A little while back I wrote about the Radial Filter being backwards and the importance of having the Invert Mask check box selected before starting any work.
Otherwise the effect of your slider changes will appear outside of the ellipse you make instead of INSIDE. So, before you do any work using the Radial Gradient, please remember to check the Invert Mask check box. Thanks! (Note! I call the Radial Filter the Radial Gradient Tool, simply because that’s what it is, a circular filter with a graduated (feathered) effect from 100% to 0%.
In this tutorial, a blah backlit snapshot is processed with a couple of simple moves in the Develop module. And then it’s transformed, using the Radial Gradient tool from the toolbar to draw ellipses that open up the shadow detail on the faces. It’s a pretty easy technique and the Radial Filter is one of my favorite LR tools. It’s certain that there will be more Radial Gradient tutorials.