# Lightroom 4 equivalent of local contrast enhancement?



## Tylie Duff (Dec 31, 2012)

Hello, I asked  for advice on one of my photographs and it was suggested that it would benefit from  local contrast enhancement . I understand though that this is a Photoshop feature , which I don't have . Is it possible to do something similar in LR 4? Thanks


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## clee01l (Dec 31, 2012)

The local brush tool has several included presets. Contrast being one of them  You can also create your own.


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## Tony Jay (Jan 1, 2013)

Tylie Duff said:


> Hello, I asked for advice on one of my photographs and it was suggested that it would benefit from local contrast enhancement . I understand though that this is a Photoshop feature , which I don't have . *Is it possible to do something similar in LR 4?* Thanks



Most definitely!
In the develop module at the top of the panel on the left are various local adjustments: red eye reduction, spot healing, gradient tool, and the local adjustments brush.
The local adjustment brush is what you want to use.
If you are uncertain which is which then just use the mouse cursor to hover over the icons and a label should appear naming the icon.

The brush can do all sorts of local edits including contrast, and in fact one can do multiple edits from a single brush application - the list is your Smorgasbord.
Using the brush in practise, well, takes some practice, but once you have got that skill then immensely complicated local editing becomes possible that used to be the singular preserve of Photoshop (and required multiple layers and masks, and was very time consuming to achieve).
So, while there are still times where the ability of Photoshop is still required, nearly all editing can actually be achieved with the tools readily available, and easily applicable, in Lightroom.

Another very handy hint and reminder about editing in Lightroom is that the whole editing process is parametric: in simple English what this means is the the editing is nondestructive and can be reversed at any time. 
(A bit more detail: what Lightroom does is store any editing parameters in the catalog and generates a preview in real time that reflects the changes made by editing so you can see the effect of what you are doing. The original image (RAW, TIFF, DNG, JPEG, etc) is NEVER altered. If you want to export an editied image it is only at this time that any edits are baked into the exported image at a pixel level. The original image STILL remains unaltered.)
So, it is possible to learn editing skills in Lightroom very quickly because if something does go wrong one can just wipe the edits one doesn't like and start again.
Another very handy feature of Lightroom is the ability to generate virtual copies.
Each copy can have different edits applied and then can be compared directly on the screen.
In this way the learning process is enhanced because differences in editing can be directly compared.

I hope this answers your question.
BTW this post may generate further questions due to matters arising: please feel free to post questions on any issues requiring clarification.

Tony Jay


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## Tylie Duff (Jan 1, 2013)

Thanks Cletus and Jay. This is an eyeopener for me , I realise that I've only started to scratch the surface of what LR can do and  really appreciate the advice. I can see that I will need to practise Jay but I now know what to practise, excellent!


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## Tony Jay (Jan 1, 2013)

You are welcome Tylie!

Tony Jay


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## Allan Olesen (Jan 1, 2013)

Tylie Duff said:


> Hello, I asked  for advice on one of my photographs and it was suggested that it would benefit from  local contrast enhancement .


Did they mean contrast enhancement in one specific part of the photo which you select?

Or did they mean a general increase of the contrast between details without affecting the overall difference between light and dark?

If it is the latter, you could look at the clarity slider in Lightroom. It does that - and some other things too.


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