My processing workflow is typically a minute or so in the Basics panel in Lightroom, taking care of global adjustments and then moving into localized changes. I will spend a lot of time with the graduated and radial filters, shaping different elements in my photo.

I started that exact process on this seascape photo and made a “happy mistake.” I didn’t realize I’d made the mistake at first because I liked the results so much. To illustrate, I created an after-the-fact version of the photo of what my typical processing would have looked like at this stage of the edit. Notice how the “mistake” photo just has more life!

So what was the mistake? I knew I wanted to brighten the foreground, so I reached for a graduated filter in Lightroom and chose the Dodge (Lighten) effect. My mistake was I didn’t choose Dodge … I clicked Iris Enhance, which is just below it in the popup menu. Iris Enhance also increases the Exposure, producing the dodge effect I desired. It also boosts Saturation, which turned out to be magic for this photo.

The aquas and oranges in the surf popped and gave the foreground much more life. If I hadn’t made the mistake, I likely would have done some HSL work. I probably would have also added some warmth or a touch of color grading to the foreground (read this article to learn the technique) … but now I didn’t have to!

I’ll be giving more consideration to the Saturation slider in the graduated and radial tools in the future.