Editing your photos well makes a huge difference in how professional they look. Lightroom is one of the most popular tools for photo editing, but it can seem overwhelming at first. Knowing how to use it efficiently can save you time and improve your final images.
Coming to you from David Manning, this practical video walks you through a beginner-friendly approach to Lightroom. Manning focuses on the Library and Develop modules, skipping the other sections that aren’t relevant to most users. He starts with the Library module, where you import and organize your images. Using collections, he narrows down his selections before moving into the Develop module for editing. He also explains how to properly set up folders and avoid common workflow mistakes. This method is important because it helps keep your images structured, ensuring an efficient workflow as you refine your edits.
Once inside the Develop module, Manning takes you through the most critical panels for editing. He starts with the basic panel, covering exposure, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks to balance the overall look of an image. He also adjusts temperature and tint, ensuring proper white balance before moving to contrast. Instead of using the contrast slider directly, he prefers using other tools like the tone curve for better control. This approach matters because it gives you more precision in defining the look of your images rather than relying on broad adjustments that might degrade quality.
Manning also discusses how to add depth and texture to an image. He breaks down the difference between clarity, texture, and dehaze, explaining when and how to use each one. He demonstrates how decreasing clarity can smooth skin tones while maintaining sharpness in other areas, a technique widely used in portrait editing. The video also covers vibrance and saturation, explaining how vibrance enhances colors selectively without oversaturating skin tones. These are essential tools for fine-tuning your images without pushing them into an unnatural look.
Sharpening and noise reduction are covered in the detail panel, where Manning explains how to use masking to apply sharpening selectively. He also touches on lens corrections, grain, and effects to add subtle finishing touches. His workflow ensures that each adjustment is intentional, preventing over-processing. If you’re new to Lightroom, these techniques will help you build a solid foundation in editing without unnecessary complexity. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Manning.
