Lightroom 2024 brings this amazing new panel called Point Color and it’s really good. Today I’ll show you everything you need to know to master it.
Lightroom Point Color Secrets. Is it better than Capture One?
You can add spot color instantly within pre-made masks like Elegance Speed Masks. Also download my free film presets to play with the advanced color and see how it works beside balanced use of HSL sliders.
Use Point COlor when you need precision.
Much like the advanced color in Capture One. Lightroom point color lets you go beyond the HSL basic color sliders. Select a color spot and you’re in.
Don’t stop using HSL because the sliders we’ve been using for years are clean and you rarely get the artifacts or problems that can come from more precise selection and maks.
That sais point color seems to naturally work flawlessly. Only turn the range down as needed to avoid hard lines and don’t be afraid to use the advanced adjustments.
In the end, point color is not to replace HSL sliders but to give you more control when you need it including in masks like we’re doing here in the video.
Another level of masking.
The only real choice you have to make in point color is to decide whether to use it in global development settings, that is the selection you create based on color and tone will affect everything in the photo like here in the water of Thors Well.
Or do you want to be more specific? Then just ass your point color within a mask brush on, a portrait mask, AI background. You can use it anywhere and it works the same.
Now you may spend some time making these settings and I can’t find a practical way to copy the point color swatches you made into a mask from the main development, This would be useful. What we can do is add various mixes into presets which you’ll see in future updates of my preset packs.
Lightroom Point Color VS Capture One Advanced Color?
Objectively speaking yes I believe point color wins this battle. But they are both powerful and will achieve the same goal.
Lightroom Spot color is more visual, how more ways to adjust settings, and has a 3rd dimension in direct luminosity control in the selection that Capture One lacks.
Some will argue that because Cap[ture also has a skin panel it’s better. But in truth, the skin panel is more limited because it’s still just an advanced color selection.
Yes, capture one does shave have from uniformity sliders in the Skin panel, but the selection is not that precise. Lightroom on the other hand can make an instant subject mask and you can use point color to define the tone and balance of that color on the subject ONLY.
In the end, use what works for you/ Lightroom seems to have leaped ahead once again on one of the few features that Capture One still had as an advantage. Not capturing one is really only looking at a lead in tethering.
We’ll see more in our annual review of Lightroom VS Capture One in 2024 when both apps have new versions and Phase One has a chance to do something big.
2024 may be a year of reckoning for Phase One. But there’s no doubt Lightroom took this feature from their playbook after many years. What we do know is C1 just lost an edge with the new Lightroom Spot Color tool and I’ll show you how to use it today.
Lightroom Spot Color was only a Capture One feature before.
Play with Lightroom Spot Color. Grab the Free Filmist presets and play with spot color to enhance details. Also, check out the new Amber Presets pack as it does deep things with color and is a good example of the power of this.
Lens Blur is also cool, but do you need it like Lightroom Spot Color?
The new lens blur feature works pretty well and will doubtless get better. But do we need a mobile-style bokeh in Lightroom?
I can see this being good for enhancing existing bokeh. I would personally avoid it in images that have no bokeh as in our phones it does make mistakes. Unlike the new Lightroom Spot Color which is the game changer, lens blur in LR 24 is just a nice feature.
Blurs have long been limited in Lightroom and don’t really exist in Capture One. I think I’ll find myself using this as a general blut tool more than a bokeh tool. Sadly I don’t see a way to use this in presets thus far.
Don’t use Lightroom Spot color on everything.
As I explain in the video you don’t need to open this feature up with every color. Most times I apply a preset from Filmist or Amber and it’s formulated just fine. Stay tuned to my channel because I I’ll be making more videos about when and where this tool is amazing.
What this does allow is fine-tuning if you feel a color is just not quite right. It also allows deeper and easier fine-tuning when creating presets so you can be sure I will be implementing it in future updates to mine.
Advanced Color in Capture One is really good, but the visual manner in which Lightroom Spot Color works lets you select colors and see the output and I might like that better. We’ll compare the two in the 2024 LR vs C1 review soon.
Here I used Amber presets but selected just the dark oranges to adjust them to my liking. By activating the Visualize range you can see only the selected color much like in Capture one.
Using this tool in Lightroom masks is even better.
Ai Masks are amazing in Lightroom and many of you use my Elegance Speed Mask presets to apply them in fast groups. But until now we have had no HSL-style controls in masks and I have always had to find clunky workaround when making presets.
You can bet you’ll be seeing updates to my Ai presets that take advantage of LIghtroom Spot color in specific details. I can say from much experience that it will empower our masking to a new level like me you’ve probably been wanting this for a long time.
The power of Lightroom Spot color with a mask is evident. I’ll show you this example in the video.
It will be interesting to see what competition from the likes of Affinity, Capture One and others will bring and we will all benefit from it.
Here’s how to Speed-Mask and why it changes everything.
But with the new object to select Lightroom Ai masks everything goes up a level. And with the new Elegance 4.7 Speed Mask update and with Ai masking coming to Capture One soon, who knows what’s next!
First, the video, and I’ll show you how to be a mask power user.
You can get Elegance 4 for LR here and there’s a great bundle combo with Natural HDR. If you have V4, just login and update. This also all works in Camera RAW masks and LR CC.
You don’t need to use object masking most of the time.
As you’ll see in the video using the extra time to add an object select mask on a thing the AI already has covered like a portrait project usually results in a worse selection.
So I’ll start with a Speed Mask and then add object select as an extra layer when needed. Honestly not that often, but when you need it it’s amazing.
Use the most specific mask for the job and the main list of Ai masks covers it. IE, subject mask, us that first because it can be used in a speed mask, copied and pasted to over images, and is more accurate.
I just used the POrtrait Glamor Speed Mask from Elegance 4.7. Here pushed to 200%. 11 Masks were added in a click and all adjusted with one slider. Good Speed-Masks should be optimes to turn up and down.
Watch how your masks combine.
As you build up all these masks much like layers in Photoshop, things can start to get strange.
This is why even with one or two mask edits, saving as a speed mask will not just be faster it will give better results if you optimize those mask layers to be versatile on all image types.
So… Develop, then Speed Mask, then Details.
I recommend starting with a base development process. That means I’ll use Filmist, Silver, etc then tweak the main process.
Aftet that I add my masks. Then copy all those finals to other images as needed and let it render. Then if needed use object selection masks.
You find specific speed masks across my preset packs like in Filmist but the important masks are all included in Elegance 4. If you want to make your own just keep the tips I give in the video in mind.
Doing masks last speeds you up because even when you’re not actively editing a mask having a mask on the photo uses more system resources and can really slow down the development module.
We’re always talking about high dynamic range. But today’s videos are a keystone much like our = STOP using contrast from the last Masters Made Easy video. LoFi photography is actually fundamental to understanding your photos.
No LoFi Photography is not just a lomo camera or a filter on Instagram. It’s just as important to shadow hunting as the High Dynamic Range techniques as I explained in my recent video.
Many photographers no longer edit Low Dynamic Range.
LoFi Photography goes way deeper than people think.
LoFi Photography is often played as low quality, pinhole camera, etc. While those can be included, it’s a really low dynamic range technique and it’s important when you plan a shoot.
I know I say it all the time but this LoFi photography fits in with Shadow Hacking 101 so make sure you come to a Shadow Hackers online photo workshop.
LoFi photos take what everyone else throwing out and it often creates better photos. You don’t need to do all LoFi or all HDR. A lot of photos fall in between. But don’t be afraid to push the methods I show in the video to refine your style.
Reverse the things they teach you in LoFi photography
We’re almost universally taught to push sliders right in the digital world. A more is more kind of approach. That’s why most photos look so bad and even good photographers are ediuting to death. We went deeper into this in my post about how to ground your edits by using filmic presets.
I’ve been doing this since the start of digital. I’ve watched the influencers and experts nearly always selling the same ideas and repeating ourselves because they came from film and all the digital stuff was new and like candy. Candy sometimes lacks perspective.
Slowly that’s changing as digital matures and photographers realize that we still have a lot to learn from the past.
Stop speaking in just digitally.
We live in an analog world. The advent of Ai photography is reminding us just how fake everything has become and that the real world is often more magical. LoFi photography is not every part of the puzzle. But you nee to know it.
You can still do amazing complex edits. But by knowing all the tools in your box you have control. Yes, your capture can be HDR and your final LDR, or vice versa. When you know to hunt shadows and look for the atmosphere and life in photos everything starts to change. There’s not just one way and you need to know them all to master this. The good news is, it’s not that complex.
Stay tuned for more in the Masters Made Easy series.
Ever feel your editing is messy, or you need a reboot?
Grounding changes your editing and improves your style. es, Filmic Lightroom presets and styles help a lot. But your style can still be whatever you want. Stay with me till the end and I will make this easy.
Why do most in-camera profiles look so bad? Why do I come back to an edit I liked and it seems gross? It’s because digital edits lack a reference point.
This is a Level 1 Filmic Lightroom preset from Natural HDR. That is it’s using film tone and color inspiration but not trying to be a specific film. I use these liberally but not as my grounding point.
Here are some free Filmic Lightroom presets.
I’ll also add some videos today showing how I create and use Filmist Lightroom and Capture One presets and some of the things I learned along the way.
I’ve made many videos over the years as I explored film stocks and created the Gen.2 looks of my film presets like Portra, Ektar, and Classic Negative which have become the go-to styles for many.
OK, let’s get started…
1. Grounding works because we exist in analog!
Ever come back to an edit the next day or week and thought? What was I thinking? I sure have.
You lacked a baseline and went too far. It happens to all of us. Filmic Lightroom presets and styles are not just a hipster fad, and if you’re still not using them you are missing out. So first we’re going the base our edits as close to real analog film as possible. Don’t worry you don’t have to stay there.
Much like Shadow Hacking, which brings you back to in-camera thinking. Filmic Lightroom Presets presets and styles seem simple but are not. I was a skeptic. But today Filmic Lightroom presets are my go-to for every session and for the past 5 years I’ve been developing better film and filmic presets to improve this process.
Here’s a video I did recently to explain how I use film presets overall in my work.
A film preset edit gives you a wide range of colors and tones but with a more subdued look that lets the truth of your photo come through so you can decide. When you add Shadow Hacking as I teach in my live workshop, you get photos that print nearly indistinguishable from film prints.
There is a shadow atmosphere happening here even though the EKtar 100-like. A level 2 film preset in Filmist is not super intense it constantly works and is a grounding development process.
There are two levels of Filmic Lightroom presets.
Both are important but you should know the difference between them because the second is better for rebooting and a lot harder to make. So much so that most presets sold don’t qualify.
The first is basic Filmic presets. Level 1:
These are most Filmic Lightroom Presets and Filmic styles in Capture One LUTS, etc. They have a film-inspired tone and look. What’s that mean when you are making them?
Usually, it means darker more obscured greens, and deeper shadows but not overdriving contrast and color using what we learned from over a hundred years of Darkroom to effect digital edits.
Filmic Lightroom presets and styles that are just inspired by the film are the easiest way to make your own. I use them all the time. But I don’t use them for a grounding base film process reboot my edits and they can quickly grow back into over-driven digital edits.
Street air is a prestige from Street’ist. This level one filmic preset has a lot of color and nuance like a chemical film, but does not try to be any specific film.
The second is true Film like presets, Level 2:
Film Lightroom presets, capture one style, LUTS etc. represent a much more complex edit. You could spend a week making a look like the Portra 400 presets from Filmist.
A Film preset is not just influenced by analog styles. It’s tested and refined to look like the film. That’s what I did with Filmist which is why it’s taken me 5 years and improves with every version. I watch the reviews and look for more information all the time. Real films reset your editing brain more because they ground you.
When I started trying to create film presets I was thinking more of filmic. Make looks that were inspired by my film. But it was not enough so I started digger deeper and studying the nuance of individual stocks to get a true-to-life representation of those films.
A level 2 film preset is about a specific film like the creamy shadows of this Delta 3200-like. You can mod or turn these presets up to enhance the effect. But I start simple and natural to get a good grounding.
2. This editing theory will reset your editing brain.
You might be thinking… Nothing new here. But the more you use this process in your edits. Level 2’s especially. The more you realize that these film stocks lasted decades for a reason. They seem simple at first you soon you realize well they are grounded and complicated.
Apply a film you like to every photo. Do your quick exposure adjustments and get the session looking balanced. When you edit with film-like presets and filmic styles you get perspective.
You might turn a filmic lightroom preset up or down. You might mod for contrast or transition totally different look. But your perceptions are grounded in the analog that is proven to withstand the test of time.
If you look at this session you can see the edit from when I first shot the session was ok. But it felt burned and it was inconsistent across poses and lighting.
Look how I came back and re-edited the session with Portra 160-like film preset and a few mods. Each pose is slightly different, but they all have a constant feel. I like them gentle like this but my old self would want to add more mods, saturation, etc. That’s fine, as long as you have grounding to keep you on point.
Soon you’ll find yourself going back to old edits and now they seem strange and overcooked. You reboot your brain in terms of editing. It does not mean other filters and edits are not important anymore. I still use Natural HDR or Bella 2 which are not specifically filmic.
How the session looks now after a more refined film edit and a good grounding from analog.
In this AI World, real things are gaining value.
And so we relate to and believe in analog things. Especially in this new AI-driven world where sometimes everything feels fake. This level of photography is going to become more important every year and Filmic Lightroom Presets help me stay focused.
Yes, there’s a level 3. Shooting digital side by side with the real film and using that as your grouping for shadow, color, and editing. I do this to practice and further refine Filmist for example but it gives you even more grounding and perspective.
Even the way we adjust exposure changes with analog. Pushing the exposure slider is not the same as pushing film and as I’ve become more advanced in my Film presets, even the mod presets, curves, and exposure settings have improved.
See this video from my channel after I created the Gen.2 the Portra-like pushed film style.
Creating pushed filmic looks in digital and why it matters.
You Ground with real film presets, then find YOUR STYLE!
Yes, editing with filmic styles and Filmic Lightroom Presets makes you edit everything better. Much like shooting film improves your understanding of shadow and creativity by resetting your brain to an analog state that lets you see your digital work from a new perspective.
But it’s important you ground to something solid. That means don’t just edit your first photo of the day and use that as your baseline edit. Start with an edit you know the analog human brain accepts. Film is a great start.
Start with a level 2 film preset. Not just a filmic look. That means using well-researched presets or spending the days of research you need to create one yourself that is accurately representative of a real film. Or download the free or complete filmist and that will get you started.
It does not always stop at a preset. Sometimes I take go further into Photoshop and use chemical-based edits like this cyan plate platinum mix from Emulsion 4 actions. Analog just keeps giving.
3. Filmic Lightroom Presets and film styles. Then move outward.
The grounding keeps you constant even when you’re not doing the filmic style.
So for example I will go to Filmist and use Potra Ektar-like film lightroom presets. Maybe Fuji 400h. I know these analog looks withstood the test of time and that our minds relate to them.
I don’t have to stop there and I may not even stay with a film look. Grounding your edits sounds boring, but it actually makes you flexible and creative and keeps you out of a rut. So even when I go to HDR, that grounding is affecting my edit.
So I look at the mood and shadows of my shoot. I may decide to veer from film and use other effects, actions, edits, or presets. But now can really feel where I am in the edit better.
It’s about rebooting the brain to see past the temporary creative blindness that the ever-changing sliders and tools can give us so that we use those tools better with each unique photo session.
At least grab the free Filmic Lightroom presets, film styles, and LUTS I linked above and try them for a while. If they seem not intense enough that’s normal. Your editing brain will soon reboot and you will open up a totally new horizon.
So Let’s Recap…
Ground the baseline of your edits with edits as close to real analog film as possible. Use Filmic Lightroom presets and film styles, or even create your own.
Edit photos with favorite films and use that as your grounded starting point. I will often start with Portra 400 or Ektar as my baseline because these films work on anything and I can apply them to an entire session.
You can expand out with mods, other filters, presets, actions etc., and the final look for your project. Use your first edits as a reference to not edit too far. Staying with the film is also fine. I often stay with the film look/
I hope this helps you refine your edit process as much as it did for me. Let me know in the comments and if needed I’ll do more videos on this. Gavin Seim
With Filmic Lightroom Presets like Portra 400-like, you almost can’t fail. It was not until I discovered these processes for grounding that I realized the nuance of highlight roll-off and how we lost it in digital. Look at the before and after of this edit on the filmist page and you’ll see what I mean.Expanding into level 2 filmic styles like Velvia 100 like let you stay creative and still know you’re on point.
