the panel has a devoted reset button.

Crop to the Heart

The Alt/Possibility key within the Crop Overlay Panel lets you crop a picture to the middle quite than to the sting. This modifier migrated to Lightroom from Photoshop and Illustrator.

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Crop to the Heart

Spot Removing

Within the Spot Removing Panel, the Alt/Possibility performs just one perform—it adjustments the cursor from a rounded brush to a scissor icon. This lets you delete any pointless spots by clicking on them with the scissors.

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Spot Removing

Graduated Filter

Within the Graduated Filter Panel, the Alt/Possibility performs two very helpful features past the frequent reset features.

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Resetting the Graduated Filter

Altering the Path of the Gradient

First, you’ll be able to maintain down the Alt/Possibility key and drag the sting of the chosen graduated filter towards the middle to invert its impact to the opposite facet of the picture. That is extraordinarily helpful.

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Altering the Path of the Gradient

Adjusting Publicity

Second, you’ll be able to maintain down the Alt/Possibility key and transfer the mouse to the middle of the chosen graduated filter to alter the cursor to a two-headed arrow. Now you can drag the mouse to the left or proper to extend or cut back the publicity worth. I exploit this perform very often.

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Graduated Filter – Adjusting Publicity

Radial Filter

Within the Radial Filter, the Alt/Possibility modifier works much like the Graduated Filter. You should use it to reset the 17 enhancing sliders to the default worth of zero in a single click on.

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Altering Publicity

You can even change the Publicity worth of the chosen Radial Filter by dragging the mouse to the left or to the precise. Don’t forget that it’s essential to press the Alt/Possibility key and transfer the mouse over the middle of the filter earlier than you’ll be able to have an effect on the Publicity change.

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Radial Filter – Altering Publicity

Filter Brush

By holding down the Alt/Possibility key when the Filter Brush software is lively, it alters its performance in two methods.

First, it adjustments the Impact label to a clickable Reset button for a fast option to reset all of the enhancing sliders to zero.

Switching from Brush to Eraser

Second, it adjustments the filter from the Brush Mode to the Eraser Mode. That is extremely helpful when retouching portraits. You’ll be able to erase undesirable edits by merely urgent the Alt/Possibility key. Plus, you’ll be able to change the scale of the Brush and the Eraser independently utilizing the ] and [ shortcuts.

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Reset and Switch from Brush to Eraser

Setting the Default Develop Setting

When you are in the Develop Module and press the Alt/Option key, the Reset button at the bottom right corner of the UI changes to the “Set Default…” button.

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By clicking this, you are presented with the following dialog box:

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If you click the “Update to Current Settings” option, Lightroom will use the current settings as a default for any photos taken with that particular camera model. In my case, the Fujifilm XT2.

Let’s see when this feature might be useful.

Lightroom does not handle the Fujifilm RAW files very well when applying Sharpening. It produces unnatural, wormlike artifacts. I could set the Sharpening value to zero and hit the “Update to Current Settings” option. From that moment, all my Fujifilm XT2 files will have a Sharpening value set to zero during import. All my Sony images will have the Adobe default value of 40.

I do not use this feature at all.

Library Module

In the Library Module, the Alt/Option key does not produce as many new options or functions compared to the Develop Module.

Solo Mode

Hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the header of any panel (left or right) to set the entire panel to Solo Mode.

Quick Edit

In the Quick Develop Panel, press the Alt/Option key to access the Sharpening and Saturation controls, which are hidden by default.

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Keywording

Hold down the Alt/Option key to add keywords to a selected photo by hitting the numbers on the keyboard.

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Metadata

Hold down the Alt/Option key and click the arrow next to the GPS field to trigger Google Maps to open in your default browser with the selected location where the photo was taken. Please note that this will not work if the GPS field is empty.

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Export Module

The only thing the Alt/Option key does in the Export Module is to enable or disable the Solo Mode.

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Conclusion

I consider the Alt/Option Keyboard Modifiers to be some of the most useful and lesser known functions of Lightroom. I do not believe that you have to learn and memorize all of them. Simply adopt the modifiers that are the most useful and impactful to your workflow and stick with them.

Here is a list of my favorites and the ones I use the most often:

  • Reset – It is easy to remember and works almost everywhere
  • Adjustment Brush – Switches from Brush to Eraser
  • Basic Panes – Shows Highlight clippings
  • Spot Removal – Deletes unwanted spots

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