This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using the Radial Filter tool
You can use the Radial Filter tool to apply the same adjustments as the Graduated Filter tool, but in a circular pattern instead of a linear gradient. The Radial Filter tool is handy for spotlighting a specific area of your photo by brightening, darkening, blurring, and shifting the color of a background, and for creating an edge vignette that you can move around (say, to draw attention to a subject that is off-center).
In this exercise, you’ll learn how to add a radial filter that draws your attention to a non-circular area. This area will be off-center (common in photography).
Select the flamingo image in the Filmstrip. While a post-crop vignette may seem appropriate here, the fact that the flamingo is off-center would make the effect look contrived. Ideally, we want the darkening to happen off-center, and only in the area around the middle flamingo.
Activate the Radial Filter tool in the tool strip beneath the Histogram panel (it’s the fifth tool from the left) or press Shift+M on your keyboard. The Radial Filter panel appears beneath the tool strip.
In the filter’s panel, double-click the Effect label at the upper left to set all sliders to 0.
Near the bottom of the tool options, set the Feather to around 75. This ensures a gradual, soft transition at the outside edge of your radial filter.
Click the field to the right of the Exposure slider to highlight it, and enter –1.00. Press Tab on your keyboard, and enter 15 for Contrast; press Tab again, and enter –59 for Highlights; press Tab twice, and enter 35 for Whites.
TIPUsing the Tab key will let you move down the specific fields and manually enter a number. If you’d like to move up in those fields, press Shift+Tab.
Position your cursor near the center of the flamingo and then drag diagonally downward and to its right side (the filter is created from the center out).
The adjustments you made immediately darken the area around the flamingo. The Highlights adjustment will also pull back some of the blown-out areas in the flamingo on the right. While this looks good, we will want to turn this circle into an oval to better cover the flamingo.
Reposition and resize the filter to your liking using the following techniques:
Reposition the filter by dragging its pin to a different area.
Resize the filter by moving your cursor over one of the square anchor points on the filter’s outline. When your cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, drag toward or away from the center of the filter to resize it. Do this to adjacent anchor points to reshape the filter.
Rotate the filter by moving your cursor outside the filter’s outline. When your cursor changes to a curved arrow, drag to rotate the filter.
Click the panel switch at the lower left of the Radial Filter panel to turn it off; click the switch again to turn it back on.
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NOTE
You can erase portions of a Radial Filter adjustment by clicking Brush at the upper right of the tool’s panel and then clicking Erase near the lower right of the panel, as described at the end of the previous section.
Let’s try it on a different photo to see what else we can do with it. As with the Graduated Filter tool, you can add multiple Radial Filter adjustments to a single photo. To do that, after you finish adjusting your first Radial Filter, click New at the upper right of the filter’s panel, and then double-click the Effect label to reset all the sliders to 0. Adjust the sliders for the next filter (you can tweak them later), and then drag over your photo to apply it.
I took a picture of my buddies Cameron and Owen. Both of their faces are dark, but one is seated higher than the other, so we need to brighten them separately.
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Select the Portrait-2Boys image in the Filmstrip.
With the Radial Filter tool active, double-click Effect at the upper left of the panel to reset all the sliders to 0. At the bottom of the panel, make sure Feather is set to 75, and select Invert. This will apply the radial effect on the inside of the oval versus the outside of the oval.
Set the Exposure slider to approximately 1.25.
Drag to apply the filter to your photo around Cameron’s head and torso (he’s the child on the left).
Move the pin to the center of the subject and adjust the circle until it creates an oval that covers him (as shown here).
Once you have completed the adjustments for the first child, create a second inverted Radial Filter for the second child. Apply the same exposure of 1.25 for the second child. One of the benefits here is that you can combine both regular and inverted Radial Filters to apply different effects to the image.
Because the children were in shadow, both of them could benefit from a white balance adjustment. Create a third Radial Filter, leaving the Invert option selected.
Reset the Exposure slider and add a little warmth to the filter by adjusting the Temp slider to 14.
Drag an oval across both subjects and you’ll notice that both children get a warmer tone.
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If you have a series of portraits that need the same custom vignette, you could sync a Radial Filter to multiple images (see the Lesson 3 section “Syncing changes to multiple photos”).
In the next section, you’ll learn how to retouch portraits using the Adjustment Brush tool.
