Innholdsfortegnelse for Adobe Lightroom for Beginners i Adobe Lightroom for Beginners

Adobe Lightroom for Beginners Photoshop Lightroom is a powerful and feature packed photo processor and image organiser designed to help photographers shoot, catalogue, edit, print and publish their images. In this guide we take you through every aspect of using the desktop focused Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC, and also introduce you to the new Lightroom CC, which is a cloud based photo service that takes the essential tools you will become familiar with using in the desktop version and gives you a mobile focused version packed with powerful features. Lightroom, in all its forms, is a powerful app that can help you to get the best out of your photos. Whether you want to use the classic desktop version or prefer to use the mobile cloud based software, we’re here to…

LIGHTROOM CC: CLOUD BASED PHOTO EDITING Lightroom on Your Mobile Devices The mobile version of Lightroom allows you to access, edit, organise and share your photos on your iPad, iPhone or Android device. With it you can sync any changes, so updated images are available for further editing in the Lightroom desktop program. Going Mobile Adobe’s reach to the mobile app world is one of the best examples of the collaboration between devices and standard desktop systems. There’s plenty you can achieve in the mobile version of Lightroom but thanks to some clever development on behalf of Adobe being able to get to the mobile images is remarkably easy from the desktop version of Lightroom. The Lightroom mobile app is frequently updated, with tweaks to its use, interface, how it…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC CC Exploring the Workspace The default workspace you view when launching Lightroom can look a little confusing to begin with. However, with a little exploration the many menus and options soon become second-nature. Here, we show you around all the basic areas before you get stuck into editing. 1 Lr This is the Identity Plate for Lightroom, displaying the user’s logged in account name, with further options available for expansion that connect to Adobe’s cloud services. The Identity Plate can be further personalised, using either set templates or customising your own, for branding your own photos. These can be text-based, or even a graphical Identity Plate to add that little extra personal touch to your Workspace view and image edits. 2 Presets: Catalog The Catalog Preset is…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE Searching for Your Images Adobe Lightroom offers many ways to search for particular images or groups of images but some of them require a little bit of setting up to get the most out of them. Once you get things organised though, you’ll never lose an image again! 1 The best way to make your library searchable is by applyingkeywords to your photos. Keywording is more art than science; you should add words that describe the image but also ones that describe the circumstances. For example, this shot has the keywords: Africa, animal, big cat, camouflage, cheetah, endangered, fast, predator and speed. 2 The quickest and easiest way to apply keywords is during the import process. When you click on the Import button, along with…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE INTRODUCING THE DEVELOP MODULE Introducing the Develop Module The Develop module is where the tools that let you fully realise the potential of your photographs lie. Tools for enhancing and improving them, removing blemishes, noise and distortion and applying a range of impressive effects and filters. Like the Library module, the Develop module window is divided into three main areas, the left sidebar, the main viewing area and the right sidebar. The filmstrip view is also available at the bottom of the screen. The filmstrip and both sidebars can be permanently in view or set to auto-hide by clicking on the arrow symbols on the edge of the screen. The left sidebar holds: the Navigator thumbnail, a list of available Presets, the Snapshot and History…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING Developing Your Images Despite camera and mobile phone camera technology advancing at such a rapid pace, Lightroom has kept up with the latest techniques to help you get the most from your images. The example we have on these pages uses HDR, a term you’ll see on nearly every modern device that can take a photo. HDR (High Dynamic Range) merging is a relatively new technique that has become very popular, to the point that it is often over-used. It works by merging several nearly identical photos, taken at different exposure settings, into one image with expanded dynamic range. Many cameras, including some mobile phone cameras, can produce HDR images in-camera, but you will get better results merging specially shot images in Lightroom. You can…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING Instant Edits with Lightroom Presets We’ve covered some of the presets available in the Develop module and how they can provide quick solutions and starting points for your own edits. Lightroom features a wide selection of preset development options that can instantly improve your photos. 1 You can find the Presets panel near the top of the left-hand sidebar. When selecting presets to use, the Navigator panel is very useful, because it shows a preview of the effect that the preset will have on the image. It’s a good idea to pull the left sidebar out to its maximum extent to maximise the size of the Navigator preview window. 2 Lightroom’s built-in presets are divided into seven categories. The first three are labelled as B&W…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE Using Image Location Data For photographs to appear on the map of the Map Module, they need to have satellite location embedded in the metadata. If the photo was taken using a device with built-in GPS this will happen automatically but how do you add location data in other circumstances? 1 Mobile phones, many compact cameras and some otherdevices have built-in satellite location technology (GPS) and automatically add location data into the metadata of all recorded images. For example, this photo of the Church of St. Michael on Brentor on Dartmoor, was shot using a camera drone that has built-in GPS. 2 If you look more closely at the metadata panel you can see that it includes very precise map coordinates and even an…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE Introducing the Print Module Adobe Lightroom doesn’t just give you the tools to improve your photos, it lets you present them in the best possible way too. In the Print Module you can find everything you need to create stunning prints from your photos, including custom templates, layout options, colour management and even copyright watermarking. In the previous chapters we’ve concentrated on organising, editing and improving your photographs, but now we move on to the Lightroom modules that deal with presentation, starting with the Print Module. In the modern connected world, where photographs can be shared instantly with people all around the world via online galleries, instant messaging and email, many people don’t bother to print their photos. This is a pity, because a well-presented…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE Naming Photos with Identity Plates You can add your name, your company or your website address to your printed photographs by using the Lightroom Print Module Identity Plates feature. It’s easy to do and adds individuality to your prints. 1 Adding a basic identity plate is very simple. In the right-hand sidebar, open up the Page panel and click in the check-box for Identity Plate. The default name that is added is the name on the account that you used to register Lightroom, in large letters in the Tahoma sans-serif typeface, positioned in the centre of the image. 2 You can move the identity plate to anywhere on the page by simply clicking and dragging it; it doesn’t have to be on the image…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK Publishing Your Work Lightroom offers the user a wealth of possible choices when it comes to publishing your work. You have the option to prepare it and send it to Facebook or Flickr, you can prepare it ready for web viewing and even create a slideshow. 1 The Lightroom Identity Plate The Lightroom Identity Plate is also worth looking at when you’re considering uploading or creating published works. Use it to create your own unique signature or graphical logo and further personalise your photos, slideshows and potential bestselling books. It’s also something worth considering in addition to any watermarks you may be using, to help stop someone else online from stealing your photos and much valued hard work. 2 Publish Services The Publish Services module…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK The Slideshow Module The Slideshow module is a powerful feature that allows you to create some interesting content and presentations. There’s plenty of options available, from image manipulation, shadow casting, watermarking and backdrops, to inserting music and choosing preset templates. 1 Begin the process by starting off in the Library moduleand take a moment to select the images you want to include in the slideshow. You can add Metadata information at this point if you want but it’s not necessary. Then, take a moment to edit any of the images you want to have in the slideshow, as it saves time later. 2 The Slideshow module is located along the top menu bar, in between Book and Print. If this is the first time…

iOS 12 Shortcuts For owners of mobile devices using iOS 12, there are now a couple of handy shortcuts you can download. These let you edit your images, or sets of favorited images, in Lightroom while using the Photos app or actually move your Raw files from the Photos app to the Lightroom app instead. Since the introduction of Shortcuts in the Apple mobile operating system, you can now get on with the task of editing your photos using fewer taps on your screen. To make sure this works as expected you will need to be using iOS 12 and have a downloaded version of the Shortcuts app. You will of course need to be using the latest Lightroom CC app with support for Shortcuts app. You can access the…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC CC Installing Adobe Lightroom Adobe Photoshop is the most pirated piece of commercial software in history, so to combat this Adobe introduced Creative Cloud. Before you can start using Lightroom to organise and improve your digital photos, you need to sign up for a monthly subscription. 1 To obtain Lightroom via Creative Cloud, open your web browser and go to https://www.Adobe.com/uk/products/photoshop-Lightroom.html. You should find yourself on the page shown above. If you want to buy the software, then click on the ‘Choose A Plan’ button but if you’d like to try it before you buy you can opt for the free trial version. 2 There are two ways to pay for your subscription; you canuse a credit or debit card or your PayPal account if…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE Sorting and Rating Your Photos Keeping your photo library organised is essential and the Library module has several tools and features that you can use to achieve this goal; allowing you to group them by subject, time, location and who appears in them. 1 Select Grid view by pressing G. By default, photos are listed in the order of shooting date, with the newest at the bottom. You can change the sorting criteria to Rating with the Sort: pop-up menu on the toolbar at the bottom of the view window. You can reverse the order so the highest rated are at the top by clicking the A-Z button. 2 The rating of an image is shown by a row of 0-5 stars below the image…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE Using Face Recognition Lightroom incorporates advanced facial recognition technology to help put names to the faces in your photos. It’s remarkably effective at recognising the same face, even under unusual conditions, but it does need a bit of help. 1 To get started with the facial recognition system, go to the Library Grid view. On the bar at the bottom of the view window you’ll see the row of viewing option buttons that we discussed earlier, and next to them a button with a face on it. This is the People button; click on it or alternatively use the hotkey shortcut O. 2 If this is your first time using the facial recognition system, you’ll see an introduction screen with two options. You can choose…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING Advanced Image Editing Although Lightroom is not able to manipulate photos in the same manner as Photoshop, it does offer far more power and versatility when it comes to correcting and adjusting colour, exposure and detail. From the advanced tone control of the Tone Curve to the beautiful effects of the Split Toning panel, Lightroom has plenty more tricks up its sleeve. So far we’ve covered the basics of image adjustment and correction using the tools found in the Develop module. However, Lightroom includes a range of powerful features that can let you get truly creative with your photographs. For anyone who is familiar with Adobe Photoshop and the often extremely complicated methods for producing photographic effects in that program, the ease with which striking…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE Advanced Effects Lightroom’s extended features and effects are probably some of the best you’ll come across in the design and editing software world. Our example here shows just what can be done and as we’ve seen with the other elements of Lightroom, these effects can be applied relatively easily. Here’s an example image that is in need of a little creative makeover. Film grain can look great on the right kind of image, giving a nice gritty journalistic look to high-contrast black and white images. In this case, it’s a fairly simple transformation. We just converted the image to monochrome, reduced the exposure and boosted the contrast a bit, and then added the film grain effect from the Effects panel. The result is a…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE Organising Images by Location We’ve looked at ways to add geolocation data to images but the Map Module offers several ways to sort and organise images by location. It’s useful to working professionals and equally people who want to organise their holiday snaps. 1 If you have photos that were taken in a specific area, for instance on a foreign holiday, you can quickly sort and organise them based on their location using the map module. To get started, it makes things a lot easier if you already have them organised into collections, since the folder view is not available in the Map Module. 2 For this tutorial, we’ll use a collection of photos that were shot on a trip to Australia, specifically around…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE Creating Your Own Watermarks Copyright theft is an increasingly frequent problem, especially in online publishing, so it’s wise to take every precaution you can to protect your work. Adding copyright watermarks isn’t foolproof but it does help to deter casual theft. 1 We have already covered details about adding an identityplate to your prints in the previous section. Adding a copyright watermark is very similar and can be used in conjunction with an identity plate for additional security; or you can uncheck the Identity Plate option to turn it off and just use your own edited version. 2 If you’re in the Print Module, you can find the Watermarking option on the Page panel just below the Identity Plate options. Check the Watermarking box and…

Being Social Lightroom offers Facebook and Flickr posting by default but there are other social media examples you can install. These come in the form of various plugins and they cover the likes of Instagram, Twitter, PhotoBucket, Tumblr and more. Some examples you may need to scour the Internet for, as Lightroom users can create their own unique plugins, such is the versatility of the software. A good place to start looking for Lightroom social media content is Best Plugins, found at www.bestplugins.com/software/Lightroom-social-network-plugin.html. Here you can find seven excellent examples that will take you to the relevant sites, with installations instructions if needed. Another excellent source is the Lightroom Plugin Exchange, serviced by Adobe, and found at www.exchange.Adobe.com/addons. Installing a plugin can be done by clicking on File > Plug-in…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK The Web Module Preparing images ready for upload to a website used to be a long and often hit and miss process. Finding the right balance between quality and page loading times was something most designers hated with a passion. Thankfully, the process is significantly easier these days. 1 Just as we've mentioned before, make sure you take the time to prepare your images prior to clicking on the Web module. Select the ones you want to have as a web page, edit them if necessary to ensure they are looking their best or any unwanted aspects have been removed or obscured and if they’re a part of a wider library, save them as a collection. 2 When you have the images ready, click…

GOING FURTHER: LIGHTROOM PROJECTS Black and White Processing Black and white images can create truly stunning photography. A good black and white image needs plenty of detail and a strong composition for it to stand on its own merits without the aid of colour. There are a number of ways to do this in Lightroom and we'll show you how. This tutorial content is available for download 1 We have a couple of example images we are going to convert to black and white using a number of methods including Lightroom itself, some presets and going further afield by using Lightroom in conjunction with a compatible plugin that is a dedicated black and white conversion program. 2 It begins with a simple landscape photo of a tree and fields taken…

LIGHTROOM CC: CLOUD BASED PHOTO EDITING Introduction: What is Lightroom? Let’s take a closer look at the development of Adobe’s specialist app for photographers, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Ever since digital cameras first became popular in the early 1990s, photographers have sought ways to adjust and improve digital images and replicate the darkroom tricks and techniques that film photographers have used for decades to get the most out of their pictures. There are dozens of digital image editing programs available and almost everyone who’s ever taken a digital photo, whether they use a top-end digital SLR or just the camera on their mobile phone, has used some sort of editing software to adjust and enhance the image. Most smartphones come with some sort of image editing app as a standard feature.…

LIGHTROOM CC: CLOUD BASED PHOTO EDITING Introduction to the Workspace The Lightroom CC workspace is a more streamlined design than Lightroom Classic CC. It is designed to be quick and simple to use, but no less powerful than the desktop version. It is an ideal platform for editing your photos if you are on the move using a tablet or phone. 1 Add Photos Whenever you want to import new photographs into your Lightroom catalogue, or if you are starting from scratch, clicking this button will begin the process of browsing and reviewing any new images you wish to import. 2 My Photos Clicking this button will reveal the My Photos listings. At a glance, they are broken down into four main categories, by which you can begin to filter your…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC CC Importing Photos for the First Time Before editing and improving your photos with Lightroom Classic CC, you need to import them into the program’s database. Depending on the size of your collection this could take a while, so it’s best to set aside some time. 1 The first step after installing Lightroom Classic CC for the first time is to import your photos into the program’s catalogue. Lightroom uses this catalogue to organise your photo collection and to help you find them by applying keywords and other search criteria. By keeping a separate database it means that the files on your hard drive are not affected. 2 When you open Lightroom for the first time, you’ll see a blank screen with the words ‘No…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE Introducing the Library Module The Library module is the central hub of Adobe Lightroom. From here you can: select, sort, rate and search your image library, add keywords, compare images and much more. Here’s a quick overview of what it offers. In the last section, you imported your images into Lightroom and the Library module is where you’ll see the result of that process. The Library module is where you can view and scroll through your image catalogue, select images for sharing or development, add and search for keywords and build collections. It’s comparable to Adobe Bridge, the file browsing and viewing app that installs alongside Photoshop, but the Library module has a lot more functionality. Loupe View After the Grid view, the other one…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE Organising Photos with Collections If you’ve been using a digital camera for some years, you probably have thousands of photos stored by now. Lightroom is all about keeping those images organised and accessible, and one great way to do that is by using Collections. 1 Quick Collections are a temporary method of quickly organising a group of photos that you want to be able to find easily. In this example, we’ve got a series of macro close up photos of flowers and we want to group all the photos of certain colours of flower. First, find the folder containing the photos in the Folders sidebar tab. 2 Go through your photos and use CTRL-click to select all the photos that you want to add to…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE Monochrome Shots Often, converting a colour photo to black and white can degrade the quality or lose some of the definition of the object being photographed. However, Lightroom has some excellent presets and tools available to help create the perfect monochrome portrait. Portrait shots can look great in black and white and this simple hipster fashion shot especially benefits from an application of the cyanotype processing preset. You can find it in the left sidebar of the Develop module, under Lightroom B&W Toned Presets. We’ve added a slight boost to the contrast, as well as the toning preset and -25 points of post-crop vignetting to slightly darken the edges and corners. The result is a nice atmospheric portrait.…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE Introducing the Map Module The Map Module is where you can organise your photos based on the location in which they were shot. By using a combination of satellite location data and location tagging, it can plot your photos on a map of the world. It’s not just a useful way to catalogue your photos, it’s a great way to see where you’ve been in the world! The Map Module is an interesting part of Lightroom but not everyone will find it useful. If your camera isn’t equipped with satellite positioning and you don’t regularly tag your images with location data then you may not need to use it at all, and if so you can just skip ahead to the next section. However,…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE Advanced Processing We have seen that Split Tone Processing can lead to some fantastic results, so combine what you’ve learnt already and apply the Split Tone Processing effect; you can have a completely unique and one-of-a-kind image to present or simply frame and admire. Split Tone processing is a way of adding separate tints to the highlights and shadows of an image. Like most processing techniques, it’s best to use it with subtlety rather than going straight for maximum saturation. It’s also a good idea to use complimentary colours that enhance the atmosphere of the image.…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE Options and Features Lightroom’s dedicated Print Module has multiple options to help produce stunning photographs that you can proudly display. From framed prints to producing a contact sheet for a client or a page to go in a wedding album, these features offer excellent results every time. 1 Before you start printing, you need to tell Lightroom which printer and what size and type of paper you’re using. To do this, you click on the Page and Print Setup buttons in the lower left of the screen, which opens the Print Setup options panel. Note that our screen is on a Mac. It will look slightly different on a PC. 2 Your system’s default printer will be preselected but if you have more than one…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK Dramatic Effects With Lightroom you’re able to tweak and alter any photo and produce an end result that’s drastically and dramatically different to its original. There’s a lot that can be applied to an image in Lightroom. Of course, you need to know where to go to apply these effects; thankfully, we cover this too. The Tone Curve panel is one of the most powerful tools in Lightroom’s arsenal. It allows you to selectively alter the relative brightness of different tonal ranges within an image, but does so smoothly, blending from one tone into another on a curve. When combined with other effects such as Split Toning it can create some terrific effects, as seen on this dramatic portrait shot. You can find inforamtion…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK Introducing the Book Module If you’re going to use the Book module, it’s best to invest some time in the Library module first, selecting the images you want, making any edits and sequencing them, i.e. laying them out how you would want the book to be viewed. 1 As we mentioned, start in the Library module and take some time to choose the images you want in the book. Make any alterations, then expand the Metadata section and enter a Title for each of the images. You can do this after applying the Book module but it’s often recommended to make any alterations prior to running it. 2 Once you’ve selected the images you want, click on the Book module title from the top…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK Publishing to Social Media Publishing content to social media is very simple. However, some images are not always looking their best before they’re gracing your Facebook Timeline. Lightroom can help you get the best results for your images and make uploading them to the likes of Facebook extremely easy. 1 Lightroom offers a Quick-upload button to Facebook and Flickr by default but there are more services available from the Adobe Add-on store if you’re prepared to trawl through it. Use the Library module to collate the images you plan to upload to your social media platform – let’s use Facebook in this instance. 2 Once you have chosen an image you want to upload, it may be necessary drop into the Develop module to…

GOING FURTHER: LIGHTROOM PROJECTS Portrait Retouching There is something of a debate whether Lightroom is capable of full-on portrait retouching. Many say that to properly finesse a portrait to its fullest extent, you have to complete the job in Photoshop with layers and brushes. While that is true, Lightroom can do more than you might imagine. This tutorial content is available for download 1 We have a simple example portrait in our Library Module that we want to edit. The shot is reasonably exposed as the photographer intended but it could do with a number of edits to really make it shine. The aim of this workflow, is to do as much in Lightroom as possible without the aid of Photoshop. 2 Having had a chance to look at the…

Glossary We try to keep our guides as jargon-free as possible but there are going to be words that may stump you; here we try to explain them a bit more fully in this handy glossary. Adobe Bridge Bridge is a browser application produced by Adobe Systems as part of the Creative Suite and is usually installed alongside Photoshop. Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) ACR is the Raw processing application that comes supplied with Adobe Photoshop. At its core, it behaves much the same as the Develop module in Lightroom but with less features. Adobe RGB A device independent colour space developed by Adobe. It provides a relatively large range of colours, i.e. grey-balanced and perceptually uniform. It is widely used for image editing. Anti-Aliasing Filter This is an optical filter, known…