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This guide will give you the easiest ways to fix hotspots in Lightroom.
I’ve been using these methods for years and find them really effective for fixing hotspots in photos.
Removing hotspots post-photoshoot ensures your photos look professional and the subjects look glamorous.
Let’s dive into the tutorial.
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How to Fix Hotspots in Lightroom
A hotspot is an area of a photograph that has a brighter light than another area due to the photograph being overexposed.
When a hotspot occurs in portraits, it can make the subject look unnatural.
Let’s say you’re photographing a female model. You don’t want her gleaming like a wax sculpture or, worse still, looking sweaty. Not the most appealing look.
Hotspots can occur in any genre of photography: landscape, portrait, and even food photography.
If they crop up regularly in your photos, you run the risk of looking unprofessional.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to use Lightroom to remove hotspots from a model’s face,
Step 1 – Open the Photo in the Develop Module
Select the image you wish to use from the library.
Then click the Develop button in the top right corner of your workspace to open the image in Lightroom’s Develop module.
We are using a photo of three girls, photographed lying down outside.
Due to the intense sun, one of the girls has gleaming hotspots on her right cheek.
The other two girls do not have distracting or distasteful hotspots.
Step 2 – Zoom In
For more editing control, zoom in on the girl’s face to view the hotspot you wish to remove. This will help you see it more clearly.
To zoom in, you can use the keyboard shortcut: hold Command (for Macs) or Ctrl (for Windows) and hit the + key.
Alternatively, use the Navigator panel in the top left-hand side of the workspace.
Use the Navigators percentage indicator to zoom in and out of the image. Then, drag the preview square into the correct position.
Step 3 – Select the Healing tool
On the top right-hand side of the Develop workspace, you will find Lightroom’s Healing tool.
Click the Healing tool button, a band-aid icon, or for the keyboard shortcut hit Q.
The Healing editing area will open.
At the top of the Healing panel are three icons depicting the tool modes: an eraser, a band-aid, and a clone tool.
Click the band-aid icon, and adjust the size of the brush to suit the edit by sliding the Size slider.
Set the size of the brush so it’s roughly the same size as the hotspot.
Set the feather to about 10-15; this will prevent the brush from creating a hard line.
Step 4 – Heal the Hotspot
Once you’ve set the size and feathering of the brush, brush over the hotspot.
As you can see in the image below, the Heal brush action has covered the hotspot using an area of the cheek below it.
This appears to be an effective edit, successfully covering the hotspot.
You can continue to adjust the brush stroke using the sliders even after it has been applied.
We do not want the area of the cheek to look cloned.
To avoid this, we return to the Heal panel and reduce the opacity of the brush stroke.
In the image below, the opacity of the brush stroke has been reduced.
This means the brush stroke will cover the hot spot without looking cloned.
If you wish to remove the edits made using the Heal brush, click the Reset button at the bottom of the panel.
Step 5 – Close and Review
To view the edit we have made without the distracting band-aid icon, click Close at the bottom right of the edit panel.
Reviewing the image, we can see the first hotspot was successfully removed.
However, there is a second hotspot to the right of the model’s eye.
It could be argued that the second hotspot does not need to be removed as it is not too conspicuous.
We zoom out for a better view and we can see that although the hotspot isn’t too obvious, it still looks slightly out of place.
Zooming back into the image, we re-open the Heal editing area.
Step 6 – Make Final Adjustments
Selecting the Heal brush, we reduce the brush size to match the smaller hotspot.
Lightroom discerns which area of the face will suit the edit, as shown in the image above.
A final brush stroke is made, and the opacity of the brush stroke is altered to cover the hotspot.
When the Heal edit area is closed, we can review the edits.
The girl’s skin looks natural and the hotspots have been removed.
Viola, no more pesky gleaming hotspots.
You now know how to remove distracting hotspots so your models will always look healthy and photogenic.
How to Avoid Hot Spots
Avoiding hotspots won’t always be possible, especially when capturing a candid photo. But knowing what you can do to limit them is useful.
One way to avoid hotspots is by using filters that block infrared light.
Infrared light filters are often used by landscape and architectural photographers.
An awareness of the direction and intensity of the light will also help you avoid hotspots.
To avoid hotspots, you can soften the light, alter its direction away from the subject, or change the camera’s shooting angle.
However, you should definitely always capture that fleeting moment of splendor, even with a hotspot, especially now that you know how to remove it.
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial and can use the information to your artistic and professional advantage.
If you’re keen to learn more about Lightroom, check out – How to Use Tone Curves in Lightroom the Right Way.
Have fun editing.
FAQ
How do I get rid of Hot Spots in Lightroom?
You can remove hotspots from photos in Lightroom using the Healing tool.
Open the image in Lightroom’s Develop mode and select the Healing tool.
Brush the Healing tool over the hotspot to soften it.
Can you spot-fix in Lightroom?
You can spot-fix inLightroom by using the Spot Removal or Healing tool.
Select the tool when Develop mode is open and brush over the spot to remove it.
How do I fix imperfections in Lightroom?
To fix imperfections in Lightroom, use the Spot Removal tool.
Using the enhanced Spot Removal tool, you can smooth over small blemishes.
It can also be used to completely remove objects from a photo.
How do I cover a spot in Lightroom?
To cover a spot or blemish in Lightroom, you can use the Healing tool.
When the photo is open in the Develop module, select the Healing tool.
Adjust the brush’s size, opacity and feathering, and paint over the spot to remove it.
How do you prevent hot spots from the lighting in your images?
Softening the light can help prevent hot spots from occurring when photographing.
Another way to prevent hot spots is to use a lens filter that blocks infrared light.
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