Millions of people around the globe use Lightroom to edit and enhance the quality of their photos. Professional photographers and rookies love Lightroom and pretty much everyone else, as it comes with features that other services don’t have. Adobe works hard to improve the user experience which explains why they introduce new features quite often. However, the last slider was released four years ago, and that’s about to change. Adobe just released their new texture slider and it’s safe to say you’re going to love it.
Four years after they added the Dehaze slider in 2015, Adobe announced they added a new texture slider to their Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Camera Raw platforms. The new slider, called Texture, allows users to enhance or smooth texture in their images without adding noise or destroying other details and overall quality of the photo.
Adobe decided to create a new slider when photographers who use Lightroom regularly for their work asked them to do something about the problem they were facing. You see, photographers wanted a less intense manner of achieving high-quality skin smoothing while working with Lightroom and Camera Raw.
At first, Adobe wanted to create a slider that would be called Smoothing, but then they started focusing more on the overall idea of texture and their work took another direction. They wanted to create a slider that would do the opposite too – not just smooth the image, but enhance texture if necessary.
Texture Slider Simple to Use
The latest slider is similar to other controls so it’s easy to use it. The values range from -100 to +100. The texture slider is designed for more refinement of the finer details on the image – it’s not a contrast controller or blanket sharpener. While it does control contrast, the whole purpose here is entirely different. This particular slider allows users to adjust certain details (either smooth or sharpen them) without disturbing the remainder of the image and creating noise.
The new slider by Adobe may be particularly useful for users who spend more time adjusting the actual frequencies in a photo either through the usage of frequency separation or through some other frequency modifications.
It’s also important to mention that Texture slider is one of the first tools in Lightroom to use spatial frequency in order to identify where to apply the effect. Basically, this particular tool adjusts the detail in the middle frequency, meaning it won’t alter small or big details such as pores in the skin or blurred background. Users will have access to the texture slider on both mobile and desktop versions of Lightroom platforms. In addition to the slider, Adobe also announced they would add in-app training as many users wanted that option for even greater ease of use.
