Brightness of blurred/bokeh background vs. subject

Question

1. I know there are no real rules regarding this question, though do you generally want your blurred/bokeh background darker than your portrait subject?

2. Is there some way in LR to measure how much darker a background is VS. the subject?

Thanks in advance.

Rob_Cullen · Accepted Answer

1. No2. Your eyes.I am being very facetious here 1. Is really a very open question and personal preference, and depending on the image content and lighting, etc, etc.2. One method might be to use the Tone curve panel and activate the Targeted Adjustment Tool. Place your cursor on the image and a spot on the tone curve will tell you precisely where that tone lies on the curve in percentage values (0-100%).

Conrad_C · Answer

1. There's no technical rule for this, but in traditional portrait painting and portrait photography, you use light to draw attention to the subject, typically putting more light on the subject than on the background. If the bokeh is part of the background you would normally want it to be darker than the subject, unless you have a specific reason to put more light on the background than the subject.

2. You don't need any special tool for this. If you have the Histogram panel open, the area under the histogram shows the RGB color values for the pixel under the pointer. As you move the pointer from a lighter to darker area of the image, you'll see lower RGB values.

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