Autumn Reflection along the Clark Fork River Frenchtown, Montana |
My original exposure of this autumn reflection was a little dark. After I lightened the photo overall in Lightroom Classic's Develop module, the sky had lost some color. Brightening colors makes them look more pastel.
To return the sky to its original darker blue, I switched to the HSL panel and selected Luminance, which controls the brightness or darkness of colors. Using the Targeted Adjustment Tool, I dragged down on the sky. Lightroom Classic automatically selected the right hue (blue) and made it darker the farther I dragged the cursor. When I was satisfied with the effect, I clicked the Done button below the preview.
Darkening blues with the Luminance sliders
HSL panel in Lightroom Classic
The HSL panel allows you to fine-tune the appearance of a variety of colors in your images, not just skies. I have used it to adjust the hue of greens away from yellow and decrease the saturation of reds.
Before and after
Darkening blues with the HSL panel
Learn more about the HSL panel and other Develop module controls in Advanced Editing with Lightroom Classic, beginning September 14, 2021. This is an online class so you can learn from home. Click here to register.