Adobe’s Lightroom Classic is an immensely powerful tool for photographers to cull, edit, and share their photos. In this tutorial, we’re going to look at all kinds of little tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of this photo-editing application.
You can also learn the basics of the Lightroom photo editor with this video tutorial from the Tuts+ YouTube channel:
A is for Adobe Lightroom Classic
So what is Adobe Lightroom Classic anyway? The Lightroom editor is an immensely powerful app, made specifically to help us photographers get the most out of our images with as few barriers as possible. With its slider-based interaction, it’s so simple to move quickly through an edit—and then quickly sync your edit across an entire shoot with a click of a button.
In this article, you’ll learn a thing (or 26) about Lightroom and some of the many things it’s able to do, whether this is your first time using the Lightroom app or it’s been a staple in your workflow for years.
B is for Add to Quick Collection
The Quick Collection is exactly as it sounds, a holding spot for your sorting needs. Maybe you could think of this as your drafts folder. When you’re working through a selection of images, simply hit B and that image will be added to the Quick Collection on your sidebar. Once you’ve finished your selection, you can easily review and move the images into the appropriate collection.
C is for Clarity
Clarity is a very powerful slider when used effectively. Crank the slider up to increase the contrast, but that actually reduces saturation at the same time—or if you find yourself wanting a softer feel to your image, don’t be afraid to go into the negatives on your Clarity slider for a soft, film-like glow.
D is for Detail
Getting to know this small but mighty section of the Develop module is imperative for making your images pop. Sharpening in the Lightroom editor can help you make the most out of your images, and the masking slider is particularly powerful, allowing you to hone in exactly where the sharpening is being applied, or even more importantly, not being applied.
E is for Exposure
With the incredibly rapid advances in our camera technology over the last decade, RAW images can be corrected in post with ease. The Exposure slider allows up to five stops of correction in either direction—either under-exposed or over-exposed—which allows for very precise and specific corrections.
F is for Full Screen
It’s so important to get perspective when it comes to photography editing. One of the best ways is to use the hotkey F for Full Screen and have the Lightroom editor workspace disappear, leaving you with just your image filling the screen.
G is for Grain
The Grain module in the Lightroom app is a great way to add some detail in pure blackness, to reduce the appearance of noise, and to achieve those popular film looks in today’s Instagram world. Play around with the sliders to see what looks appealing to you (and don’t forget to zoom in to 100% to really see what the grain brings to the pixels).
H is for Highlights
Many photographers are concerned about not clipping their highlights in a photograph. When using Lightroom for editing, the Highlights slider allows you to control exactly where the brightest points will be limited, or enhanced, to help you to achieve exactly the look you’re after.
I is for Info Overlay
If you need to quickly check the filename or any of the exposure details (ISO/aperture/shutter speed), hit the I hotkey to reveal the Info Overlay panel. It’ll show your information displayed over the image.
J is for Show Clipping
If you’re trying to keep your blacks from being blocked up and/or your whites from being blown, just hit J in the Develop module, which activates the clipping alerts in the Lightroom photo editor. Your blacks will display as blue if they’re clipping and are blocked up, and your whites will display as red if they clip at pure white.
K is for Keywording
Using keyword tags can be extremely helpful with cataloging your images and finding them quickly and easily at a later date. Simply add “flower”, “sky”, “blue”, or whatever associations you might have with your image(s), and apply those keyword tags for easy retrieval. Your future you will thank you for taking this extra step.
L is for Local Adjustment Brushes
Getting to know your Local Adjustment Brushes is a real game-changer. While edits in the Develop tab affect your entire image, using local adjustment brushes allows you to apply edits to a specific selection. This is amazingly powerful if you wanted to, say, increase the saturation in just the sky—or sharpen just your subject’s face to add emphasis.
Use the Brush setting to paint on exactly where you want to adjust—or use the Radial Gradient or Liner Gradient for some more shapely selections.
M is for Map
This little-used tab can actually be a lot of fun. If you want to tag or sort your images from their actual GPS coordinates or City/State/Region, use this function to tag your images and plot them on the map!
N is for Noise Reduction
If you’ve ever had to crank up your ISO in order to get enough light into your photo, you’ll find yourself with a lot of noise in your image. The Noise Reduction isn’t going to cause any miracles, but it’s definitely going to help you manage the amount and quality of the noise in your image.
O is for Orange
Often, subjects with fair skin have a significant amount of orange in the tonality of their skin. In the H/S/L section, using the Orange slider can effectively target just this portion of the skin tone, allowing you to control the skin with very specific detail.
Try playing with the Orange slider in the Saturation and/or Luminance panels and see how much it affects the skin.
P is for Presets and Profiles
If you’re an Adobe Lightroom Classic user, you’ve probably asked yourself how to add presets to Lightroom. Presets and Profiles are perhaps the most effective tools for a photographer to maintain consistency when using Lightroom for editing. Whether it’s for custom colour grading or lens corrections, creating a custom preset can help you refine your work over time. There are plenty of great tutorials on presets right here on Envato Tuts+.
Q is for Spot Removal
The Spot Removal tool gives you a lot of power when using Lightroom for editing. Both the Clone and Heal options can help you elevate your image with just a few clicks.
With the Healing tool, you can sample pixels from a ‘good’ section and easily correct and blend this sampled section into the ‘bad’ section. Use the Healing Brush if you find yourself cleaning up a subject’s skin or trying to get rid of a spot on a surface.
The Clone tool will take your sampled area and create an exact stamp onto your new section. This is massively powerful for removing a cloud in a sky, or where a busy pattern might be in the ‘problem’ area you’re trying to fix.
R is for Crop Overlay
If you only ever learn one hotkey to use Adobe Lightroom for editing, let me recommend this one. A simple press of the letter R brings up your crop overlay, allowing you to play with a crop of any kind with ease. Simply hit R again, and you’ll be popped right back into your previous location in the app.
S is for Shadows
If you’ve ever taken a photograph in a dark scene and need to bring life back into the darkest portions of the image, the Shadows slider is your best friend.
T is for Transform
Didn’t nail the perspective on your photograph in-camera? The Transform module easily shifts the image to correct for any vertical or horizontal shifts that may be required. Even the ‘auto’ setting can often be a one-click solution to any perspective problems in your image.
U is for Undo
Everyone’s favourite tool, right? Conveniently located on your keyboard, the hotkey is Command-Z, which serves as the Edit > Undo function. Every time you say “oops” in your photography editing, this is the lifeline you’ll be reaching for!
V is for Vibrance
If you often photograph people, do yourself a favour and get to know the Vibrance slider. The Lightroom photo editor can detect the skin-tone range of your photograph, and if you use the Vibrance slider instead of the Saturation slider, the skin tones will be protected against over-saturation.
W is for the White Balance Selector
The White Balance Selector allows you to manually sample a colour from your image to set as a reference for the white balance. This can be used to effectively dial in skin tones by finding an appropriately neutral tone in the image. Play around with this tool and try it on a few different colours to see how your image reacts.
X is for Export
Getting to know the Export section of the program is integral to your use of Adobe Lightroom Classic. Here, you control the location of your edits, the file naming, and the file sizing—and that’s just the beginning.
Also built in to this section is the ability to watermark your images with the defaults available or to make your own custom option.
Y is for Before/After Views
An extremely underrated tool is the Y hotkey, which brings up a split screen of the raw image and your processed image. This allows you to gain some perspective on your edit and see if you’ve perhaps gone too far in certain photography editing choices.
Z is for Zoom
This is the easiest way to quickly get in and out. Simply press Z to Zoom in to see the detail you’re wondering about or check your focus on your photograph, and then Z again to Zoom back out.
