New Camera Raw Features Worth Using: Autofocus Points, Vectorscope, Bidirectional Gradients, and More

Camera Raw has quietly picked up several genuinely useful features that most photographers haven't touched yet. From visualizing exactly where your camera focused to correcting white balance with a vectorscope rather than guesswork, these additions change how you interact with raw files in meaningful ways.

Note that all features covered here are currently exclusive to Camera Raw and are not yet available in any version of Lightroom.

Watch the Video

Practical Tips

Here are the key takeaways from the video to help you put these Camera Raw features to immediate use.

• Check autofocus points by right-clicking the image and selecting "Show Autofocus Points" — useful for confirming focus accuracy, though it only works with certain mirrorless cameras that embed this data in the raw file.
• Use bidirectional linear gradients for mid-frame adjustments — enable the "Bidirectional" checkbox in the Linear Gradient mask options, then hold Shift to keep it level or Option to extend both ends simultaneously.
• Feather each side of a bidirectional gradient independently by dragging the triangle handles that appear on each arm of the gradient — this control is new in the current Camera Raw version.
• Use the vectorscope to correct white balance without relying on your monitor — adjust the Temperature slider to move the pixel cloud left or right, then use Tint to center it along the opposite axis; a centered cloud generally indicates neutral white balance.
• When a person's skin dominates the frame, don't center the vectorscope cloud completely — skin tones should plot toward the red-yellow region indicated by the skin tone line, so adjust accordingly rather than aiming for dead center.

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