Lightroom Tips

One Slider in Lightroom

(Note: If you’ve already ready this, then see the edit below.) I gotta admit, it’s pretty nice when this happens. I moved one slider in this photo below to get from the before image to the after. It’s a photo I took at the Sheik Zayed Mosque while teaching in Dubai a few weeks ago. It was just a magnificent place to see, and anywhere you pointed your camera you were sure to get a great shot. It didn’t hurt that I had a nice sunny day with a crisp blue sky either – the colors work great together. Anyway, any guesses what slider it was? (You have to be specific though) I’ll post the answer later today ๐Ÿ™‚

Edit at 1:15pm:

OK, I’ll end the suspense. It was pretty simple. I moved the Vibrance slider to about +50. I originally tried the Luminance settings (Blue slider) in the HSL panel but I liked Vibrance better so that’s what I stuck with. Also, after looking at it for a few minutes since then, I’ve dropped my setting to around +30. I’ve showed it to several folks here at the office. Some like it punchier at 50 and some like it more subdued at +30. Honestly, when I was there, it felt like it was a lot more blue (definitely more saturated than the original). But I think I’ll stick with the less blue version at +30. Thanks joining in!

Click on the image for a larger view.

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61 comments

  1. Fotoviva Photography 28 April, 2010 at 16:48 Reply

    What a great result from a simple tweak! Who’d have thought it would bring the photograph so ‘alive’ ย– well I guess the name of the slider gives an indication! Great tip, thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Bryan 7 April, 2010 at 14:55 Reply

    Wow, what a beautiful place. This is a bit nit-picky but… the vibrance slider seems to have increased the contrast too and caused an ever so slight loss of detail in the textures of the buildings which IMO is part of their beauty. You might brush in a tiny bit of clarity or negative exposure to bring that back. Just a thought. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks for all the great info Matt!

  3. Herbert 7 April, 2010 at 10:50 Reply

    awesome you were in dubai the same week as I and also made a picture around the same time then me ๐Ÿ˜€
    hmm, perhaps we met and nobody knew, I like that – makes the world smaller and nicer ๐Ÿ™‚ cheers from austria

  4. Kenneth Theysen 7 April, 2010 at 00:27 Reply

    Matt,

    I’ve been playing around with Vibrance slider and it has has been a great tool. The sweet spot has been around +30 for most of my pictures. For those who haven’t tried it, you should!

    Kenny

  5. darren_c 6 April, 2010 at 21:03 Reply

    Matt,

    I saw your answer already, but I was in the Luminance camp. However, on closer look you can see that the Vibrance slider enhanced the gold spires slightly, too. This would not have been the case with Luminance.

    I love it when you only have to use one slider!

    Cheers!

  6. Bernhard 5 April, 2010 at 15:46 Reply

    I’m pretty sure that’s just the Hightlights slider (under Tone Curve) a notch to the right, just before the point where the white begins to clip.

  7. Andrei 5 April, 2010 at 12:37 Reply

    I was gonna go with Blue Saturation cranked up. But then I noticed the yellow in the cones is also punchier in your after shot. Cranking up blues wouldn’t affect the yellows.

    I’ll have to go with Vibrance in this case… around +75-80.

    And we all know how much you like Vibrance ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. Lou 5 April, 2010 at 11:07 Reply

    I’m going to vote Vibrance being cranked up. Although Blue Luminance if ganged with the right companion sliders may do the same.

  9. Jordan 5 April, 2010 at 10:24 Reply

    I’m with paperpuncher: Vibrance.

    It’s more than just the Blue Luminescence or Saturation because the gold is brighter. The shadows also don’t seem to have changed, so it’s not blacks.

    It could be Saturation too, though.

  10. paperpuncher2 5 April, 2010 at 10:16 Reply

    I’m gonna say Vibrance to the right. I’ve had similar experiences with blue skies in the past.

    …can’t be Contrast because the building would look totally different. I’m also guessing against HSL-Luminescence since I think that would just make the bland blue of the sky darker and not more vibrant.

    Could be HSL-Blue-Saturation to the right, but the little gold things on the building seem to have perked up a bit as well.

  11. bombel 5 April, 2010 at 09:30 Reply

    Hi!

    I think, that it was silder marked ‘Black’. You add some of course, I guess.

    Right, or wrong? ๐Ÿ™‚

    Regards,
    bombel

  12. Dominik 5 April, 2010 at 09:26 Reply

    I would propose it was the “Vibrance” slider ๐Ÿ™‚
    I love that one a lot and use it in my Default import settings at “+15” together with saturation at “-10”.

  13. Chris 5 April, 2010 at 09:26 Reply

    I’m guessing you went to the Color section (HSL/Color/B&W), selected Blue, and moved the hue slider to the right. This would intensify the shadows, deepen the blue in the sky, and sharpen the gold accents.

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