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Five Useful Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts

16 Apr

Lightroom shortcuts

Adobe makes life easier for Lightroom users by building in keyboard shortcuts. You probably know some of the more important ones by heart (e.g.: T to reveal or hide the Toolbar, \ to toggle between before and after views, and O to reveal the Adjustment Brush overlay). But I’m also betting there are quite a few shortcuts you didn’t even know existed. Here are some of the more useful, lesser known ones.

1. Reveal all Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are difficult to remember, especially if you don’t use them that often. But if you press Ctrl + / (PC) or Cmd + / (Mac), Lightroom displays a list of the shortcuts available in the current module. When you’re done, click anywhere on the shortcut list to hide it.

Library module shortcuts.

Develop module shortcuts.

Note: The rest of these keyboard shortcuts are for the Develop module. Not all of them are shown on the shortcuts list.

2. Rotate the Crop Overlay

If you’ve ever tried to make a portrait crop from a landscape image you’ll have experienced the frustration of trying to rotate the Crop Overlay (press R to go straight to that tool).

Lightroom automatically gives the Crop Overlay the same orientation as the photo, with no immediately obvious way of rotating it. To do so, simply press X.

By default the Crop Overlay is automatically given the same size and orientation as the original frame.

Press X to rotate the Crop Overlay and make an extreme crop.

3. Resample Spot Removal Tool

The good thing about the Spot Removal Tool (which you can activate by pressing Q) is that Lightroom is quite good at guessing which part of the image it should sample, in order to heal the selected area. But it doesn’t get it right all the time. If you don’t like the result, press the / key and Lightroom will choose a different area to sample. Repeat as often as you like.

In this example I wanted to get rid of this dark blob in the background because it’s a distraction.

Lightroom’s first guess doesn’t really work.

But the second one is much better. You can of course fine-tune it by moving the pin indicating the sampled area manually.

4. Automatic White and Black points

If you double-click on the Whites and Blacks sliders in the Basic panel, Lightroom resets them to zero. If you hold the Shift key down while you do it, Lightroom calculates the best settings, working out where to position both sliders so that the histogram stretches all the way from the left side of the graph (shadows) to the right (highlights) without any gaps. This quick fix makes most photos look better right away. The flatter the original photo, the more extreme the settings required.

Double-click the Whites and Blacks sliders while holding the Shift key down. Make sure you double-click the words and not the slider itself.

5. Flip a Graduated Filter

Press the apostrophe key to flip (invert) a Graduated Filter. One practical use for this is as follows:

Create a Graduated Filter over the sky of a landscape image (hold the Shift key down while you do so to keep the Graduated Filter straight) and move the Exposure slider left to darken that area.
Right-click on the Graduated Filter’s pin and select Duplicate. This creates a new Graduated Filter with exactly the same settings as the first.
Press the apostrophe key to flip the Graduated Filter. Now the minus Exposure setting is applied to the foreground. We don’t want to make the foreground darker, so double-click the Exposure slider to return it to zero. Now we are ready to use this new Graduated Filter to enhance the foreground.
Move the Clarity slider right to emphasise the texture in the foreground. You may also need to move the Exposure slider left if this brightens the foreground too much.

The net result is that you have applied two Graduated Filters, one to the sky, and the other to the foreground.

***By the way, the apostrophe shortcut also works with the Radial Filter.

(A) Original photo. (B) Graduated Filter with minus Exposure applied to sky. (C) Duplicated and flipped Graduated Filter applied to foreground, with plus Clarity and minus Exposure. (D) Final result.

Your turn

What keyboard shortcuts do you use in Lightroom and why? Please let us know in the comments.

The Mastering Lightroom Collection

Mastering Lightroom ebooks My Mastering Lightroom ebooks will help you get the most out of Lightroom 4 and Lightroom 5. They cover every aspect of the software from the Library module through to creating beautiful images in the Develop module. Click the link to learn more or buy.

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Lightroom Walk Through – Event Photography Workflow with Phil Steele

12 Apr

Phil Steele is a well-known and respected photography educator. In this video tutorial he walks you through exactly how he works through the post-processing of an event he has just shot.

Learn tips on importing, rating, culling, organizing in Collections, exporting, and delivering the photos as Phil goes through his entire event photography workflow step by step.

If you enjoyed that and want more you can check out Phil’s courses here:

How to Shoot Headshots and Portraits on a Budget with Small Flashes
Photoshop Basics for Photographers
Lightroom Made Easy
Event Photography course

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How to Create Your Own Lightroom Presets

07 Apr

A straight out of the camera Raw file from an EOS 5D Mark II, without any corrections applied in Lightroom. This is the sort of thing you see when you import images into Lightroom without applying a Develop Preset at the import stage.

There are mundane tasks in Lightroom that you carry out on almost every photo you import. You can save time by creating Develop Presets to perform these jobs automatically upon import, so that you don’t have to do them later.

The same photo with Profile set to Landscape, lens corrections applied, chromatic aberrations removed and white balance set to auto. This is what you would see after importing the photo into Lightroom if you applied an import preset similar to the one that I show you how to make in this article. The biggest benefit is that it saves you time.

Here’s an example of how I created a Develop Preset to use when I import photos taken with my Fujifilm X-T1 camera. The idea was to create a preset that takes me to a neutral starting point from where I can process the file. You can follow along to create an import Develop Preset for your own camera. I’ll explain what I’m doing at each step and suggest some variations you can try.

Start by selecting a photo taken with the camera that you are going to create the Develop Preset for and open it in the Develop module. Zero all the settings by pressing the Reset button at the bottom (you may find it helpful to make a Virtual Copy of the photo first so you don’t undo any edits you have already made).

1. Camera Calibration panel

I set Process to 2012 (Current) the most recent, and Profile to Classic Chrome (the Film Simulation setting I use most often). The Profile options available to you vary depending on the camera.

Import presets Lightroom

Possible variation: You can create a different Develop Preset for each Profile that you regularly use.

2. Lens Corrections panel

Import presets Lightroom I don’t have to do anything here for the X-T1 as lens corrections are carried out by the camera, saved within the Raw file, and automatically applied by Lightroom.

Most cameras don’t do this, so if this applies to you then go to the Basic tab and tick the Enable Profile Corrections and Remove Chromatic Aberration boxes. Then go to the Profile tab and set Setup to Auto so that Lightroom adjusts the settings according to what lens is mounted on the camera.

3. Basic panel

Set White Balance to As Shot and make sure all the other sliders are zeroed.

Possible variation #1: Tick the Auto Tone box to have Lightroom automatically set the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks sliders. This is a matter of preference, I don’t do this as I prefer to set them myself.

Import presets Lightroom

Possible variation #2: Create one preset for colour photos, and another for those you intend to convert to black and white by setting Treatment to Black & White.

Creating the Preset

Go to the Develop Preset panel (on the left side) and click the Create New Preset icon (the plus sign at the top, to the right of the word “Presets”). This brings up the New Develop Preset window. Give the Preset a name and select a folder to save it in (User Presets is a good one). Click the Check All button and press Create when you are ready to save the Preset.

Import presets Lightroom

That’s it! It’s a simple process that doesn’t take very long and can save you a lot of time when you import your photos.

Applying Develop Presets upon Import

Import presets Lightroom To apply the Develop Preset you just created, launch the Import Window and go to the Apply During Import panel. Set Develop Settings to the appropriate preset. This is where creating several presets helps saves time, as you can pick the most appropriate one for the photos you are importing. When you click the Import button Lightroom applies the settings in the selected preset, and renders a preview that includes those settings.

Adding Copyright Info

While you’re in the Import Window, it’s worth setting up another Preset to automatically add Copyright information to the metadata of your photos when you import them.

Go to the Metadata menu in the Apply During Import panel and select New. Lightroom opens the New Metadata Preset window, where you can add information such as your name and copyright details.

Start by giving the Preset a name and clicking the Check Filled button. Under IPTC Copyright, set Copyright Status to Copyrighted and fill in the other fields appropriately (my entries are shown below).

Import presets Lightroom

Under IPTC Creator, add your name, website, email address and any other appropriate details. I leave out my address here as I move around a lot so it’s constantly changing (plus identity theft is a risk).

Import presets Lightroom

Click Done when you’re finished. When you import photos all you have to do is select the Preset you just created from the Metadata menu.

File Renaming

If you’re in the habit of renaming your photos you can set up a Filename Template to do so. Go to the File Renaming panel and selecting one of the options from the Template menu. Alternatively, select Edit to open the Filename Template Editor and create your own Template

There are lots of variations you could use here, so make sure you pick something that makes sense to you. The idea is to give each photo a unique name so that you don’t end up with more than one photo sharing the same name, as your camera’s counter cycles back around to zero.

You could go for something like your initials, followed by the date and a sequence number, as in the example below. When it’s ready go to the Preset menu at the top and select Save Current Settings as New Preset. Lightroom asks you to give the new template a name. All you have to do to use the Preset is select it from the File Renaming menu.

You can also add a dash in between if you like so your filename looks like: ASG-20150323-0001.dng

Your turn

Hopefully this has given you some useful ideas for creating your own Presets in Lightroom to save time and speed up your workflow. How do you use Presets when you import photos into Lightroom? I’d love to hear some good time saving tips. Please let us know in the comments.

The Mastering Lightroom Collection

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How to Make a Triptych in Lightroom

05 Apr

Lightroom print module triptych

It seems that the majority of photos we see online or in print are presented individually. But if you have several strong images on a related theme, you may be able to create a stronger presentation by placing them together.

The triptych – three images laid out side by side – is a traditional way of doing this. While there is no way of creating a triptych in Lightroom’s Develop module, it’s easy to do in the Print module. It’s a simple procedure and saves you having to leave Lightroom to create the triptych in Photoshop. Then you can either print it directly from Lightroom, or export it as JPEG file to use in a photo book or upload to a photo sharing website like Flickr.

Here’s how to make a triptych in Lightroom

Step #1 – Create a collection of the photos for the triptych

Go to the Grid View in the Library module and create a new Collection containing the photos you want to use in the triptych. The photos should be the same orientation and aspect ratio. Click and drag to arrange them in the desired order.

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #2 – Setup in the Print module

Go to the Print module, click the Page Setup button and make sure the paper orientation is set to landscape. Then go to the Template Browser panel and select the Triptych template from the Lightroom Templates list.

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #3 – Crop images correctly

For some reason Lightroom crops the photos to square format and arranges them vertically, so you need to change that. Go to the Image Settings panel and uncheck the Zoom to Fill box. Then go to the Layout panel and, under Page Grid, set Rows to 1 and Columns to 3, and untick the Keep Square box. It will look something like this:

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #4 – Show guides

To see how the layout is created, go to the Guides panel and tick the Show Guides box. The screen shot below shows the Margins and Gutters (light grey, indicating the three column and one row layout) and the Image Cells (black).

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #5 – Size images

Return to the Layout panel and move the Height slider under Cell Size right to increase the size of the Image Cells. All three are adjusted together – you cannot make adjust them individually. You can also adjust the left and right margins to increase the space around the three photos.

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #6 – View without guides

Return to the Guides panel and uncheck the Show Guides box to view the photos without any guides. This makes it easier to see whether you have the right amount of spacing between images.

Lightroom print module triptych

Step #7 – Save your print layout

Click the Create Saved Print button at the top of the Content window and give the print a name in the Create Print window that appears. The print is saved inside the Collection of your choice, and marked by a printer icon. Now you can leave the print and come back to it later without losing any of your work. To export the triptych as a JPEG file simply click the Print to File button under the right-hand panels.

Other options

You can use the same template to create a diptych by setting Rows to 1 and Columns to 2, like so:

Lightroom print module triptych

If you set Rows to 1 and Columns to 5 you can lay out five images side by side like this:

Lightroom print module triptych

You can also explore the other templates in the Print module for alternative layouts. How do you use the Print module for laying out your photos? Please let us know in the comments.

The Mastering Lightroom Collection

My Mastering Lightroom ebooks will help you get the most out of Lightroom 4 and Lightroom 5. They cover every aspect of the software from the Library module through to creating beautiful images in the Develop module. Please click the link to learn more or buy.

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How to Create a Simple Slideshow in Lightroom

27 Mar

Slideshow module Lightroom

If you’re over a “certain” age, you remember creating slideshows for friends or family members to see. The viewing process required a projector and a screen, plus a darkened room to enable people to see the projected slides properly.

Thankfully, things have moved on since then and it’s now much easier to show your photos to an audience. The advent of laptop computers, social media, blogs and photo sharing websites has rendered the old style of slideshow redundant.

However, there’s still a place for the new style of slideshow – one viewed on a computer monitor, rather than a white screen. Lightroom users can create slideshows from within the program itself, using the Slideshow module, greatly simplifying the process.

In this article I’ll show you how to create a simple slideshow, and point out some of the more advanced customization features you may wish to explore.

First steps in the Slideshow module

It helps greatly if you create a new Collection for the photos you want to use in your slide show. Once you have done so, switch to the Slideshow module. You will see, depending on whether you have used it before, something like this.

Slideshow module Lightroom

Click the Create Saved Slideshow button at the top of the Content window. When you do so, Lightroom creates a new Slideshow Collection which is placed (by default) inside the original Collection. From this point on, any changes you make to your slideshow are automatically saved, and you can’t lose them.

Give your slideshow a name in the Create Slideshow window, and decide where to save it using the drop-down menu under Location. If you tick the Make new virtual copies box you will be able to edit Virtual Copies in the Slideshow Collection without affecting the originals.

Slideshow module Lightroom

Identity Plates

If you have created a custom Identity Plate then you may see it displayed in the top-left corner of your slide show, as several of Lightroom’s slideshow templates incorporate Identity Plates in their layout.

You can move the Identity Plate by clicking and dragging, or enlarge it by clicking on, and dragging the white squares around the edge. Now is probably a good time to point out that there are two types of personalized Identity Plates in Lightroom – Graphical and Styled Text Identity Plates.

While Graphical Identity Plates have their uses (mainly as a picturesque alternative to Lightroom’s default Identity Plate) you can’t enlarge them beyond their native size of 400 x 57 pixels without pixelating the graphics, making them nearly useless for incorporating into slideshows. Styled Text Identity Plates are much better as Lightroom simply scales them to the required size without any pixelation.

If you don’t want to include an Identity Plate in your slide show at all, go to the Overlays panel and untick the Identity Plate box. This is the simplest option, but if you wish you can create your own Styled Text Identity Plate by going to Lightroom > Identity Plate Setup (Mac) / Edit > Identity Plate (PC).

Slideshow module Lightroom

Previewing your slideshow

Opening the Slideshow module automatically creates a slideshow (yes, it’s as simple as that) and if you’re happy with the default settings you’re already done. To see what it looks like, click the Preview Slideshow button (the play icon) in the Toolbar. For maximum effect retract the top, bottom and side panels first (keyboard shortcut: Shift+Tab).

Slideshow module Lightroom

Customizing your slideshow

Now that you have seen the default slideshow in action, it’s time to take a look at how you can customize it.

The place to start is the Template Browser, located in the left-hand panels. There are five Lightroom Templates to choose from. They are fully customizable. The easiest way to design your slideshow is to choose the template that gets you closest to where you want to be, and then make the required adjustments from there.

Slideshow module Lightroom

For my slide show I chose the Crop to Fill template, which expands (and crops) the photos in the slide show to fill the entire screen.

Slideshow module Lightroom

Most of the templates have Text Cells. If you don’t want a Text Cell to appear in your slide show, simply click on it and press the Delete (Mac) / Backspace (PC) key on the keyboard to remove it.

Alternatively, you can edit the content of the text box by clicking on the Text Cell, then going to the Custom Text menu in the Toolbar and select Edit. This opens the Text Template Editor, where you can select what will be displayed in the Text Cell.

Slideshow module Lightroom

If you want to add a new Text Cell (for example, if you are using the Crop to Fill template, which has none) you can do so by clicking the ABC button in the Toolbar. Select Edit (or one of the presets) from the Custom Text menu. If you select Edit the Text Template Editor opens and you can choose what will appear in the Text Cell.

You can drag the Text Cell around the slideshow to position it, and adjust the size of the font by making the text box larger or smaller by dragging the corner or edge handles. Go to Text Overlays in the Overlays panel to set the font type, colour and opacity of the font in the active Text Cell.

Slideshow module Lightroom

Exporting slideshows

The easiest way to show someone a slideshow is to open Lightroom, go to the Slideshow Collection you wish to view and hit the Play button.

There are also times when you may need to export the slideshow in a format that is viewable by other people, such as a movie file. To do so, click the Export Video button underneath the left-hand panels. Exported videos are saved in the .MP4 format, which is compatible with many video players including Adobe Media Player, Apple Quicktime and Windows Media Player 12. The video includes music if it has has been added to the slideshow.

Slideshow module Lightroom

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has given you a good idea of what you can achieve in Lightroom’s Slideshow module. If you like what you’ve seen so far, take some time to explore the right hand panels, where you will discover more ways to customize the appearance of your slideshow.

What uses have you found for Lightroom’s Slideshow module? Is it powerful enough for your needs or do you prefer alternative software? Please let us know in the comments.

The Mastering Lightroom Collection

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10 Quick Lightroom Tips and Shortcuts

21 Mar

Lightroom is a powerful and complex program. It’s great to have shortcuts and fast ways to do things you do often. Here are ten Lightroom tips to help you out:

#1 Check RBG values

Did you know that you can check the RGB value of the pixels for an selected image in Lightroom? When you are working in the Develop module press S on the keyboard which will show you the soft proofing for the image. Hover the cursor over the image area, and it will display the RGB values (not percentages) of the pixel where your mouse is being located, look just below the histogram. (See the screenshot below)

Smarttips Lightroom 01

#2 Full screen mode

2. Making a clutter free workspace will not only provide you more working area but it will be distraction free as well. To enable full screen (without even the menu bar and the window frame )- press Shift+F (in LR4 and earlier just hit F). Pressing that combination repeatedly will give you another two options. Try it out for yourself. I use this all the time.

Smarttips Lightroom 02

#3 Preview effects by panel

You can turn off one particular sub-panel’s effect on the image. Click that little button to see the effect of that particular panel on the image toggle off and on.

Smarttips Lightroom 03

#4 Work with the histogram

4. If you are person who works based on the histogram, you can work directly on the image’s histogram itself inside Lightroom. Once hover your cursor over on the histogram, it will change into a double-sided arrow on specific areas. Then you only have to click and drag to the right or left, as you wish based on what values you want to change (Black, Shadows, Exposure or mid tones, Highlights, or Whites).

Smarttips Lightroom 04

#5 View file properties

If, while working on your photograph, for whatever reason you want to check the image’s properties including size, format, you can do so by pressing I (it will display the size of the file, file type, date taken, lens model). Pressing I one more time will provide you another set of properties, clicking I again will remove all the details from displaying.

Smarttips Lightroom 05

If you do not see all of those options go to View > View Options (Cmd+J) where you can customize what is displayed in the Louse overlay mode using this pop-up dialog box.

Screen Shot 2015 03 14 at 5 35 25 PM

#6 Clipping warnings

To avoid processing outside of your image’s dynamic range, while working in develop module clicking J (keyboard shortcut) will activate the clipping warnings for highlights and shadows. If you push exposure towards the right far more, a red colour warning will be displayed on the region of the photograph where it is overexposed, Conversely if you bring down the exposure (for whatsoever reason) a blue colour warning will be displayed on the region of the photograph where it is underexposed. (Below screenshot is an example of overexposure)

Smarttips Lightroom 06

#7 Unflagging

In Library module, when you are flagging photographs for sorting purposes, if you mistakenly press pick (p) instead of rejecting (x), stay calm and press (u) for unpick or unflag. It will remove the flag, now you can mark it as you originally wished.

#8 Lesser known Develop keyboard shortcuts

If you are in the habit of using your keyboard, in Develop module the complete basic panel can be controlled by keyboard. Press period (.) or comma (,) for selecting a slider (e.g., Exposure) and then press plus (+) to increase the value and press minus (-) to decrease the value of the same. Now press period (.) to go the next. Repeat, enjoy.

#9 Shift key to lock

While applying a graduated filter, if you want to make it straight – press and hold Shift the key to make the filter locked into perfectly horizontal or vertical position. You can also hold Shift when applying the crop tool on your image (if required), to avoid changing the image proportions.

#10 Saving local adjustment tool presets

You can save any of the local adjustment tool settings as a preset which can be used for any of the tools. For example, if you are a portrait retoucher, you may want to save your favorite skin-softening settinsg as a preset. You can do that by clicking save as a preset at the bottom of the local correction tool set. Likewise you can save any kind of settings which you may use often.

Smarttips Lightroom 10

Do you have any others you’d like to add to this list of Lightroom quick tips?

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Understanding the Difference Between Photoshop and Lightroom

20 Mar

One of the most common questions I hear from people just starting out in photography is, “What program should I use to edit my photos?”. There are many free options such as iPhoto, Picasa, GIMP, and other commercial programs such as AfterShot Pro and Pixelmator but the most popular programs are Photoshop and Lightroom.

That question is usually followed by another, which seems quite logical, “What’s the difference between Photoshop and Lightroom?”. While the two programs do share many similarities, and are both widely used by the photographic community, they each serve a unique purpose and are quite different in some very major ways. Understanding what makes them similar, as well as different, can help you make an informed choice when selecting the right software for your needs.

If you’re not sure what the difference is between Photoshop and Lightroom, you’re not alone.

Similarities

At the core level both programs do essentially the same thing, edit images. How they go about handling that task, as well as how you actually use each program, is quite different – but if you are simply looking for software that will allow you to alter, tweak, and enhance your photographs, either one will suffice. Both are capable of handling multiple file types such as: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and a perennial favorite of many photographers, RAW. In fact both Photoshop and Lightroom use the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) processing engine to handle RAW files. So, you can expect similar controls and editing options in both programs when doing things like adjusting saturation, working with curves, and correcting for lens distortions.

Both Photoshop and Lightroom are powerful additions to any photographer’s digital toolbox, but understanding what makes each one unique can help you choose the one that suits your needs best.

Both programs also feature an extensive set of editing and manipulation tools allowing you to do everything from; basic edits like cropping and adjusting exposure, to advanced alterations such as working with brushes, tone curves, and graduated filters. You will find a variety of built-in effects in both programs that will allow you to instantly apply edits such as black and white, sepia, and other artistic styles. The two programs are quite powerful image editors. I know some photographers who use Lightroom exclusively and never touch Photoshop, as well as plenty of others who spend all day in Photoshop and never open Lightroom. However, in order to understand which one is best for you it might help to see how they are also quite different from each other.

Difference #1: File Handling

One of the most significant ways in which Lightroom is different from Photoshop is that it does not actually edit photos, nor does it move your images around to different locations on your computer. Instead all the changes you implement are kept in a separate file called the Catalog, which is sort of like a recipe book of instructions for how each photo should be processed. When you apply some type of edit, like a radial filter or adjustment brush, Lightroom is essentially keeping a log of the alterations in a database, while leaving the original image intact. It’s a technique called nondestructive editing, which stands in stark contrast to how Photoshop operates.

For example, several months ago I sent my father this photo I took of him, which I had subsequently edited in Lightroom.

simon-dad-edited

Since the original file was left unchanged I can go back and re-edit the photo any time I want. The edits in Lightroom are a set of instructions for how to process the file, similar to how a recipe is a set of instructions for making food like a cake or casserole. After you finish making changes to an image in Lightroom the photo must be exported at which point it can be printed, shared, or posted online. Because the original photo remains on your computer fully intact and untouched you can go back to Lightroom at any point in the future and re-edit the photo however you want.

Another benefit of this approach is that the catalog itself is quite small, often taking up only a few hundred megabytes on your hard drive even if you have several thousand images in Lightroom.

A basic diagram of the Lightroom workflow: editing instructions are stored in the Catalog file and no changes are made to your original images.

Photoshop, on the other hand, operates quite differently. When you edit a picture such as a JPG, PNG, or RAW file in Photoshop you are always working on the original file itself, unless you save a copy as a Photoshop PSD file that is usually several dozen megabytes in size. This PSD file contains all the changes made to a photo, and in order to share a given image it must then be saved to a final format such as JPG, PNG, etc. In essence, if you want to perform nondestructive edits in Photoshop you will end up with three separate files: the original camera RAW file, a PSD, and the final copy saved into a shareable format from the PSD. The process works something like this:

A basic diagram of the Photoshop workflow: If you want to edit an image later it must be saved as a separate PSD file.

FileDifferences The two processes look somewhat similar on the surface with one major difference; in Lightroom all your changes for every photo are saved in one single, relatively small, catalog file. In Photoshop all your changes are saved in unique files for every single picture you edit. This means much more space on your hard drive will be taken up as you work with multiple files in Photoshop, and you will end up with multiple versions of each image as well. So why would you want choose to use Photoshop instead of Lightroom? In a word, power.

Difference #2: Editing Tools

Lightroom is kind of like an all-terrain-vehicle you might see on some farms. It’s fast, nimble, and can be used for a variety of tasks like hauling small objects and towing little trailers. But it simply cannot match the sheer power of a massive farm truck when it comes to getting big, serious jobs done like transporting massive bales of hay, pulling a horse trailer, or ploughing through mud and snow.

Nearly a decade ago Adobe realized that not everyone needed the capability of Photoshop, particularly photographers who were returning from events with hundreds of images to edit quickly. What this new generation of digital photographers demanded was the essential editing tools of Photoshop in one easy-to-use package which resulted in Lightroom.

Photoshop uses layers, which can be intimidating for beginners but offers incredible versatility that Lightroom simply can’t match.

Photoshop contains a dizzying array of filters, brushes, and other tools that allow you to perform all manner of edits and changes to your images. But more than that, Photoshop operates by letting you create different layers on which your edits actually take place. For example, the image on the right shows the various layers I used to edit the image of the statue, and each layer can be edited independently of the others. This might look like a lot, but it is not uncommon for a digital artist to use dozens of layers when editing an image. Lightroom, by contrast, works in a much more linear fashion with no layers, fewer editing tools and less overall flexibility. Both programs contain a history panel that lets you step back in time to any of your edits, but working with layers gives you infinitely more control over exactly how you edit your image.

Case in point, let’s say you want to add a vignette to a portrait. In Lightroom it’s as simple as clicking the “Vignette” option and changing a few basic parameters like the amount, how big the untouched middle portion should be, and how gradually the vignette should fade from the center. It’s a quick no-fuss solution that is incredibly useful for all sorts of photography situations, and if you want a bit more control you can click on the Radial Filter for a few more options.

After image

Before

To do the same thing in Photoshop would require adding a special layer to your photo called an Adjustment Layer such as Levels. Then you’d adjust the levels to darken the image in the highlights and overall, and apply a mask to the layer to only darken the outer edges. You could also change the opacity of the layer (lightening the effect) or the Blend Mode, or you could apply a Dodge and Burn layer – and that’s just the beginning. While all these additional steps might seem hopelessly convoluted, the more you learn how to use the tools Photoshop has to offer the greater degree of control you will have over the editing process.

In Lightroom adding a vignette is as simple as clicking a button. In Photoshop it’s much more complicated but you get much more control as well.

With all of its options and features (including support for text, 3D graphics, and even video) Photoshop is ideal for almost any image-editing situation. Lightroom essentially distills Photoshop down to the tools that Photographers use most, which is one reason it is so appealing to many shutterbugs.

Difference #3: Workflow

Features and file options aside, the trump card that Lightroom has over its big brother involves its end-to-end workflow solution for photographers. Since it is designed specifically to address the needs of photography enthusiasts and professionals, it handles everything from importing photos from your memory card, to organizing, editing, sharing, and finally printing them. Lightroom has support for keywords and virtual folders to help you keep track of your images, and you can even use it to create a slideshow or photo book. Many photographers, even professionals, will go weeks or months without ever opening Photoshop, because Lightroom takes care of everything they need.

Lightroom’s Library module lets you quickly sort, organize, and manage all your photos.

On the other end of the spectrum is Photoshop which doesn’t transfer files, won’t organize your images, and certainly can’t make slide shows or photo books. But again, it’s all about the tradeoffs you are willing to accept. Nothing else can even come close to Photoshop in terms of sheer editing power. However, you can use Adobe Bridge to handle some workflow-based tasks like importing photos and organizing the digital media on your computer, which when paired with Photoshop, does offer a more comprehensive Lightroom-esque workflow experience. It’s not quite as streamlined as working in Lightroom alone, but it does provide a welcome degree of automation as opposed to manually organizing all your PSDs, JPGs, and other photos by hand.

Sometimes the best solution involves both programs. I used Lightroom to import this photo from my camera and do some basic edits and then used Photoshop to add some more extensive tweaks.

Which one is right for you?

By now you probably realize that this is a question only you can answer, and until recently it meant spending $ 150 on Lightroom or several times that amount on Photoshop. Thankfully, Adobe has made the decision much easier with its release of Creative Cloud and you can now get both programs for $ 10/month. If you don’t like the idea of subscribing to software, you can still buy Lightroom by itself, and Adobe has stated they will continue to sell the standalone version for all future versions as well.

This article could be much, much longer and in many ways it seems like I have just scratched the surface, but I hope you have a better understanding of what makes these programs similar and different.

What about you? What differences do you think are worth noting between both programs, and what purpose does each serve for you? Leave your input in the comments section below.

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How to Retouch a Portrait with the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom

04 Mar

Portrait retouching Lightroom

You have probably seen several portrait retouching programs advertised in magazines or online, and wondered if they were worth buying. The answer is no. I have tried out quite a few, and the truth is that the Soften Skin preset in Lightroom does just as good a job as any of them. For most photographers Lightroom’s retouching tools all are you will ever need. For high end retouching purposes you can go to Photoshop.

It’s worthwhile taking some time to think about your personal approach to portrait retouching. Some photographers seem to like the airbrushed, almost plastic look of heavy processing. It’s a style you see used a lot in commercial photography or movie posters.

Others will go for a more natural effect, and use the retouching tools with a light touch. That’s definitely my approach, and it fits with my preference for natural light and for creating portraits that capture character.

Either way,the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom can accommodate your needs.

Retouching portraits of women

When retouching portraits of women it is conventional to use a skin smoothing technique to make the portrait look more flattering. There are exceptions of course, sometimes skin smoothing is not necessary, especially if your model has good skin and you shoot in soft light, or use a wide aperture to throw some of the face out of focus.

Portrait retouching Lightroom The first step in portrait retouching is to remove any blemishes with the Spot Removal tool. To do so, click on the Spot Removal tool icon to activate it, adjust the size of the brush with the square bracket keys on the keyboard, and click on the spot you want to remove.

Lightroom automatically selects another area of the portrait to sample from, healing the blemish. Sometimes Lightroom won’t select the most appropriate area – in this case you can click on the circle representing the sample and move it to a more suitable location.

Click on a blemish with the Spot Removal tool (left). In this case Lightroom’s healing algorithm worked perfectly, but if it doesn’t then click on the circle representing the sampled area and move it to a location where the skin matches the tone and texture of the area to be healed (right).

Adjustment Brush adjustments

Now it’s time to look closely at the portrait and decide what other retouching is required. It’s important that you have already made the required adjustments to tone and contrast in the Basic panel before you get to this stage. Increasing Contrast and Clarity, for example, will emphasize skin texture, wrinkles and blemishes. On the other hand, you can move the Exposure or Highlights sliders right to brighten the skin, making wrinkles and skin texture less obvious. Retouching with the Adjustment Brush should be left until last, so you know what you’re working with.

I like to start with the area underneath the model’s eyes. The skin here is thinner than the rest of the face which is why people get dark patches there. There may also be wrinkles, and some people have a strong crease along the lower eyelid.

The idea is not to eliminate these completely (unless you’re going for the heavily retouched, airbrushed look) but to minimize them. They’re a natural part of the skin’s texture and it will look unnatural if they are not there.

Portrait retouching Lightroom Click on the Adjustment Brush icon to activate it. Select the Soften Skin preset from the Effect menu. Lightroom sets Clarity to -100 and Sharpness to +25. Make sure Feather, Flow and Density are set to 100, use the square bracket keys on the keyboard to adjust the size of the brush and paint over the areas under the eyes. The Soften Skin preset blurs the area that you paint in with the brush.

If the effect is too strong, hover the mouse over the Adjustment Brush pin (a grey circle with a black dot in the middle) until a double arrow icon appears (below). Hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse left. Lightroom reduces the value of the Clarity and Sharpness sliders, effectively lessening the strength of the Soften Skin preset. Stop when it looks about right. You can also reduce shadows by moving the Shadows slider (in the Adjustment Brush sliders) to the right. Every portrait is different so you have to adjust the effect by eye.

Portrait retouching Lightroom

These are the results.

A. Original, unretouched portrait.
B. Retouched, with Soften Skin preset at full strength.
C. Retouched, with strength of Soften Skin preset reduced and Shadows slider moved to the right (subtle difference only).

Enhancing eyes

You can also use the Adjustment Brush tool to enhance your model’s eyes. This is useful if the eyes are dark due to the lighting. Be careful of overdoing this effect as it may not look natural.

Click New at the top of the Adjustment Brush panel to create a new Adjustment Brush. Set Feather to around 50 and paint in the pupils of the model’s eyes. If you need to, press O (the letter) on the keyboard to see the masked area (it is displayed in red shown below).

Portrait retouching Lightroom

Now set Exposure to around 0.50 and Clarity to 30. The effect will vary depending on the colour of your model’s pupils and the amount of light on them. It’s a good idea to zoom out and look at the entire portrait to see if the effect is too strong. You can see this adjustment on the model’s eyes below, which I think is about right.

Portrait retouching Lightroom

You can make the effect stronger or weaker on your photo using the technique described above. Hover over the Adjustment Brush pin until the double arrow icon appears, move the mouse left to make the effect weaker, and right to make it stronger (you can also just drag the sliders one by one to change the settings)

The final step is to apply gentle skin softening to the rest of the face. Create another Adjustment Brush, set Feather to 100 and paint the entire face (use the O keyboard shortcut to display the red overlay). Then select Erase in the Adjustment brush panel, set Feather to 50 and erase the eyebrows, mouth and eyes. The idea is that you only want to soften the skin, not these parts of the face. It should look something like the mask below.

Portrait retouching Lightroom

Go to the Effect menu and select the Soften Skin preset. Press O to hide the mask overlay and you will see something like the screenshot below. Remember, this is the Soften Skin preset at maximum strength so it has a strong effect on the photo.

Portrait retouching Lightroom

Use the technique we learned earlier to reduce the strength of the effect. How far you go is up to you. I like to apply the Soften Skin preset subtly to retain as much skin texture as possible. Here’s the result with Clarity reduced to -20 and Sharpness to +5.

Portrait retouching Lightroom

This video shows how I retouched another portrait, using the Adjustment Brush tool to enhance the model’s eyes and facial hair.

I’ve only touched on the number of ways you can use Adjustment Brushes in Lightroom for portrait retouching. What techniques do you use? Please let us know in the comments.

The Mastering Lightroom Collection

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5 Things You Should Know About Lightroom Before Starting

27 Feb

So you just installed Lightroom, now what?

You could spend some time just playing around and learning through doing, but if you’re looking for a nudge in the right direction here are a few simple concepts that I wish I’d thought about before starting my own Lightroom journey – hopefully it helps you! Five things you should know about Lightroom before you start:

#1 Your organizational strategy

organize-in-lightroom This might not seem important at first, but Lightroom is an amazing organizer of your photographs if you choose to use it as one. So before you start haphazardly uploading photographs into your Lightroom catalog try to come up with some sort of basic organizational strategy first.

Some ideas for organization include:

Organizing by date, by location of shoot, or by specific events. Think about your style of photography and the subject matter you plan on shooting. For example a wedding photographer would probably want to organize by date/bride-groom name, where as a wildlife photographer may organize by location/animal.

Lightroom has many different tools for organizing your photographs from colors, star rating and flags. You could for example use flags as a simple yes/no option to quickly cull images, while colors could be for various states of post production workflow (i.e. blue is for images that need to be processed and green is for images that are finalized and shouldn’t be touched).

This might sound overwhelming at first, but if you get into this habit early on, it will simply become a part of your Lightroom workflow, and trust me an organized Lightroom library makes things a lot easier when you’re dealing with thousands of photographs.

#2 How you want to import photos

This is a simple question, but one that you should know the answer to before you get started with Lightroom. When you first open up the import dialog box you’ll be asked whether you want to Copy as DNG, Copy, Move, or Add. Knowing the difference between these four options will help you make the best choice for your workflow. So here’s the Cliff’s notes version:

Copy as DNG – Converts the file type to Adobe’s .DNG format. Read all about Adobe’s DNG format here.
Copy – Retains the original file type of your image (on your computer or memory card) and copies it to a new location on your computer or hard drive.
Move – Moves the image from one place to another on your computer (or from the memory card).
Add – Adds the image to a Lightroom catalog without moving its physical location on your computer or copying it.

For a more detailed look at importing photographs in Lightroom check out: Quick Tip: Importing to Lightroom Made Easier

#3 How to use the Lightroom Develop Module

lightroom develop module Now that you’ve got your organizational strategy situated you’re starting to get into the fun stuff, before you go all hack and slash post-production on your first photograph it does help to learn some basic fundamentals. Here’s three quick points to get you started.

Learn what the basic tab does – The basic tab is the workhorse of Lightroom it is what will bring your image to life. At a minimum master these five Lightroom sliders and you’ll be on the road to successful image processing.
Learn the art of local adjustments – Once you’re comfortable with Lightroom’s basic tab you’ll probably want to move onto learning things like how to apply adjustment brushes, graduated filters and radial filters to your images. These tools function in much the same way as the sliders within the basic tab, however, they allow you to have more isolated and local control over your images.
Learn the finishing touches – Finally within the develop module you’ll want to learn a bit about the finishing touches that Lightroom is capable of providing. Things like the clone/heal tool, sharpening, and noise reduction are a good place to start. You may also want to learn about how to remove chromatic aberrations and correct for lens distortion as well. These types of tools are subtle, but powerful, and really will bring the entire image together as a final printable work.

#4 What are presets and how you should use them

While you may be tempted to start with presets it’s better that you learn your basic tab and various other tools first – why? Simply because all presets are created from these settings so once you learn those settings not only will you know a lot about the presets you’re choosing, but you’ll also be able to create your own.

When it comes to presets think of them as a starting point, not a finished product. Learn how to use them to speed up your workflow by creating your favorite looks within a preset, then applying what you know about the various sliders in the basic tab to fine tune the results.

For more info on Lightroom presets: A Concise Guide to Lightroom Develop Presets

#5 What your export settings should be

Here you are, ready to export your first photograph from Lightroom, and just when you thought you had everything figured out, this screen pops up. What do you do now?

Lightroom Export

First you’ll want to remember that Lightroom doesn’t save your processed images, only the instructions of how to process them, that’s why you need to export (export = “save as”) a file out of Lightroom. This image is separate from the original camera RAW file, and as a result will need its own name, and place of organization.

You’ll want to determine what file type and size you’re going to export, and whether or not you want Lightroom to automatically add a watermark to your photographs. These things are all going to be preferences for your own work and there’s no right or wrong way to go about doing it, but you should learn about the implications of each before you start exporting hundreds of photographs.

What Else?

What else would you tell someone who’s just getting their feet wet with Lightroom? Leave us a comment below and let us know!

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Using the Lightroom Adjustment Brush to add Dimension to a Landscape Photo

25 Feb

Adding layers of dimension with the Lightroom brush

Lightroom has the power to completely transform your landscape photograph into something far more powerful, something that hits home with viewers, and something that pops off the screen.

By default digital cameras create flatter image files than what you see with your eye. Your eye has the ability to see dimensions like no camera can really capture. Although many try.

What is Dimension?

The definition of dimension is: an aspect or feature of a situation, problem, or thing. When utilizing the word dimension in your photograph, think of the features of specific locations and objects within the frame. As an example, in the photo you will see here, there are multiple layers of dimension to play with. There’s the sky, the water, the rocks, the buildings, the grass, and the shed. Each has its own uniqueness to it, and can and should be treated as such.

The Adjustment Brush Tool

Like the other local adjustment tools in Lightroom, the adjustment brush tool has the ability to fine tune specific parts of a photograph. Using the tool can create new dimensions you would never have otherwise seen from a camera rendition. Your eye, however, most likely did see the dimensions.

Where to find the Lightroom brush tool

You can see in the first photo that it’s a really cool lighthouse scene, but there is something drastically gone wrong. The photo is super flat. That is because it was a very rainy day with tons of fog everywhere, and mist from the water constantly hitting the camera.

To use the Lightroom Adjustment Brush, open a photo in the Develop module, then select the brush icon at the top right, just under the Histogram (the keyboard shortcut is K).

Once selected, a variety of local adjustments will appear. From there you have a wide range of options that you can make on a very specific section of your photo. For example, sharpness, exposure, or even brushing on a new color.

The first thing you should know before starting with the Adjustment Brush is that Lightroom keeps your last settings whenever adding a new brush. To zero out the settings simply double click on the word Effect.

Also, the Auto Mask feature is very smart. Think of it like a content aware brush. Simply put, it looks at the cross hairs inside of your brush and will try to stay “within the lines” and not brush on what doesn’t match up. This is fantastic for edges. However, the Auto Mask feature uses more Lightroom performance, so you may notice a slow down. My workflow is to fill in big spaces and then turn on Auto Mask when I need it.

As you are brushing in areas, hit the O key on your keyword to see a red mask of where you have brushed (hit Shift+O to cycle through the available mask colors).

Hit the O key to view the current mask in a red overlay

I started brushing the middle section of the photo with more contrast, and reduced highlights and shadows. This broke through the haze and enhanced the greens enough to where I like it.

I then made another brush by clicking on New in the brush panel. This one was to bring down the extreme highlights of the house and lighthouse. I brought it down just enough so it’s still white, but doesn’t blend in with the sky, which is also very white.

Then came a third brush, which was for the rocks. I wanted to make sure they popped out more than anything else. I didn’t want them to just have contrast, so I also used the clarity slider. Clarity will enhance a lot of edge detail, which is awesome on rocks.

Add clarity to select objects using the Adjustment Brush

Now that the grass, the structures and the rocks all have different dimensions of contrast, clarity and light, it is time to play with the color dimension. So I created another brush with a hint of transparent blue to the water. This adds more life to the boring gray tone it had previously.

I then did the same with the sky, but with less transparency due to the whiteness of the sky already. Adding a hint of color the white sky helps separate the house and lighthouse from the background even more.

The last brush I added to the photo was on the roof of the house. The intention there was to recover the red color subtly, so it doesn’t take away from the rest of the photo. So I increased the contrast, dropped the exposure slightly and added a hit more red to the roof.

Add color to specific areas using the Lightroom brush

At the end of the day, the photo has multiple layers of dimension. It’s no longer flat, and notone section has the same feel as the rest. Using the brush feature in Lightroom I was able to not only recover color and contrast, but add even more texture and life to the scene.

Think of the Adjustment Brush tool like layers in Photoshop or onOne Software. There are no actual layers but rather brush points which can be adjusted individually.

Below is a video showing what I’ve done with this photograph.

There is a lot more that can be done, like sharpness, noise reduction and even changing color temperature and tinting for specific areas in a photo. But what I have shared here is a handful of what you are capable of doing within your favorite photography workflow software, Lightroom.

I’d love to see some photos you have processed using Lightroom Adjustment Brush tool. Please comment to share with the dPS community.

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