Raw SmithBlog
Speed Edit on iPad and Mac: hold a key and scroll to edit
Speed Edit lets you change a slider without looking for it: hold a key, scroll or drag, let go. In Raw Smith on a Mac, or on an iPad with a keyboard, hold E and scroll to change Exposure, H for Highlights, T for Temperature, and so on for nine sliders. Your eyes stay on the photo the whole time.
If you've come from Capture One, the idea will be familiar. If you haven't, it's one of the biggest speed-ups in RAW editing, because most of an edit is the same handful of sliders on every photo.
What Capture One's Speed Edit is
In Capture One Pro, Speed Edit keys let you "make adjustments quickly without the need to navigate to the particular tool in the interface", as its support article puts it. You hold the shortcut assigned to a tool, a temporary slider appears under the image, and you change it by scrolling the mouse wheel or trackpad, dragging anywhere in the viewer, or pressing the arrow keys. The assigned keys are listed in Capture One's keyboard shortcuts window.
Raw Smith borrows the idea, with keys chosen to match Lightroom's slider names, so it should feel natural whichever app you're coming from.
Raw Smith's Speed Edit keys
| Hold | Slider | Range |
|---|---|---|
| E | Exposure | −4 to +4 EV |
| C | Contrast | −100 to +100 |
| H | Highlights | −100 to +100 |
| S | Shadows | −100 to +100 |
| W | Whites | −100 to +100 |
| B | Blacks | −100 to +100 |
| T | Temperature | 2,000 to 12,000 K |
| V | Vibrance | −100 to +100 |
| A | Saturation | −100 to +100 |
The keys follow Lightroom's slider names where they can. Two differ from what you might guess: W is Whites, not white balance (that's T), and Saturation is A because S is Shadows. The keys are fixed; you can't reassign them yet.
How it behaves
- No modifiers. Hold the key on its own. With ⌘, ⌥, ⌃ or ⇧ held, the key does its normal job, so ⌘C still copies adjustments.
- Scroll up or right for more. Vertical or horizontal scrolling both work. On a Mac, a mouse wheel moves in bigger steps than a trackpad, so both feel usable.
- Or drag on the photo. With the key held, drag left or right on the photo. The drag is relative, so it starts from the slider's current value.
- A readout. While the key is down, the slider's name and value float at the top of the photo, for example "Exposure +0.35 EV" or "Temperature 5600 K".
- A key tapped is just a key. On a Mac, if you press and release a key without scrolling, it does what it would have done anyway.
- Not while typing. In a caption or keyword field the letters are just letters.
- The whole photo. Speed Edit moves the main Edit sliders, even with a mask open. For a mask's own sliders, use the mask panel.
The full list of shortcuts is in the keyboard shortcuts guide.
Speed Edit on iPad: trackpad, mouse and Magic Keyboard
On iPad, Speed Edit needs a hardware keyboard. Any keyboard works for the keys; what you scroll with is up to you:
| Setup | How to adjust |
|---|---|
| Magic Keyboard or a keyboard case with a trackpad | Hold the key with one hand and two-finger scroll on the trackpad. This is the closest to a laptop. |
| Bluetooth keyboard and mouse | Hold the key and turn the scroll wheel. |
| Keyboard only | Hold the key and drag left or right on the photo with a finger. |
The photo takes keyboard focus when you open it, so you can start straight away. Hold ⌘ to see the other shortcuts iPadOS lists for the editor.
There's no Speed Edit on iPhone. There, a slider floats on its own over the photo while you drag it, so you can watch its effect without the panel in the way.
A fast editing routine with Speed Edit
Here's a routine for a shoot of a few hundred frames, with one hand on the keys and one on the trackpad.
- Cull first. Use P to pick and X to reject, with [ and ] to move. Edit only the picks. Cull a shoot fast covers it.
- Edit a key photo in full. Choose the profile, set white balance and add any masks the scene needs. Then ⌘C to copy the adjustments.
- Paste to the set. Select the rest of the series in the same light and paste. Crop isn't pasted, so each photo keeps its own framing.
- Go photo by photo. Press ], then fix only what differs:
- Hold E and nudge exposure until the subject sits right.
- Hold H to bring a sky back, or S to open the shadows.
- Hold T if the light shifted warmer or cooler.
- Hold B to set the black point, with J showing clipping.
- Check, then move on. Press \ to compare with the original, then ] for the next photo.
- Rate as you go. 1 to 5 set stars, so the best of the set are easy to find at export.
The point is to keep your eyes on the photo. With the readout at the top, you see both the value and the change without looking at the panel. Most corrections to a pasted edit are two or three keys.
Tips
- Small movements. A short trackpad swipe moves Exposure by a fraction of a stop. Use small strokes and let the preview catch up.
- Reset by double-click. If you overshoot, double-click or double-tap the slider's name in the panel to reset it, or use ⌘Z.
- Give the photo the screen. Tab hides everything but the photo, and ⌘⌥S collapses the inspector, so the photo is as large as it can be while you work.
- Watch noise reduction separately. Detail settings are applied in the RAW decode and appear once the photo settles, so leave them for the end.
How Raw Smith fits
Raw Smith is a RAW editor for iPhone, iPad and Mac with Capture One-style Speed Edit and Lightroom-style shortcuts on Mac and iPad. It covers nine sliders rather than every tool, the keys can't be reassigned, and it doesn't do tethered shooting, which Capture One users often rely on in the studio. Edits sync through your own iCloud, so a set edited with Speed Edit on the iPad is waiting on the Mac. It's a free download with a free tier and a 14-day trial; Pro is a one-time purchase or a yearly plan. Join the public beta on TestFlight.
Questions
What is Speed Edit?
A way to change a slider without finding it: hold a key assigned to that slider, then scroll or drag to change its value, and let go to stop. Capture One made it popular; Raw Smith has its own version on Mac and iPad.
Which keys does Raw Smith's Speed Edit use?
E Exposure, C Contrast, H Highlights, S Shadows, W Whites, B Blacks, T Temperature, V Vibrance and A Saturation. Hold the key with no modifier and scroll or drag on the photo.
Does Speed Edit work on iPad?
Yes, with a hardware keyboard such as a Magic Keyboard. Hold the key and scroll with the trackpad or a mouse, or drag on the photo.
Does Speed Edit work on iPhone?
No. On iPhone, sliders float over the photo while you drag them, so you can still see what each one does.
Can I change the Speed Edit keys in Raw Smith?
Not at the moment. The nine keys are fixed, and they follow Lightroom's slider names where possible.