The human eye is attracted to contrast — it can’t not see a bright area against a dark background. Pointing your viewer’s eyes to your subject is easy in Camera Raw, but it works in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, too. It’s also a great technique to use in black and white. My favorite tool for doing this is the Radial Gradient mask.

Contrast

This is the difference between dark areas and light areas in a photo. Consider the white dot below. You have to look at it because it contrasts with the background.

A white circle in the lower right side of a dark background
The light circle on a darker background is the focus of this composition

Switching it up to a dark circle on a light background does the same thing. Your attention goes directly to the black dot.

Black dot in the upper left portion of a white background
The dark dot in a light background draws the eye to it.

Darkening a background coupled with a slight brightening of the subject focuses a viewer’s attention exactly where the photographer wants it.

Controlling contrast

This picture is straight out of the camera. It has been color corrected and its overall exposure adjusted.

The warnings on the door and the bright yellow grab bar compete with the face of the woman holding her coffee and phone. Let’s make her face the focal point.

A woman on the Tube in London stands by the train doors looking up. She holds a cup of coffee.
Original photo

Darkening the background

Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic’s Develop module work on JPEG, TIFF and RAW files. This is a powerful tool.

I prefer working in Camera Raw so these steps are for that workflow. One reason that I like Camera Raw over the Develop module is Camera Raw is in Photoshop’s filter menu, so I can use it on individual layers.

I used the Radial Gradient mask to darken the background and brighten her face.

I clicked the Mask icon and then chose Radial Gradient. Next, I drew an ellipse around the woman’s face.

The Mask Icon highlighted and the Gradient Mask menu with the Radial Gradient selectedThe Mask panelThe Radial Gradient mask shows in the Mask panel.

The red mask shows the area that will be adjusted by the sliders. I want to darken the background first. That means inverting the mask.

Screenshot shows the 3-dot menu next to the Radial Gradient 1 control. Click there to show its menu. Choose Invert
Inverting Radial Gradient 1’s mask.

I hovered my cursor over Mask 1 to show the 3-dot menu (after the words Radial Gradient 1). I clicked Invert Mask. X is the keyboard shortcut.

The red overlay moves from her face to the rest of the image. Then I moved the Exposure to -1.00 lowering the background brightness by about on f/stop.

Brightening her face

The finishing touch for this street photo is to add a small amount of brightness to her face. I clicked the blue + button labeled Create New Mask. I chose Radial Gradient from the menu (J on the keyboard).

A new radial gradient is added, the show overlay box is unchecked then the Exposure slider is moved to the right to plus .50.
Adding a new Radial Gradient. The darkening gradient is active in this screenshot.

I drew a new ellipse around the woman’s face. By default, the red mask shows so I unchecked the show overlay box. Then I moved the Exposure slider to .50 or close to a half stop of more light. Since the background had already been darkened, I judged the brightness by eye.

Adding a half stop of brightness with the Exposure slider moved to +.50
A half stop of brightness has been added to the woman’s face.

The payoff

Move the slider to the right to see the difference a pair of Radial Gradients make. Move it all the way left to view the original.

One more thing

This technique has been around almost as long as photography itself. Master printers used their darkroom skills to bring the viewer’s attention to the subject. Black and white prints will show a light halo around the subject where the background has been darkened. The difference between then and now is the precision masks in Camera Raw and Lightroom offers.

A black and white version
An homage to the master printers from the days of black and white photography on film.