P: Focus mask / image sharpness

Report · Jun 19, 2011

Like a topographical map, except instead of showing altitude, show sharpness/in-focus-ness.Would allow one to see at a glance where the focal plane lies, and how well focused is the photo at the focal plane (and everywhere else), and what is the depth of field.PhaseOne took a whack at this in CaptureOne. I think their implementation has some weaknesses: shows focal plane, but no indication of how well focused at the plane, and gives no sense of depth of field, but is still quite useful.See http://feedback.photoshop.com/photosh... for a related idea, that would go nicely with this one.If you like this idea, please remember to click the '+1' button below.

Report · May 01, 2017

I take sometimes photos in dark situations without a flash. So I can't go faster... Yeah, good idea with the file size, but that is just a workaround and doesn't work in every situation I guess.

I hope Adobe implements a sharpness measuring tool!

Report · Sep 24, 2017

It would be great if lightroom could generate a mask based upon what's in focus in the image. The determined amount of what's in focus could be determined by a slider. For example you may have a backlit subject where the subject is in focus and the background blurred, and you only want to brighten the subject. In generating a "in focus" mask you could then apply say exposure or shadows to just the masked area.

Report · Sep 24, 2017

This is primarily a user-to-user forum. If you want to influence Adobe, please add your me-too vote and detailed opinion to this feature request in the official Adobe feedback forum: Lightroom/Camera Raw: Sharpness topography (focus peaking, focus mask) | Photoshop Family Customer C...

Report · Sep 24, 2017

It would be great if Lightroom could generate a mask based upon what's
in focus in the image. The determined amount of what's considered in focus could be
determined by a slider. For example you may have a back-lit subject
where the subject is in focus (inside the depth of field) and the background blurred, and you only
want to brighten the subject. In generating a focus mask you could
then apply say exposure or shadows to just the masked area.

Report · Oct 30, 2017

I NEED a Tool in LR gallery module for selection/identification of unsharp photos so I dont have to waste my time doing this in compare view all the time

Report · Oct 30, 2017

LR Classic now offers the ability to use the raw file's embedded preview or sidecar JPEG that are immediately available for reviewing and culling images at 1:1 view in the Library module. This should allow you to very quickly find, flag, and rate images that have motion blur and focus plane issues. This allows quick culling of images for composition (Fit view) AND quality (1:1 view) issues all in one-step. Normally this is performed as two separate passes. There's no need to create 1:1 previews until after you have applied develop settings.

Report · Oct 30, 2017

Great Todd, but it's not the same thing. Being able to see the sharpest area of all images in the thumbnail view would drasticaly improve the filter speed of images. That way, at a glance, you see all images, not one by one.

Report · Oct 30, 2017

I totally understand "It's not the same thing" and was only offering this as an expedient solution for culling and rating images with sharpness issues using the currently available tools. It was posted over six-years ago and still marked 'No Status.' Considering the recent LR roll-out changes I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to be implemented. Peace

Report · Oct 31, 2017

This plugin do not work in the new version of LR Classic CC. Please update it 🙂

Report · Dec 11, 2017

I downloaded a trial of Capture One Pro to have a look and found this great feature called "Focus Mask"
Issentially images are brought into Capture One, lets say 80 portrait images which you are trying to get down to the best ones.
The "Focus Mask" feature allows an overlay in say yellow to highlite the parts of the image that are in focus great say for portraits when you can see that maybe one eye is NOT in focus at this point you can mark the image as a delete.

link to the feature

https://blog.phaseone.com/find-the-best-focused-images-in-no-time/

Report · Dec 12, 2017

When I was looking at capture1 as an alternative to lr ( due to performance) the focus mask was a great new tool. Loved it. They also have a "fill mask" feature.. you outline the mask and then do an area fill .

Example..u use spitcadjustmentvwith Autodesk and work around the subject's edges. Once done u then want the outline filled.

Report · Feb 21, 2018

It would be very useful to select the sharpest image out of a selection.

Report · Feb 22, 2018

I agree! A tool to quickly select the best image out of a bust of (almost) the same image would be great! A huge timesaver.
I know the compare module,allows to do this manually, but it’s very time consuming and the previews are not rendered in max quality. Only in the devlop module (except if this has been modified recently...)

Report · May 26, 2018

Any plans for this plugin to be updated?

Report · Sep 28, 2019

I wonder why wouldn't Lightroom let me see the file size right in the grid view. Or anywhere in the interface, for that matter.

Report · Nov 23, 2019

It feels like new features are getting fewer and further between, but I have a request that is unlike anything out there which - for me at least - would be a big boon to productivity, and that is:

Focus Detection

Photoshop is already able to figure out on its own what the subject is in an image. Pull that capability over into Lightroom. Now with a little more tweaking to the AI have it check to see if the image is in focus and have some kind of indicator as to how "in focus" (or out of focus) an image is.

As a wedding photographer I spend a LOT of time culling images (probably more time culling than editing, sadly enough). For me focus matters a lot. And without zooming in 100% it's hard to compare two images to figure out which one has better focus. And at smaller sizes (where you can see the full image) and even worse, in Survey Mode with multiple images on screen (which I use a lot to compare images) it's next to impossible to determine that an image is less than ideal.

So.... easy win: After import, have LR flag every image that obviously has nothing in focus. I could quickly delete all of those images without a second thought.

Next level help: Have LR determine which images appear to have a subject in focus and have some way of indicating that it thinks the focus is less than ideal.

Going for the gusto: In Survey mode, being able to hit a button (if necessary) to have LR automatically determine which of the images currently being displayed has the best focus.

Report · Nov 23, 2019

The Focus Mask plugin from Capture Monkey works great, but is stopped (at least on Mac) at Mojave since it is a 32-bit plugin compiled in Lua. It would be wonderful if the developer (in Finland) could update the plugin to 64 bit so it would run on current operating systems. I still have one machine running Mojave so I can keep using it on that machine. It shouldn't be that hard if Adobe had the will. Focus Masking is integral to Capture One and On1 RAW, but each require an exit from Lightroom or PS to see masking. Not a great solution. It would be far better if it were integral to Lightroom Classic 9 and Photoshop, especially with all the AI running around.

Report · Apr 25, 2020

Going for the gusto: In Survey mode, being able to hit a button (if necessary) to have LR automatically determine which of the images currently being displayed has the best focus.

That's the feature I'm hoping the most for: picking the sharpest image out of a selection or stack. I think this would be huge for portrait photographers. AI could easily detect the eye as the camera does (+ AF info is in the raw file).

I shoot wildlife and often come come home with tons of burts. Having some help for sorting the images based on sharpness would be very helpful. I've also suggested to stack the images based on the camera's burst information. Still waiting 😕

Report · Oct 03, 2020

Try FastRawViewer software, it has focus peaking and details highlights.

Report · Dec 13, 2020

Increasingly cameras are providing Focus Peaking highlights to show the portions of the image that are in sharp focus. I'd like to see something similar as a Lightroom View option.

Being able to see the in-focus areas of an image would be a big help in editing images. It would make it easier to apply local adjustments to increase sharpness of in focus areas while avoiding sharpening areas that are soft or out of focus. It would also make it easier to apply blur or noise reduction to areas that are out of the focus plane.

In addition, when testing lenses and gear for AF accuracy or fine tuning, it can be hard to see the focus plane. Showing focus peaking highlights would make this much easier.

In cameras, focus peaking is currently just shown before the photo is taken for mirrorless cameras. With software, this could also be evaluated after the photo was taken on both mirrorless and DSLR cameras.

I'd like to see two functions. I'd like the ability to turn this view on or off when editing - probably with a check box or menu option. Ideally I'd like to be able to adjust the relative depth of the focus plane or depth of field with a slider. Mirrorless cameras allow you to adjust focus peaking highlight width, and the same idea could be applied to software.

This would be useful in both Photoshop and Lightroom Classic.

Report · Dec 14, 2020

Why conversations get merged:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-auto-import-to-folders-orga...

Report · Jun 14, 2022

Moderators, please, move the topic to the Ideas!

Report · Jun 14, 2022

or better just add the post to this one: https://community.adobe.com/t5/camera-raw-ideas/lightroom-camera-raw-focus-mask-image-sharpness/idi-...

Report · Jun 14, 2022

This thread is more than four years old...

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Jun 16, 2022

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/camera-raw-ideas/lightroom-camera-raw-focus-mask-image-sharpness/idi-...