1.1. Lightroom Post-Processing

1.1.1. Initial Corrections

1.1.1.1. Lens

Distortion caused by the lens itself.

Problems:

1. Pincushion distortion: generally occurs at the telephoto end. Straight lines that should be straight contract toward the center, like a pillow.
2. Barrel distortion: generally occurs at the wide-angle end. Straight lines that should be straight bulge outward, like a barrel.
3. Vignetting: dark corners at the edges when the aperture is wide open.
4. Chromatic aberration: green and purple dispersion at the boundary between highlights and shadows.

Solution: Enable lens correction.

1.1.1.1.1. Dust Spots

Problem: Dust on the sensor.

Solution: brush. Shortcut Q.

1.1.1.1.2. Crop

Shortcut R. Hold Shift to preserve the original aspect ratio.

Press Ctrl+Alt+R to reset the crop.

1:1

1.1.1.1.3. Distortion

Normal deformation caused by the shooting angle.

Problems:

1. Vertical perspective distortion: near objects appear larger and distant objects smaller. For example, to capture an entire building, the lens has to tilt upward, making the bottom look larger and the top smaller.
2. Horizontal-line distortion: the camera is not held level, so lines that should be horizontal become slanted.

Solutions:

1. Automatic correction.

2. Guided correction: draw one horizontal line and one vertical line.

1.1.1.2. Global Tone

1.1.1.2.1. Camera Preset

The camera’s Picture Control directly affects JPEG and is written into the RAW preview/metadata, but it does not permanently bake the rendered result into RAW data in the same way as JPEG. Lightroom does not necessarily reproduce Nikon’s in-camera rendering exactly; a similar camera profile can be selected in Profile/calibration-related settings as a starting point.

1.1.1.2.2. Basic Panel

Histogram: darker parts tend toward the left side of the histogram, while brighter parts tend toward the right side.

1.1.1.2.2.1. White Balance

White balance mainly affects color relationships and also indirectly changes the perceived brightness of different color channels. RAW allows white balance to be reinterpreted over a wide range in post-processing without the same limitations as JPEG; JPEG can also be adjusted, but with much less latitude.

1.1.1.2.2.2. Tone

Controls the brightness of the photo rather than color.

From left to right are the darkest to brightest pixel counts. Press J to display the pixels at both ends.

The Exposure slider mainly changes overall brightness; Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks are more oriented toward different brightness regions. They influence one another, so they should not be understood as five strictly non-overlapping ranges.

There is no fixed numerical recipe for processing an underexposed photo. You can check in the following order, but judge every step according to the image and histogram:

1. First determine whether the overall exposure really needs to be increased.
2. Check whether highlights are close to clipping; reduce highlights if necessary.
3. Recover shadow detail according to the subject’s needs.
4. Use Whites/Blacks to establish appropriate white and black points.
5. Finally use Contrast or Curves to fine-tune the tonal hierarchy.

Hold Alt (Option) while dragging the Whites/Blacks sliders to help inspect clipping. The historical note recorded fixed values such as +0.5 ~ +1.5 and -30 ~ -80, but these should not be treated as universal rules.

1. Exposure: mainly controls overall brightness and usually has an obvious visual effect on midtones.
2. Contrast: controls differences between light and dark. The histogram distribution may move toward both sides or toward the center depending on the content, but there is no fixed movement formula.
3. Clarity: mainly adjusts medium-scale local contrast and can strengthen or weaken texture. It is related to traditional sharpening but is not the same tool.

1.1.1.2.2.3. Color

Controls the color of the photo rather than brightness.

1. Temperature: move left for blue, right for yellow.
2. Tint: move left for cyan/green, right for purple/magenta.
3. Saturation: adjusts the color intensity of the photo.
4. Vibrance: also called natural saturation. Usually use this; it is more even.

1.1.1.3. Local Adjustments

1.1.1.3.1. Curves

Affects local brightness. Everything becomes darker, but by different amounts.

It also affects local contrast.

Brightness and contrast affect color, so this also affects color.

1.1.1.3.2. HSL

Adjusts local color.

1.1.1.4. Local Enhancement

Current Lightroom Classic unifies local adjustments under the Masking workflow. You can continue using:

1.1.1.4.1. Brush

1.1.1.4.2. Radial Gradient

1.1.1.4.3. Linear Gradient

As well as automatic/semi-automatic selection tools such as Subject, Sky, Background, People, Object, and Range masks.

1.1.1.5. Effects

1. Vignette.
2. Dehaze.
3. Grain.

1.1.1.6. Sharpening and Noise Reduction

1.1.1.7. Photo Output

2. HDR Merge

1️⃣ Auto Align

Purpose:

Correct small shifts between multiple exposure-bracketed images, which is common in handheld shooting.

When to enable:

Handheld shooting ✅ Must enable.
With a tripod that is completely stable, it can be disabled to reduce unnecessary computation; if there is even slight displacement, it can still be enabled.

2️⃣ Auto Settings

Purpose:

After merging, automatically apply a basic set of exposure/contrast adjustments.

Essence:

Similar to “one-click optimization”; not required.

Suggestion:

Enable it when you need a quick starting point; disable it when you want to start from a neutral result and make precise adjustments yourself.

3️⃣ Deghost Amount

Purpose:

Handle ghosting caused by moving objects.

Options: None: no processing (best image quality, but ghosting may remain).
Low: slight correction.
Medium: moderate correction.
High: strong correction (but may lose detail).

Common sources of ghosting: Pedestrians 🚶‍♂️
Leaves 🌿 (wind)
Water 🌊
Clouds ☁️

Suggestion:

Static scenes usually need no deghosting or only a low amount. Increase it gradually only when there are moving leaves, pedestrians, water, and similar elements, and check whether local artifacts are introduced.

4️⃣ Show Deghost Overlay

Purpose:

Highlight areas that are being processed for deghosting.

Use:

See where Lightroom is making corrections.
Help determine whether the deghost strength is too high.

Suggestion:

Turn it on while debugging.
It can be turned off for normal merging.

5️⃣ Create Stack

Purpose:

After merging, organize the original photos + HDR result into one stack.

Effect:

Avoid clutter in the library.

Suggestion:

Whether to create a stack depends on your library-management habits. It only affects catalog organization and does not change HDR merge quality.