Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is where most photographers spend a significant portion of their working lives — and knowing it well makes a real difference to both the quality of your output and the speed of your workflow. This section covers Lightroom from practical angles: import and organization, raw processing, masking and local adjustments, color grading, and the workflow habits that separate efficient photographers from those drowning in a backlog.

Create Your Own Time-Lapse Templates for Lightroom Classic

Five years ago, I made a video about creating time-lapses solely in Lightroom Classic using the Slideshow Module. It was an experiment in pushing the boundaries of what Lightroom could feasibly do, and over the years it has garnered over 175K views, which was completely unintentional, but a very welcome surprise.  

Helpful Tips for Editing Black and White Landscape Photos in Lightroom

When you think of landscape photos, you likely think of vibrant, eye-catching colors. And while that is a popular look for sure, a black and white image can be uniquely powerful. Lightroom contains some surprisingly versatile tools for creating black and white edits, and this helpful video tutorial will show you some great tips for getting the most out of those features.  

How to Customize Lightroom to Give You More Useful Information

Lightroom contains more customization capabilities under its hood than it might seem initially, but one that rarely gets mentioned is the information the program shows you about your photos. Lightroom actually lets you display all sorts of data in these cells, and taking a few minutes to change their default settings can make your workflow a lot easier.

Is There a New King of Photoshop and Lightroom Performance?

The reviews on Intel’s 12th Gen Core desktop processors, named Alder Lake, have all come in, and the results are surprising. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your computer or just want to stay up to date on tech trends, you’ve got to see how these chips performed. 

How to Take Advantage of Lightroom's New Masking Tools

Lightroom got a major upgrade to its masking capabilities in 2021, and the new features can make your editing far more efficient and easier. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to dive into the capabilities, this great video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to get the most out of them.  

Everything You Need to Know About Lightroom Masking (Part 2)

Adobe released version 11 of Lightroom a little over a month ago and with it came a lot of new features. In this part of the guide, we'll go over the new sky selection tool, how to apply color or luminance masks, and how to use intersections. 

How to Edit for the Best Skin Tones in Lightroom

When it comes to editing portraits, few things can derail an image more quickly than unnatural skin tones. If you use Lightroom and want to get the skin tones in your portraits just right, check out this great video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know along with a lot of helpful examples.  

5 Lesser-Known Lightroom Tips That Will Improve Your Images

Lightroom can be a more complex program than it seems on the surface, and some of its more hidden features can actually be the most useful, saving you a ton of time in post and increasing the quality of your images. This awesome video tutorial will show you five such lesser-known features and how to use them in your workflow.  

How to Quickly Give Your Photos More Punch Using Lightroom

Everyone loves a punchy, rich photo that leaps off the screen and immediately grabs your attention. They are not that hard to create, and if you are newer to editing, this helpful video tutorial will show you how to give your shots that look using Lightoom. 

How to Color Grade a Photo Using Lightroom

You might think of Photoshop as the place to do deep color grading work, and that used to be the case, but Lightroom recently added new color grading tools that can also make powerful edits and are arguably more intuitive than those in Photoshop. This great video tutorial will show you how to use them to color grade your photos quickly and easily.  

How to Customize Lightroom to Your Needs

Many of us simply use Lightroom in its default state, and given the program's good organization, that generally works just fine for most applications. However, it can be beneficial to tweak the program a bit to better fit your needs and preferred manner of working, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to go about doing just that.  

Everything You Need to Know About Lightroom Masking (Part 1)

Recently Adobe released Lightroom version 11 and with it came a completely revamped interface for masking. After a month of real-world use, this guide will help you get up to speed on anything you could possibly want to know about masking in Lightroom for 2022.

 

How to Trick the Eye While Also Fixing an Obliquely Taken Image

Some discoveries in life are intentional and some are just happy accidents that work out in ways we never anticipated. I rely on the Transform tool in Lightroom to correct lines and perspectives, but I learned that it can completely change the look of an image to add interest and trick the eye of the viewer. 

Shoot and Edit Infrared Photos With Any Camera

Infrared photography can be a wonderful new avenue to explore and can really get the creative juices flowing. It can also produce some otherworldly and beautiful images. Unfortunately, the cost and commitment of converting an existing camera to be capable of infrared is a barrier for many to trying it out.

Helpful Tips for Getting the Most From Lightroom's New Masking Features

Lightroom's masking features recently got a huge upgrade, and they have enabled some new capabilities that truly make working on your images far easier and more efficient. If you still have not taken a deep dive into the new masking panel yet, check out this great video tutorial that will give you some useful tips for getting the most out of it.  

A Comprehensive Guide to Lightroom

A lot of people think of Lightroom as the place for organizing photos and performing basic edits and Photoshop as the place for more involved and serious edits, and while that is true to a degree, you might be surprised by just how much you can do in Lightroom. This fantastically comprehensive tutorial will show you everything you need to know to edit photos in Lightroom.  

How to Use the Tone Curve Tool in Adobe Lightroom

Adobe photo editing software has been around for so long and seen so many iterations that its depth is almost unknowable. Even some of the fundamental tools have nuance and required skill to get the most out of them, and the Tone Curve is one of them. 

A 7-Step Guide to Editing Black and White Portraits in Lightroom

Creating a compelling black and white portrait is about a lot more than simply removing the color from an image; it is an art in itself. If you would like to learn how to create such images in Lightroom, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced photographer guiding you through a seven-step process for creating compelling results.  

Free Lightroom and Photoshop Perks You Might Be Missing Out On

Most of us with Creative Cloud subscriptions use them for access to apps like Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, but you are actually paying for more than you might realize when you select a plan. This helpful video tutorial will show you where to find thousands of free assets that may have been hiding from you in Lightroom and Photoshop.  

A Look at How to Use Lightroom's Powerful New Masking Tools

The latest major update to Lightroom brought some major new features and upgrades, but perhaps most impressive has been the overhauled masking system, which greatly increases what you can accomplish and enables new editing workflows.

A Beginner's Guide to Editing in Lightroom

While every new photographer has to master working with a camera, that is only half of making a compelling image, as it takes good editing skills to finish things off. If you are new to editing your photos, this helpful video tutorial will show you a range of techniques and methods for post-processing a portrait using Lightroom.  

A Quick and Simple Gel Backlight Using Lightroom Masks

One light, no studio. This quick tutorial will show you how to add a gel backlight to your portraits. 

Firstly, I'd like to say this should all be done in-camera, but not everyone especially when starting out has access to multiple lights or a studio for that matter. So this quick tutorial may provide you with a little something to further enhance your portraits.

How to Take Advantage of Lightroom's Powerful New Masking Features

Lightroom's latest update brought huge upgrades to its masking features, making the tools far more capable and much easier to use. If you are wondering how to use the new tools and take full advantage of them, check out this fantastic video tutorial that takes a deep dive into the new masking panel to show you everything you need to know.  

How to Revolutionize Your Raw Processing

There is an art to raw image processing and it takes practice to master. In this video, two veteran photographers walk you through their workflow and offer some tips on getting the most out of your files. 

Start to Finish Landscape Edit Using Adobe Lightroom's New Tools

Adobe's updates for Lightroom and Photoshop have been well received, with a lot of positivity surrounding what can now be automated comfortably. In this video, Nigel Danson edits a landscape image from start to finish in Lightroom, making use of some of these new tools. 

How Good Is the New Masking Tool in Adobe Lightroom?

Adobe has rolled out some impressive updates to Photoshop and Lightroom, particularly when it comes to automated tools. The new masking tool in Lightroom allows for automatic selections of skies and subjects, but how good is it? 

What's New in the Latest Versions of Lightroom and Photoshop?

The latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop are here, and they bring with them some highly impressive new features that will make your workflow easier and more efficient. If you want to make sure you do not miss any of the new features so you can get the most out of both programs, check out this great video overview that will show you everything you need to know.  

10 of My Favorite Lightroom Features

There are 10 Lightroom features I use more than any other, and many of you reading might not even be aware of them, as they're often hidden away or require sneaky keyboard shortcuts, so read on to find out what they are. 

What Is This Strange Lightroom Symbol For?

If you spend a few years building a catalog in Lightroom, you may have noticed a strange lightning bolt symbol that occasionally appears on your photos. While it is just a tiny symbol that is easy to miss, it actually has an important impact on your images, and it is worth taking note of it when you see it.

5 Reasons to Choose Capture One Over Adobe Lightroom

If you’re not a fan of Adobe’s subscription plans or find that editing your photos isn’t quite as quick as you’d like, you might want to consider checking out Capture One. Here are five reasons to make the move and five more reasons to stick with Lightroom. 

Adobe's New AI Masking Is a Game-Changer

Prepare to be wowed. Up until this point, Adobe has been pretty mum on the capabilities of the new AI masking coming to Lightroom and Camera Raw, except for a single “sneak peek” video that didn’t go into very much detail.  I assume that people are extremely excited about this next update, as it will usher in a significant change in the way people use Adobe’s photo-editing software.

3 Tips for Better Edits of Fall Landscape Photos

Fall is here, and vibrant colors are popping up everywhere, waiting for you to capture them with your camera. And while your technique behind the camera is, of course, important, fall photos also demand strong post-processing abilities to get the most out of them. This excellent video tutorial will show you three helpful tips for enhancing the color in your autumn images. 

5 Useful Tricks for Editing Landscape Photos in Lightroom

Creating a compelling landscape photo often takes just as much work in the editing process as it does behind the camera, and there are many ways to go about getting the look you want. This awesome video tutorial will show you five useful editing tricks for working in Lightroom that will make your workflow more efficient and help you craft better images.  

5 Lightroom Tips That Will Improve Your Workflow

Lightroom is a place where a lot of photographers spend a ton of time, and any tips you can pick up to speed up your workflow or improve your image quality can pay off quite a bit. This helpful video tutorial will show you five tips that will both make your workflow more efficient and increase your image quality.  

3 Key Things I Keep in Mind for Every Fall Photo

The season of red, orange, and yellow leaves is just about here. Whether you’ve already gone out and taken some photos or are just about to, it can be really helpful to keep a few key concepts in mind. In this guide, we'll be taking a look at what to do when you’re behind the camera, as well as in front of the monitor editing those shots. 

How to Fix a Badly Lit Portrait in Adobe Lightroom

As photographers, we come across many different scenarios, and it might not be possible to get the perfect shot with the perfect lighting 100% of the time. It could've been that we didn't have the right gear with us or that we were in a rush. Either way, that shouldn't be a reason to shy away from trying to get the best possible shot and bringing it to life in post-production.

A Complete Lightroom Wedding Editing Tutorial

Wedding photography is a highly demanding genre, both behind the camera and at your computer. Given the intensive post-processing requirements that can often stretch into a multi-day process for a single event, it is crucial to have an efficient and well-structured workflow.

How to Color Grade Your Photos in Lightroom

It used to be that if you wanted to do serious color grading, you needed to head over to Photoshop, but in recent iterations, Lightroom has gained some easy-to-use and powerful color grading tools that make it easy to accomplish what you need right there. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use Lightroom's color grading tools to create better images.  

7 Steps for Advanced Black and White Editing in Adobe Lightroom

Black and white photography moved from a necessity to a decision long ago, but it is still revered and enjoyed today as one of the primary forms to display a photograph. However, editing from color into black and white can take some time to master and create truly memorable results.

How to Edit Milky Way Photos With Lightroom 2021

Editing astrophotographs can be tricky as there's a lot to go wrong, especially when working with the Milky Way. Thankfully, Lightroom has some powerful features that can help transform drab snaps to galactic masterpieces. 

The Hidden Power of Lightroom's Targeted Adjustment Tool

Lightroom is often more powerful and capable than it appears on the surface, and one such example of that is the Targeted Adjustment Tool, which can make your workflow a lot more efficient and precise adjustments far more efficient. This helpful video tutorial will show you the ins and outs of the Targeted Adjustment Tool and why it is so useful for a range of applications.