Photoshop How To

If you're continually amazed by how pros achieve such spectacular results when processing images  in Lightroom, we're going to let you in on a little secret: Sometimes these remarkable enhancements are less about advanced skills than knowing the best tool to use for the task at hand.

Today's topic of discussion is all about using one such tool when enhancing the tones in a photo. Today's instructor kicks off the tutorial with this bold claim: "Lightroom's new Point Color tool is one of those revolutionary features that make color adjustments so much better." So if you've ignored this technique in the past, now's the time to understand how it works.

Mark Dumbleton is an acclaimed South African pro and a popular instructor specializing in wildlife photography. However, the shooting and editing lessons he shares have wider application and they tend to be extremely helpful for just about any image you capture outdoors.

According to Dumbleton,  "It's important to use Point Color at a very specific time your workflow," so keep that in mind as he demonstrates the process. The new Point Color feature is located within Lightroom's Color Mixer tab. Just click on the Point Color button and the appropriate panel appears.

The more common method for modifying colors involves using the Lightroom's HSL sliders, but there's a problem with that approach; namely, doing so "is a very global change and you can't target specific colors like you can when using the new Point Color tools." And frankly, that's a pretty big deal.

Now that you understand the benefit of Point Color Dumbleton explains how it works, and then he demonstrates the the step-by-step method required for editing his sample photo of a big cat in the wild. Rather than using a slider, this technique begins with Lightroom's Eyedropper tool that enables you to precisely select any color you choose. Once you've done that it's super simple to modify the values of Hue, Saturation and Luminance.

There's an extra set of tools in Point Color for perfecting the Hue Range, Saturation Range, and Luminance Range of the initial color you selected. Dumbleton demonstrates how doing so adds a heightened level of precision to the various color adjustments you make.

The foregoing is just a taste of what you'll learn in this eye-opening episode, and we're sure that you'll want to add Point Color to your Lightroom workflow by the time the video concludes. Dumbleton's instructional YouTube channel has much more to offer, so be sure to pay a visit.

And don't miss the Lightroom/Photoshop[/ACR tutorial we featured, demonstrating how to create amazing blur effects to accentuate the main subject of a photograph.