Photoshop How To

Most photographers are always on the lookout for effective editing tips that shorten the time they spend sitting behind the computer. The goal, of course, is to finish post-processing as quickly as possible and get back out in the field doing what we all love most.

The tutorial below is designed to do exactly that by using a simple slider to avoid more time-consuming tools. This is another episode from Park Cameras, a leading retailer in the UK that’s been around for over 50 years. Most of the lessons they post are short and to the point, and this one runs only five minutes.

Today’s discussion is all about using Lightroom’s simple Midtone slider instead of the other more involved tools that “sometimes don’t always cut it” depending upon the image at hand. The Midtone slider, on the other hand, easily make images more compelling by brightening or darkening midtones—sometimes even both,

Gareth Evans is the popular instructor for the weekly tutorials shared by Park Cameras. His lessons are not only informative, but also really fun to watch because of the entertaining style he uses to demonstrate his very helpful tips.

As Evans explains, adjusting exposure with the conventional approach is to use tools like the Tone Curve to improve highlights and shadows. But when your goal is to specifically target midtones there’s an effective and much easier approach.

Evans demonstrates how the Midtone slider can make a big difference in an image, and it does so without affecting highlights or shadows. By using this approach, midtones almost appear as though you used “negative dehaze” in a very subtle way.

Evans provides multiple images to illustrate the effectiveness of this method, and you’ll see how it improves detail and tonal values in clouds, adds much-needed contrast just where you want it, and a few other enhancements.

You can find more helpful lessons like this by visiting the Park Cameras YouTube channel on a weekly basis.

And for another Lightroom trick for accelerating your workflow check out the tutorial we shared earlier, explaining a one-click trick for better edits in Lightroom.