Skip to main content
Dan Rodney/3 min read

Using the Radial Filter Tool

Lightroom Best Practices

0/4
Master Adobe Tools at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Graphic Design Certificate covers Photoshop alongside the broader Adobe toolkit that complements Lightroom in any photography workflow.

Delve into this comprehensive Lightroom tutorial and learn how to create a vignette highlight and a subtle glow effect using the Radial Filter tool.

Topics Covered in This Lightroom Tutorial:

Creating a Vignette Highlight, Creating a Subtle Glow Effect

Exercise Preview

lightroom preview4D

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, you’ll use the Radial Filter tool to create vignette effects that aren’t just limited to the edges of a photograph, but can be customized to highlight the focal point of an image.

Creating a Vignette Highlight

  1. If you have not imported the photos that were imported in Exercise 2E:
    • Go into the Library module.
    • At the bottom left of the screen, click Import.
    • In the dialog box that appears, on the left under Source, navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Lightroom Class and select the Develop folder.
    • At the top, above the photos, make sure Add is selected (highlighted).
    • On the bottom right, click Import.

  2. In the Library module, select the Washington Monument photo (_CAS2135).

  3. Press the D key to switch to the Develop module.

  4. Below the Histogram panel on the right, click the Radial Filter tool radial filter tool.

  5. Double–click on the word Effect (in the panel below the tools) to reset all the sliders.

  6. Set Exposure to – 1.50.

  7. Click on the tip of the Washington Monument and drag outwards; you will see a soft-edged oval appear. The area outside the oval is darker because of the Exposure setting we just specified; by default, the Radial Filter settings apply to the area OUTSIDE the oval selection.

  8. Resize and position the oval so it captures the entire monument:

    radial filter tool example

  9. Let’s make the effect a bit more dramatic. Drag the Exposure slider a bit farther to the left, to around – 2.20 or whatever setting you think looks good.

  10. Drag the Feather slider to the left and right, noticing that the edge of the oval becomes harder when the slider is at 0 and softer when it’s at 100. Decide where you think the Feather setting looks best (we liked it around 67).

    What a cool effect! The Radial Filter tool is very flexible; you can use it with any adjustment and add as many radial filters to a single photograph as you want.

Creating a Subtle Glow Effect

  1. Press the G key to switch to the Library module.

  2. Select the sheep photo (20090503_YourName_005B, 20090503_YourName_005, or _CAS4730).

  3. Press the D key to switch to the Develop module.

  4. Click the Radial Filter tool radial filter tool.

  5. Double–click on the word Effect (in the panel below the tools) to reset all the sliders.

  6. Click and drag on the photograph to create an oval that surrounds the sheep (try to get as close to the edge of the sheep as possible).

    Let’s make adjustments to the area outside the oval.

  7. Drag the Exposure slider down to about – 0.40.

  8. Drag the Sharpness slider down to about – 50.

  9. Drag the Saturation slider down to about – 15.

  10. In the bottom panel, click Done.

  11. Click the Before & After icon before after yy button at the bottom left to see the original photo next to the photo with the radial filter effect applied. The sheep really pop!

    The advantage of the Radial Filter tool is that it focuses the effect around a specific area, whereas a regular vignette effect is confined to the corners of an image. Plus, the Radial Filter also allows fine-tuning of every image adjustment!