Opt/Alt key is your friend

I know a lot of you folks know this, but it is a great reminder that the Opt/Alt key in Lightroom is your friend. I like to think of it as the turbo button on video games… it just makes things go faster.

starting image

For instance when you are trying to decide the white point of your image, holding down the Opt/Alt button while dragging the slider will change the view to show when the white point is clipping.

Opt/Alt key shows black in all the areas except where clipping will occur… any areas of color or white.

The same can be done while setting the black point.

Black point clipping is shown in areas of color or black

One of my favorite uses of it however is when I am sharpening… holding it down while dragging the masking slider will show the areas that will have the sharpening applied versus the areas that are masked from the sharpening. This one trick helps me to be more vigorous with my sharpening, but only in the areas that need it.

White areas show where the sharpening is applied and black areas show where the image is masked from sharpening

So this tip is just a reminder that your favorite sliders may have another trick up their sleeve so try out your friendly neighborhood Opt/Alt key and see what may be lurking beneath the surface. 😀

Final with black and white conversion