# Selective sharpening in LR



## keiththom (Nov 11, 2014)

I am having trouble figuring out how to do selective sharpening in LR.  I can click on the brush tool, but can't quite figure out how to get the brush to do anything? The brush dialog box has very few options? What am I doing wrong?


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## davidedric (Nov 11, 2014)

After you've clicked on the brush tool you use it to paint.  You won't see anything unless you have ticked the box underneath the left of the image.   Sorry I'm not in front of Lightroom but it says something like "show mask" which shows you where you have been painting.   The sliders in the brush tool then affect that area.  Don't expect dramatic changes with Sharpen.   If you want to make sure things are working,  try dragging the Exposure slider up and down


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## Tony Jay (Nov 11, 2014)

Hi Keith.

How familiar are you with the adjustment brush in general?
If you are not too familiar then, as suggested, try experimenting with the adjustment brush by applying selective changes to exposure and contrast to get a good feel for the dynamics of the brush.

Once you are familiar with how the brush works then it is useful to also have a good handle on how sharpening is applied in Lightroom. This is a fairly complex topic in its own right.
I recently summarised the theory and application of sharpening in this post:sharpening, beyond Lightroom 
You may find it useful particularly as the adjustment brush has certain limitations when it comes to selective sharpening.

Tony Jay


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