Keeping up to date with every new feature added to Lightroom and Photoshop is a never-ending task that I gave up a long time ago. Fortunately, both programs now perform all the tasks I require from them. However, I like to periodically self-aware of improvements to these programs to make sure I don’t miss something that could speed up or improve my workflow.
In this video tutorial, Pye Jirsa used the Select Subject tool in Lightroom to adjust the exposure and color of his subject, independent of the background he captured. He makes these adjustments to simulate the look of studio lighting on his subject. Before watching this video, I didn’t know that the Theme Selector tool is part of Lightroom.
I recently shot a collection of martial arts uniforms and shorts for the Ronin brand. I didn’t want to ship the white paper seamlessly, so I shot the subject against the wall. In Photoshop, I used the Select Subject tool to separate the subject from the background. Then I inverted the selection and overexposed the background to create a pure white background. While the process is relatively quick, it does involve exporting each raw photo from Lightroom to Photoshop and then back to Lightroom for the final export as JPEG. If I had realized the Subject Selection tool was part of Lightroom, I could have done the subject selection, inverted selection, and exposure adjustment without leaving Lightroom. This will be faster and more efficient.
The video does a great job of detailing how to use the Select Theme feature in Lightroom and how to invert that selection. Pye and I have found different uses for this tool. Can you find a way to implement this tool into your workflow to save time?
