Everyone knows that the photos posted on the Instagram social network are retouched, but there are retouching and retouching. Indeed, it is necessary to differentiate the addition of a simple filter and the complete transformation of a face or a body.
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With Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, you are able to correct your photos and make them more beautiful without distorting your subject. Bringing in a little more light and accentuating certain shadows in your photo is not a major touch-up and does not seem like “cheating”.
To help you in the harmonious retouching of your photos which will appeal to your subscribers on Instagram, here is a quick and easy little tutorial that allows you to beautify your sunsets Sun giving them more shine, thanks to the software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. And if you don’t already have a Creative Cloud subscription to use this software, you should know that Exceptional 40% reduction is currently available across the entire Creative Cloud range.
Tutorial: Beautify your sunsets with Adobe Lightroom
The first thing to do when adding a new photo to edit is to start by activating the lens corrections. Indeed, each camera and each lens contains errors of colors or distortion that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom automatically detects and corrects. Go to the drop-down menu titled Optics and check the box “Enable lens corrections”.
Start with the basic settings. To accentuate the details of the sky, waves and the subject of your photo, you need to increase the shadows, lower the highs lights and slightly lower the exposure. All of these settings can be found in the Light drop-down profile. Play with the sliders to obtain the desired result and, if necessary, accentuate the contrasts.
Previously, with Lightroom, you had to delineate the horizon line and tell the software where the sky is before applying a filter. Now with the latest versions of Lightroom and theAI Adobe Sensei, it is possible to apply a mask on the sky, which is detected automatically. To create a new sky mask, go to the View menu, then Tools Modification and Masking.
A new panel opens on the right and with a simple click on “Select the sky”, your area is perfectly selected.
The selection color is reddish, don’t worry, it is not an automatic filter. As soon as you activate the various settings on the right, the color of the sky will return to its normal appearance.
Previously to activate a filter you had to use the Partial Toning tool, but with the new mask maker you just need to adjust a few color or lightness elements. For our sunset example, we just want to add a tint dew to our sky, while retaining the shadows that lie on the sand. To do this, activate the Colorize command and select an orange or pinkish shade according to your tastes.
Small tip, if you have the impression of changing settings but nothing happens, it means that your mask is not selected. Just click Sky 1 in the small right panel. Note that you have the possibility to add other masks on other elements of your photo.
Click the + Create a new mask button. You have the possibility to select an area with the brush tool, to make a linear or radial gradient. For example, you can select a radial gradient on the subject of your photo to create a brighter effect, accentuate shadows, or improve sharpness.
Once you are satisfied with the rendering, you need to crop your photo to the formats of the social network Instagram, that is, in a 1: 1 square format. Click the crop control button on the right to open the corresponding panel. Then select the 1 x 1 ratio that corresponds to the square format. Move your photo to harmoniously crop your sunset and subject. And if your subject isn’t centered in the photo, that’s even better.
You can then proceed to the backup of your creation by going to the File menu then Export. Several settings are available to you. You can change the output format (JPG, DNG, TIF or the original format), dimensions, quality but also activate options for saving metadata.
There you go, your photo is ready to be published.
Whether you are an amateur or professional photographer and you like to post beautiful photos on social networks to show your talents or develop your business, do not hesitate to take advantage of the 40% discount for the entire range of Creative Cloud software, and in particular Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, which we used to produce this tutorial.
Article written in partnership with Adobe.
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