LR5 - Graduated Filter question

AshleyC

AshleyC

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Ok so i add a graduated filter that only covers maybe a third of the image top to bottom, but when i slide the sliders to modify it the whole image is effected. Once you add it you get a highlight box around certain develop options so i would assume those options only affect the filter. Is there a tickbox somewhere that limits the effect to the area covered by the filter?
 
Just make sure the filter is actually selected. If it is, the circle at the centre of your filter will have a black centre with a white ring around it. If it isn't selected the circle will be black. Does that help?
 
yes it should which is my question :) And yeah the black dot is in the middle line of the filter. The circular one has an option to invert it but the rectangular one doesnt.
 
I've had a look around LR and cannot see any setting that would make a grad affect the whole image. Not sure what to suggest, sorry, maybe a restart of LR or the pc ....
 
No idea if you mean the filter is acting as a Soft Grad rather than a Hard Grad, if so i know its possible to make the selection hard, and yes its only the adjustments that are at the top active while working in the grad filter :)
 
essexash said:
Ok so i add a graduated filter that only covers maybe a third of the image top to bottom, but when i slide the sliders to modify it the whole image is effected. Once you add it you get a highlight box around certain develop options so i would assume those options only affect the filter. Is there a tickbox somewhere that limits the effect to the area covered by the filter?
Click to expand...
Hmm.
I think you are misunderstanding the filter controls.
As I see it, it works like this:
  1. Select the Graduated filter
  2. A "+" appears marking the centre of the filter position and at the same time the exposure settings box changes to the filter settings box.
  3. Click and drag the "+" which turns into a black circle with three parallel lines
  4. Keep dragging the black circle down the image, the three parallel lines get further apart and everything towards the top the image has the filter settings applied.
  5. The width of the parallel lines controls the graduation of the filter effect, the further apart the lines are the softer the graduation, closer together the transition is sharper.
  6. When you've finished applying the filter you either click "Done" at the bottom of the image window, or "Close" at the bottom of the Filter settings box, the filter will be applied and the Filter settings box will revert to the normal develop settings.
 
ok so here's the example im working on

I put a grad filter across the buildings as i want to fiddle with the exposure of the buildings. Now im expecting any adjustments to only fall within those lines, but youre saying the width effects the strength of the filter? which id assume was controlled by the slider for whatever i want to change. It doesnt matter where you place the filter then as it will effect the whole image?

filter by Ashley Cottle, on Flickr
 
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So you want to adjust a band of exposure across the middle of the image? - Presumably to lighten the buildings?
What I'd do is adjust the exposure to get the buildings where I wanted them and then do highlights and shadows to correct the rest of the image.
Obviously if you increase the overall exposure to lighten the buildings it will start to wash the sky out, so I'd then use the grad filter to darken the sky.
Don't forget you can use the graduated filter more than once over different areas to get the adjustment you need.
If the foreground is too light you can use the grad again but drag it upwards from the bottom edge, so the filter is only applied to the bottom of the image.
And don't forget you can both darken and lighten with the grad filter, dependent on the settings.

I'm a fan of the Julieanne Kost tutorial videos so I'd highly recommend you take a look at this Adobe tutorial about using the graduated and radial filters.
She explains it a lot better than I can.

Another option is to apply a local lightening to the area desired using the Adjustment brush.
 
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essexash said:
Ok so i add a graduated filter that only covers maybe a third of the image top to bottom, but when i slide the sliders to modify it the whole image is effected. Once you add it you get a highlight box around certain develop options so i would assume those options only affect the filter. Is there a tickbox somewhere that limits the effect to the area covered by the filter?
Click to expand...
Are you sure you're making the adjustments in the graduated filter panel and not in the Basic adjustments panel?



(tip of the day, holding the Shift key when applying a graduated filter keeps it level)
 
yep, definitly using the right panel. I can see in that linked vid that the effects are global across the image and she didnt seem too bothered by it :) So now i know , i can work around it and just use the adjustment brush.
 
aaaahhh right I see what you are doing. The grad filter assumes/presumes that everything above the top bar is at full filter strength. So basically if you add a grad top down from halfway down an image then any adjustments will appear at full strength above the top bar of the grad and the graduation effect is limited to between the bars. This is quite powerful but I can see how it can also be restrictive.
 
PaulButler said:
aaaahhh right I see what you are doing. The grad filter assumes/presumes that everything above the top bar is at full filter strength. So basically if you add a grad top down from halfway down an image then any adjustments will appear at full strength above the top bar of the grad and the graduation effect is limited to between the bars. This is quite powerful but I can see how it can also be restrictive.
Click to expand...
Yup - that's how it works. The clue is in the name, the graduated filter tool works exactly like a digital Graduated Neutral Density filter, it doesn't pick out individual bits of the image.

Ash - you're using the wrong adjustment tool for the job you want to do. You could use the adjustment brush, or you could try using the Radial Filter tool.
 
Alastair said:
Yup - that's how it works. The clue is in the name, the graduated filter tool works exactly like a digital Graduated Neutral Density filter, it doesn't pick out individual bits of the image.
Click to expand...

You can start the graduated filter from any of the edges of the image, including the sides.
Click and drag (holding down shift to keep it parallel) away from any straight edge and you will apply the filter.
If you do it around each of the four sides you can even create a vignette effect, although the actual vignette tool does a much better job.
The thing to remember is that it always applies the effect from the starting edge, you can't create it in the middle of the image, which I think is what Ashley was trying to do.
The program assumes the effect is to be applied from the edge you are dragging away from
 
Alastair said:
Ash - you're using the wrong adjustment tool for the job you want to do. You could use the adjustment brush, or you could try using the Radial Filter tool.
Click to expand...

Yeah i can see that now, wrong tool for the job. I'll have to start using the adjustment brush more. It just seemed less effort to use the grad filter :) if it worked how i thought it was supposed to!
 
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