Photo by Radek Grzybowski on Unsplash
Creating beautiful, eye-catching photos is all about the details. If the details are spot-on, your photo will have that visual punch you’re looking for.
However, if you don’t pay attention to the details, distracting elements can rule the shot and take people’s attention away from what you really want them to see.
Fortunately, there are ways to use Lightroom to transform your photos so that mistakes and distractions are minimized.
In the video above, Mango Street offers up some quick tips for making the most of your images in Lightroom. I’ve outlined each tip below for easy reference.
Use Lightroom to Make Auto Perspective Adjustments
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
As you can see above, the wall behind the subjects appears like it’s falling back a little. Lightroom can fix that.
The first thing you need to do is apply a lens correction. Lightroom has tons of lens profiles, so just click the “Enable Profile Corrections” box and if your lens is recognized, Lightroom will apply the appropriate corrections.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
This is a critical step because by applying the lens corrections first, any perspective adjustments you make will be more accurate.
The next task is to see if Lightroom can fix the perspective on its own. You can do this by clicking “Auto” in the Transform Tab.
As you can see in the screenshot above, this has made a tremendous difference to the shot. But more can be done…
Learn More:
How to Use Guided Transform in Lightroom
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
If the Auto Transform feature doesn’t quite do the job, your next task is to use the Guided Transform tool.
As is demonstrated in the video, you simply add guides to the image so Lightroom understands how much perspective transform is needed.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
In this case, just two guidelines were necessary - one for each corner in the wall behind the subjects - for Lightroom to make the needed changes. If need be, you can add up to four guides.
Lightroom Transform Tools for Street & Architecture Photography
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
What’s great about Lightroom’s transform tools is that you can use them to completely change the perceived perspective of the shot.
As you can see above, this image of the crosswalk was taken at an angle, so the crosswalk does not appear to be directly below the camera lens.
However, after using Lightroom’s Transform tools (and a bit of cropping), the photo now looks like it was taken from directly above the crosswalk.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
It only took a few moments to make this change, too.
All that was done was to add guides along the left and right sides of the shot (aligned with the gutters) to remove the warped perspective.
Doing so cut off the bottom corners of the image and stretched out the pedestrian furthest from the crosswalk.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
However, cropping the image is all that was needed to remove those elements from the shot. Not bad, right?
This same trick can be used to easily remove the perspective issues encountered when photographing architecture.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
In the image above, you can see the warped perspective of the skyline of Chicago.
But a quick addition of three guides - two vertical and one horizontal, and you can see how the image totally changes for the better.
YouTube Screenshot/Mango Street
Again, this was done in a matter of moments in just a few clicks, yet the image takes on a drastically better look.
Using these Transform tools in Lightroom is a quick and easy way to make the most of the photos you take. Be sure to watch the complete video above to see more tips and tricks with this powerful Lightroom tool!