Sometimes the sliders move too fast in Lightroom, so it can be hard to get the precise value you want. Here are a few handy tips:
- Holding the Shift-key down as you slide a slider will slow it down.
- Below are other ways to get more precision. First, click on the number:
Then:
- You can type in a precise value.
- Up-arrow or down-arrow on your keyboard will increase or decrease the value in small increments.
- Shift-up-arrow and shift-down-arrow will increase or decrease the value in larger increments.
- Update: Here’s another from Roger d.L.H.:
- Widening the right hand panel (in any module) spreads out the slider range, effectively slowing down the movement. Click and drag to the left on the left edge of the panel:
Thank you to Will D. for this blog post idea. If you have ideas for blog posts, do leave a comment on this page, or contact me.
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Thanks, Laura. Very helpful. (I have and enjoy your LR 4 DVD.)
I just tried holding shift and don’t see any difference; slider advances by 5 either way.
Which slider are you sliding, Jonathan, and what version of Lightroom do you have?
Jonathan, same here. I doesn’t work for me with LR 3.6 on an iMac, nor does it work with 4.1 on a MacBook.
Great tip. I have been working on 900 photos from a wedding and being able to down the slider speed is a godsend. Thanks so much Laura (and Will D.). Excellent!
Thanks Laura – great tip. Similar to this: If you alt and drag the panel borders you can make them as wide as you like, making the sliders less sensitive. (It works on a Mac – not too sure about on a PC)
Roger
Thanks for sharing this, Roger. You shouldn’t need the alt … just drag. Frankly, I had never thought of widening the panel to get more control over the sliders!
My favorite way to adjust the sliders is to click once directly on the slider, then without moving the mouse roll the scroll wheel up or down for positive or negative adjustments.
thanks for that Laura. I’ve always clicked on the slider itself and then used the left and right arrow keys but it’s a bit hit or miss (end up moving to the photo the left or the right more often than not!). Clicking on the number and using the up or down arrow keys seems much more accurate. Thanks.
Holding down the Alt key while sliding is another trick: it lets you see whether you’re clipping any part of the image.
I plan to feature this in another post, Will … more mileage from one suggestion. :-)
Oops. Jumped the gun. Feel free to delete. ;-)
These are great tips, little things that make a big difference and that we would not know naturally.
There is one another way – push the mouse button over the number area and don’t release it, instead start moving mouse left or right. It will change the value in small increments while dragging the slider directly does so in bigger chunks.