7 Lightroom Hidden Gems You Wish You Knew Sooner
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These seven Lightroom tips are hidden features that fix perspective, nudge sliders from the keyboard, pull a JPEG from a video, correct color, tame Curves, and build masks faster.
Here are seven essential tips and tricks to enhance your photo editing skills. These techniques will take your Lightroom game to the next level. Let’s dive right in!
The video was recorded in Lightroom, the 2024 release of the cloud-based desktop app, and every panel it uses is still in the current version.
The video stays in Lightroom the whole time and never opens Lightroom Classic, so the panel names and shortcuts below are the ones Lightroom uses.
Key Takeaways
- Shift G opens the Geometry panel, and the auto upright icon fixes a leaning photo in one click.
- Hover over any slider and tap the arrow keys to move it by 5. Shift makes each tap 20, and Alt makes it 1.
- Lightroom edits video, and Export Video with Current Frame saves any frame as a JPEG.
- Ctrl Alt Shift H, S, and L turn on point sliders for hue, saturation, and luminance, so you click the photo instead of hunting for the right slider.
- A Curves S curve adds saturation as a side effect. The Refine Saturation slider takes it back out.
- Holding Alt in the Masking panel swaps the Add and Subtract icons for Intersect, which limits a new mask to where it overlaps the first one.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Tip 7: Perspective Correction
- Tip 6: Precise Control with Keyboard Shortcuts
- Tip 5: JPEG File From A Video
- Tip 4: Keyboard Shortcut for Color Correction
- Tip 3: Fine-Tuning with Curves Adjustment
- Tip 2: Adaptive Portrait Presets
- Tip 1: Advanced Masking Techniques
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Put These Lightroom Tips Into Action
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to fix perspective with the Geometry panel and auto upright
- How to nudge any slider with the arrow keys in precise increments
- How to export a JPEG from a single frame of a video
- How to color-correct by clicking on the photo with the point slider shortcuts
- How to add contrast with Curves without adding saturation
- How to intersect two masks to light one part of a subject
Requirements
Before you start
- Lightroom (2024 release) or the current version, the cloud-based desktop app
- A photo, a portrait, and a short video clip, so you can try every tip
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Open the Geometry panel | Shift G | Shift G |
| Nudge a hovered slider by 5 | Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
| Nudge a hovered slider by 20 | Shift Up Arrow or Shift Down Arrow | Shift Up Arrow or Shift Down Arrow |
| Nudge a hovered slider by 1 | Alt Up Arrow or Alt Down Arrow | Option Up Arrow or Option Down Arrow |
| Show the original photo or video | \ | \ |
| Point slider for hue | Ctrl Alt Shift H | Command Option Shift H |
| Point slider for saturation | Ctrl Alt Shift S | Command Option Shift S |
| Point slider for luminance | Ctrl Alt Shift L | Command Option Shift L |
| Move a curve point slowly (hold while dragging) | Alt | Option |
| Undo | Ctrl Z | Command Z |
| Show the Intersect button in the Masking panel (hold) | Alt | Option |
Tip 7: Perspective Correction
To quickly adjust the perspective of a photo, press ShiftG (Windows) or ShiftG (macOS) to open the Geometry panel. Click on the auto-upright icon to fix any perspective issues automatically.
Note: Adobe lists ShiftG (Windows) or ShiftG (macOS) as the Guided Upright shortcut. Guided Upright lives inside the Geometry panel, which is why the panel opens when you press it.
Tip 6: Precise Control with Keyboard Shortcuts
Hover over any slider and use the arrow keys to make precise adjustments. Tap the up arrow key to increase and the down arrow key to decrease. Hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (macOS) for increments of 20 and Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) for increments of one.
There is no need to click or drag. A plain tap moves the slider in increments of five, so you get three speeds from one pair of keys.
Tip 5: JPEG File From A Video
Did you know you can import and edit video files in Lightroom? If you want a picture of a specific frame from the video, right-click on the footage, choose Export Video, and select Current Frame to export a JPEG from the video.
Lightroom applies light, color, and effects adjustments to a video the same way it does to a photo. Pause the video on the frame you want before you export it.
Tip: Press \ (Windows) or \ (macOS) to see the original footage, and press it again to bring back the edited version.
Tip 4: Keyboard Shortcut for Color Correction
Press CtrlAltShiftH (Windows) or CommandOptionShiftH (macOS) to enable the point slider feature for color correction. Click anywhere in the image to adjust the hue of the selected color.
The same shortcut works for the other two color controls. Press CtrlAltShiftS (Windows) or CommandOptionShiftS (macOS) for saturation. Then click a color, such as a yellow background, and drag to desaturate it or boost it.
Press CtrlAltShiftL (Windows) or CommandOptionShiftL (macOS) for luminance. Click and drag over the reds in the image to brighten or darken them.
Tip 3: Fine-Tuning with Curves Adjustment
Use the Curves adjustment in the Light panel to add contrast to your images. To avoid adding saturation inadvertently, use the Refine Saturation slider.
Drag the curve into a simple S shape to add contrast. Then drag Refine Saturation to the left to remove the saturation the curve added, so the image only gets darker and lighter where you changed it.
The arrow keys from Tip 6 work on curve points too. Hover over a point and tap the up or down arrow key to move it. Only the up and down arrows work here, because the left and right arrow keys switch to the previous or next photo.
Tip: Curve points are easy to overshoot when you drag them. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while you drag a point and it moves very slowly, which makes small changes easy.
Tip 2: Adaptive Portrait Presets
Explore the Adaptive Portrait Presets under the Premium section in the Presets panel. These presets offer one-click solutions for enhancing portraits.
Hover over a preset, such as Whiten Teeth, and Lightroom previews it on the photo before you click. Click the preset to reveal an Amount slider that raises or lowers the effect, up to 200%.
Each adaptive preset builds a mask that targets one area, such as the teeth, and adjusts only that area. Whiten Teeth raises the highlights, cools the temperature, and reduces yellow and saturation, and you can push any of those sliders further yourself.
Scroll through the rest of the list for presets like Enhance Eyes and one that adds texture to hair, and hover over each one to compare the before and after.
Tip 1: Advanced Masking Techniques
Learn to utilize advanced masking features to create complex effects. Use intersecting masks to target specific areas of your image for adjustments. Open the Masking Panel and select the person number one mask to cover the entire subject.
Click Create to build the mask. In the video, the goal is to make it look like the phone is casting light on her face, so the whole person is the starting point.
Increase exposure and adjust temperature to create a lighting effect. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) to activate the intersect selection button.
You have probably used the Add and Subtract icons before. Add lets you pick a Brush and paint the effect into more of the image, and Subtract paints it away. While you hold the key, those two icons are replaced by the Intersect button.
Tip: Painted a stroke you did not want? Press CtrlZ (Windows) or CommandZ (macOS) to undo it.
Use a masking tool like the radial gradient to apply the effect selectively. Fine-tune the masks for a polished result.
The gradient only affects the area where both masks overlap. The background was never part of the first mask, so it stays untouched, and the light lands only on her face.
To darken everything else, hover over the mask, right-click, and choose Duplicate and Invert Mask. That new mask selects everything but the light on her face, so lower its exposure for a more realistic effect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Press Shift G (Windows) or Shift G (macOS) to open the Geometry panel. Click the auto upright icon and Lightroom straightens the leaning lines automatically.
Hover over the slider and tap the up or down arrow key. Each tap moves it by 5. Hold Shift to move by 20 or Alt (Option on macOS) to move by 1. No clicking or dragging is needed.
Yes. Lightroom imports video and lets you edit its light and color like a photo. Pause on the frame you want, right-click the footage, choose Export Video, and select Current Frame. Lightroom exports that frame as a JPEG.
It turns on the point slider for hue, so you click a color in the photo and drag to shift its hue. The same shortcut with S controls saturation and with L controls luminance. On macOS, use Command Option Shift with the same letters.
An S curve in the Light panel raises contrast, and stronger contrast makes colors look more saturated. Drag the Refine Saturation slider to the left to remove the extra saturation while keeping the contrast.
Open the Presets panel and click Premium. The Adaptive Portrait Presets are in that list. Hover over one to preview it, then click it to reveal an Amount slider.
An intersected mask only affects the area where two masks overlap. In the Masking panel, hold Alt (Option on macOS) so the Add and Subtract icons become Intersect, then add a second mask such as a Radial Gradient. Anything outside the first mask stays untouched.
Put These Lightroom Tips Into Action
The best part of these techniques is that they’re all editable. You can always go back and fine-tune your adjustments to achieve the desired results.
If you found these Lightroom tips helpful, don’t forget to like and subscribe for more tutorials. Now, let’s put these tips into action and elevate your photo editing skills with Lightroom!
Watch the full video above to see every tip in real time.
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