Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1 i Photoshop Lightroom The Complete Manual

LIGHTROOM UPDATES AND IMPROVEMENTS 10 Linear Gradient This masking option allows you to create a gradient on your image that runs from 100% of its adjustment visible, down to 0% of its effect. The effect runs in a straight line. It can be vertical, horizontal, or at any angle you choose. A Linear Gradient is most often used to simulate a graduated filter used on a digital camera to help darken an overly bright sky in comparison to the ground. Our example does such a thing with the gradient being dragged down from the top of the image. The colour overlay shows you the extent of the grad you've created. It can be tweaked any time. Then, you can make your adjustments as you see fit. Altering colour and exposure…

13 Luminance Range Broadly similar to methods used in the Color Range option, Luminance Range makes its decisions on what areas to mask based on the brightness of the tones selected in the image rather than its colour. Choosing an area of bright sky in a landscape photo creates a mask that falls within the tonal values selected. All other tones are protected by the mask. However, you can use the Luminance Range panel to alter how many brighter or darker tones are included in the mask. Think of this a bit like the Levels adjustment in Photoshop. You're simply telling the mask to include the darker tones and lighter tones most directly similar to the ones already selected. When you are happy with the tonal range selected, you can…

LIGHTROOM UPDATES AND IMPROVEMENTS NEW MASKING TOOLS WORKFLOW New Masking Tools Workflow So now you know more about the Masking functions that have been implemented in Lightroom, here you can see it in action as we walk you through some of the main features that you can easily incorporate into your daily editing routine. 1 We begin with a photo taken on a hilltop of a Chapel with a bright morning sun rising behind it. The camera has recorded the sky reasonably well and maintained most of its detail, but the foreground is quite underexposed. Luckily, the foreground is not so dark that detail is lost. With some careful masking, we should be able to balance sky and ground. 2 The first task is to make some basic global adjustments to…

9 Lights Out This one could not be simpler, yet it is still something that you may find to be of great use when editing your photos. Lights Out mode lets you focus more on your image, rather than on the interface that surrounds it. While you are working on an image, if you press the L key once, it will dim the interface around your image while leaving the photo at full brightness. Press L once more and the interface will disappear completely leaving a black background behind your photos. Pressing L one more time will reset the interface to full brightness again.…

12 Visualise Highlights and Shadows Your Histogram in the top right corner of your workspace can show you the spread of tones in your image from darkest shadow to brightest highlight. It also has the Highlights and Shadows Clipping options to show you if detail areas are being lost to solid black or solid white. You also have another option to help you see the spread of shadows and highlights, along with those nearing the clipping threshold. By holding the Alt key as you move the Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks and Dehaze sliders, you can see a realtime representation of which tones are nearing their clipping threshold, or have already been clipped. For highlights, the screen will be mostly black with highlights shown as white and coloured areas. For…

LIGHTROOM TIPS AND TRICKS 16 Graduated Filter Intensity This is another simple one that you will either get into and find useful, or just keep using the sliders in the right hand sidebar. If you drag out either a Graduated Filter or a Radial Filter, you will see a small control point at its centre. If you click and hold on it, you can drag the grad around. However, if you hold Alt and hover your cursor over the same centre point, you can now drag your mouse back and forth and, as you do, you can intensify all the settings currently active on that grad. If you had adjusted the Exposure, Contrast, Texture, Clarity, and Saturation for example, they will all be adjusted together as you slide your mouse…

19 Use Luminance Most photographers are aware that shooting a landscape often means that you are trying to balance exposure between a bright sky and a darker foreground. A sunny landscape may mean that your blue sky looks bright and a bit washed out. A lot of users may be tempted to try and add saturation to the blue sky, but you run the risk of over saturating the entire image. Rather than the Saturation tool, try using the Luminance tool in the HSL tab. To bring out a blue sky, drop the Luminance values of the blue channels to make blues in the image darker rather than more saturated.…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC THE HISTORY OF LIGHTROOM The History of 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…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC IMPORTING PHOTOS FOR THE FIRST TIME Importing Photos for the First Time Before editing and improving your photos with Lightroom Classic, 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 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…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE INTRODUCING 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,…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE SEARCHING FOR YOUR IMAGES 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 applying keywords 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…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE BEFORE AND AFTER: MONOCHROME SHOTS 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 fashion shot especially benefits from an application of the Sepia 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 -60 points of post-crop vignetting to slightly darken the edges and corners. The result is a nice atmospheric portrait.…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE ADJUSTING THE WHITE BALANCE Adjusting the White Balance Even as an experienced photographer using a modern top of the range digital SLR, it’s sometimes possible to mess up your white balance. Luckily, if you shoot in Raw and use Lightroom, it’s very easy to correct any such mistakes. 1 You can spot an incorrectly set white balance straight away by the colour cast over the entire image. Open the Basic panel and look at the white balance setting; you can see it’s ‘As Shot’ and that the colour temperature is 3250K, a typical setting for incandescent or tungsten lighting. The camera was incorrectly set when the shot was taken. 2 The quickest way to correct the white balance is to let Lightroom do it automatically.…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE IMPROVE CONTRAST WITH TONE CONTROLS Improve Contrast with Tone Controls Lightroom’s advanced Tone controls are far more sophisticated than the simple Brightness/Contrast controls found in other editing programs. Lightroom makes precise adjustments to specific ranges of brightness, so you can quickly turn mediocre shots into masterpieces. 1 Even with a good quality digital SLR it’s possible to produce a shot with limited contrast. Reasons include incorrect metering, poor lighting or simply a low-contrast scene. In our example shot here it’s a combination of all three. The shot is under-exposed, the lighting is flat and it’s simply not a contrasted scene. Let’s see how we can help. 2 One look at the histogram reveals the nature of the problem. The image lacks both highlights and shadows…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE COLOUR AND TONE CAMERA PRESETS Colour and Tone Camera Presets If you shoot in Raw mode, many cameras will include optional incamera processing that adds preset colour and tone effects to images, such as a landscape preset that boosts greens, or a portrait preset that warms skin tones. Lightroom can offer you these presets too. 1 The camera presets that are available for any given photo will depend on the type of camera and the Raw file format in which it was captured. Proprietary Raw formats such as CR2 (Canon), NEF (Nikon) or ARW (Sony) offer the greatest range. You can find the camera presets in the Camera Calibration panel, at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. 2 At the top of the panel you…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING Advanced Image Editing While Lightroom may lack the multi-layered photo manipulation and image creation features of Photoshop, it offers 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…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING ADVANCED NOISE REDUCTION Advanced Noise Reduction The latest full-frame digital SLRs feature great in-camera noise reduction and can comfortably shoot at up to 32,000 ISO with little visible noise, but not everyone can afford the latest cameras. Lightroom includes some advanced tools to reduce noise. 1 Image noise comes in two varieties: luminance noise, which is random variations in brightness, and colour noise, which as the name suggests is random variations in colour. Both are caused by amplified random signal noise from the camera’s sensor when operating in low light conditions at high ISO settings. 2 To reduce luminance noise you can simply adjust the luminance slider but if you simultaneously hold down the left ALT key, the view in the image window will be turned…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING CREATE PANORAMAS WITH PHOTO MERGE Create Panoramas with Photo Merge Even with a wide-angle lens, you sometimes find panoramic scenes that just won’t fit into a single frame. With Lightroom’s Photo Merge feature, you can stitch together a sequence of frames into a single ultra-wide panoramic image that captures the whole scene. 1 To create a good merged panorama, it’s vital to start with a suitable sequence of images. First, to avoid distortion don’t use extremely wide angle lenses. It’s better to use a focal length of around 25-50mm. Second, use a tripod to help you to pan around smoothly. Finally, make sure that there is some overlap between successive frames. 2 Once you’ve imported your sequence of frames into Lightroom, locate them in your library…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING SAVING YOUR OWN PROCESSING PRESETS Saving Your Own Processing Presets If you regularly process similar types of photos using the same settings, you can turn your settings into a user-defined preset that can be saved and reused on other photos. It’s quite easy to do but does require some explanation. 1 If you have a set of processing steps that you use regularly, or if you need to perform the same operation on batches of photos, it makes sense to turn that operation into a preset. To get started with this, open an example image in the Develop module and carry out the processing steps on it that you want to save as a preset. 2 Once you’re happy with your processing settings, take a look…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE USING IMAGE LOCATION DATA 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 other devices 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…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE BEFORE AND AFTER: ADVANCED PROCESSING Advanced Processing We have seen that Color Grading can lead to some fantastic results, so combining what you’ve learnt already and applying the Color Grading effect; you can have a completely unique and one-of-a-kind image to present or simply frame and admire. Color Grading is a way of adding separate tints to the highlights, shadows and mid-tones 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 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…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE CREATING CUSTOM PRINT LAYOUTS Creating Custom Print Layouts Custom print layouts allow you to arrange your images on a page, resize them, change their orientation and add borders and strokes to help them stand out. Whether preparing a presentation or just making greetings cards, custom print layouts are the way forward. 1 To get started with creating a custom print layout, first open the Print Module. At the top of the right-hand sidebar, in the Layout Style panel, click on the third item on the list, Custom Package. This opens up the Cells panels and creates a new project page that appears as a blank page in the main viewing area. 2 Before you can start adding cells to our page, you need to set up…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK INTRODUCING THE BOOK MODULE 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 to use as part of your…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK PREPARING YOUR IMAGES Preparing Your Images Before you upload any images to social media, as a web gallery or for book or slideshow presentations, it’s best practise to make sure they’re prepared prior to activating a module. We’ve mentioned this within each module but let’s look at some tips to help you prepare your images. 1 Take each image you have chosen to share on social media and enter the Develop module. Now you can examine each one and see where they can be touched up, or have the colour, contrast and exposure settings altered to improve them. Remember, Lightroom is non-destructive, so the original images won’t be altered. 2 Consider cropping unnecessary clutter from an image prior to it being used online or in…

2 Customize Metadata In photography, metadata is a piece of information that is generated by your camera and is appended to your image file. The data this information contains tells you everything you need to know about that image. It tells you when it was shot, what camera took the image and what lens was used. Important technical aspects such as ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture and lens focal length are included. It goes far beyond that too. It can contain keywords, copyright information and even GPS co-ordinates if your device is suitably equipped. Until recently, when you processed your images and saved them as other formats such as Jpeg or Tiff, you had just a few choices as to what aspects of the full range of original metadata could…

11 Radial Gradient Instead of a gradient that runs in a straight line, the Radial Gradient emanates outward from a central point in a circular or oval shape. The adjustments visible can be strongest at its centre and fade to zero at its outside edge, or be inverted so all of the effect outside the outer edge of the radius is seen at 100% and fades to zero at its centre. In the case of our example, we dragged a Radial Gradient from the centre of the girl's face outwards past her hair. at its centre, the effect was zero, but at the outer edge, the drop in Exposure of -3.33 was at 100% visibility. All the other masking types can be brought to bear on the mask in the…

LIGHTROOM TIPS AND TRICKS BEFORE AND AFTER: GET MORE OUT OF YOUR PHOTOS Get More Out of Your Photos When processing an image in Lightroom, half the battle is knowing enough about the many tools on offer to help you extract as much detail from your photos as possible. In the following section we show you just a few of those essential tips to help you along. The HSL panel in Lightroom is perhaps more powerful that you might at first think. It can enable you to take greater creative control over your images and allow you to selectively adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance of the unique colours in an image. Our example is a simple application of this. The foreground rocks are a bit murky and the sky quite…

3 Quick Keywords Another little trick that will aid your workflow in the Library module is the ability to assign quick keywords. Rather than typing in the Keyword Tags field, there is a panel below called Keyword Set. You can choose from a number of options such as Outdoor Photography, Recent Keywords, and Portrait Photography. You can also edit your own set for a more specific approach to keyword usage. Each one will present you with a number of generic options in the panel below. For instance, Outdoor Photography will present options such as Landscape, Macro, or Flowers & Plants, which you can use to add tags to a batch selection of relevant images. However, if you press the Alt key, a series of numbers will appear next to the…

7 Set Default This is quite a useful function if you shoot with more than one camera from different manufacturers. Although Canon and Nikon cameras, for instance, can shoot amazing images, they do both employ different in-camera colour technology that may require slightly different editing strategies and certain tweaks to the baseline settings in Lightroom in order to get them to match at the point of final output. With one sample image open, if you press the Alt key and click on the Set Default button in the lower right of the screen, you can save your baseline edits and automatically apply them only to any subsequently imported Raw files that were taken with that particular camera. You can set up Default edits for each camera that you use, knowing…

17 Smart Preview edits A Smart Preview is a great little trick for increasing your image editing performance. Raw files are very large and if the computer you are using for editing is struggling with handling the large amounts of data involved, you can choose to use this option for a performance boost. If you go to Lightroom preferences, under the Performance tab, you will find the Use Smart Previews option. When ticked, it will let you use a smaller version of your original on to which you can apply all your edits. Although, at this stage there may be a visual decrease in the image quality, at final output, it will be the size and quality of the original.…

20 Visualise Sharpness and Noise Making sure your images are as free of noise as possible, without degrading the overall quality, is as important a part of extracting as much detail from your precious photos as any. By the same token, also ensuring that your work is as sharp and detailed as possible is another key consideration. Everything you do in Lightroom is a balancing act of settings to ultimately arrive at the best photo possible. Whilst working in the detail panel, to add sharpness or combat any image noise present, hold the Alt key to help you see what is going on in the image as you alter the values of the individual settings. It gives you a useful representation of the effect you are having and just how…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC LIGHTROOM VERSUS PHOTOSHOP Lightroom Versus Photoshop At some point in your digital image editing life you’re going to face the question: Lightroom or Photoshop? It’s not always an easy answer though as it depends on what it is you want to achieve. Both are heavyweights in the photographer’s toolbox, but which is right for you? Lr or Ps? It’s not always an easy choice but there are vast differences between Lightroom and Photoshop that can help make your mind up. These differences depend on the situation and what you intend to do with the finished product. Let’s break down a few strengths of each. Lightroom Classic Strengths Lightroom can manipulate and edit Raw files directly from your camera, without the need to install or use another…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC EXPLORING THE WORKSPACE 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 to be expanded 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:…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE SORTING AND RATING YOUR PHOTOS 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…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE USING FACE RECOGNITION 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…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE OPTIMISING PHOTOS WITH THE HISTOGRAM Optimising Photos with the Histogram Along with focus and composition, correct exposure is one of the keystones of successful photography. With the extra exposure latitude afforded by shooting in Raw mode, Lightroom lets you adjust exposure to get the best out of your photos. 1 The Histogram is a graphical representation showing the ratio of pixels of any given brightness that are present in an image, with black on the left and white on the right. In a correctly exposed image, like this example, the distribution is spread across the graph, without being cut off at the ends and with most of the peaks in the middle. 2 In an under-exposed image such as this one, you can see that…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE REDUCING HIGH ISO NOISE Reducing High ISO Noise Image noise occurs when the signal from the photocells in the camera’s sensor is amplified to boost the image in low light, in other words when you increase the ISO setting. It shows up in your photos as a speckled grain of random colour and brightness. 1 All digital cameras suffer from noise but some control it better than others. Modern top-end digital SLRs can comfortably shoot at 6400 ISO without too much trouble but older or cheaper cameras can suffer image ruining noise problems as low as 1600 ISO. This example was shot on a five year old Panasonic compact at 3200 ISO and is very noisy. 2 Working on reducing noise requires a close-up view…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE CORRECTING LENS DISTORTIONS Correcting Lens Distortions Even the best camera lenses can introduce some distortion or aberration into an image; this is especially true for zoom and wideangle lenses. Lightroom offers several ways to correct these problems, including an automatic system for correcting popular lenses. 1 There are three main types of optical defects that Adobe Lightroom can help to correct. These are: optical distortion, either barrel or pincushion; vignetting, a darkening around the edges of the frame; and chromatic aberration. Not all lenses produce all three of these effects but very wide angle and zoom lenses are especially prone to them. 2 Lightroom offers two main options for dealing with lens correction: either manually or by using the built-in Lens Profiles. Lightroom has a…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING EXPLORING THE TONE CURVE PANEL Exploring the Tone Curve Panel When taking a photograph your camera’s light meter will attempt to balance the exposure to capture an even range of light, based on the average illumination of the scene. However, you might want to create particular effects. That’s where the Tone Curve can help. 1 The basis of the Tone Curve is a histogram. Ignore the diagonal line for a moment and look at the graph in the background. It shows the distribution of pixels of any given brightness, with dark to the left and bright to the right. Large areas of our example image are dark, so the peaks of the graph are mostly on the left, with very few on the right. 2 The…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING ADDING THE EFFECT OF FILM GRAIN Adding the Effect of Film Grain In traditional film photography, the tiny silver iodide crystals that form the image on the negative produce a granular effect on the finished print. Film grain is considered a beautiful effect and Lightroom can replicate film grain for your images. 1 The key to creating an attractive film grain effect is starting off with a suitable image. It is most commonly seen in high contrast black and white images, so choose an image that will look good in monochrome, with plenty of deep blacks and bright highlights. This detail shot of local musician Oli Syrett should do nicely. 2 The first thing we need to do is to turn the colour image into monochrome,…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING ENHANCE WITH HDR PHOTO MERGE Enhance with HDR Photo Merge HDR images are created by merging two or more images with different exposures, taking the shadows from over-exposed shots and the highlights from under-exposed ones and combining them to make one image. It’s useful for expanding dynamic range in difficult lighting situations. 1 To get started with HDR Merge you need a sequence of photos of the same scene, with varying of the exposure between shots: some under-exposed, some over-exposed and one of the “correct” exposure. It’s best to use a tripod to make sure that the shots are properly aligned. You get the best results if you use three or more shots. 2 Import the images for HDR merging into your Lightroom library and then…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING BEFORE AND AFTER: ADVANCED EFFECTS 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…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE ORGANISING IMAGES BY LOCATION 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…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE NAMING PHOTOS WITH IDENTITY PLATES 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 righthand 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…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE BEFORE AND AFTER: DRAMATIC EFFECTS 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 that 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 the Masking Tool's Select Subject option, it can create some terrific effects, as seen on this dramatic portrait shot.…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK THE SLIDESHOW MODULE 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 module and 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…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK PUBLISHING TO SOCIAL MEDIA 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…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK PUBLISH TO YOUR OWN WEBSITE Publish to Your Own Website Publishing your photos to social media is all fine and well, but most photographers instead use a dedicated website as a portfolio of their images. Lightroom makes it easy to prepare and upload web galleries to a website, as long as you have the relevant details to hand. 1 To begin with, we are going to assume that you have a beautiful web gallery full of lovely images that is ready for uploading to the web. However, before we start the upload process, we think it’s best to recap a couple of crucial elements that can make all the difference. First, ensure you’ve looked through the various Templates on offer. 2 Next, make sure you’ve…

LIGHTROOM UPDATES AND IMPROVEMENTS BEFORE AND AFTER: DO MORE WITH MASKING Do More With Masking With the most recent update of Lightroom Classic and Lightroom to the 2022 version, you now have even more editing capabilities at your fingertips. A number of features that debuted in Photoshop have been implemented here as well. Read on to find out more. Powerful AI technology has been brought to bear in the 2022 release of Adobe's Lightroom suite of products. Masking a subject or just making a selection of the sky is easier now than it's ever been. As you progress with the new versions, you will need to bear in mind that the AI that analyses your images is only as good as the image itself. Photos with very low contrast and an…

LIGHTROOM UPDATES AND IMPROVEMENTS 12 Color Range This new feature is another interesting method by which you can select and mask areas of your photo. As the name would suggest, it makes its selection based on colour values that are chosen by you. As seen in our example, if you wanted to mask the foreground sphinx and pyramid, you could decide to use Select Sky, invert the mask and alter it that way. If you choose Color Range, you are given the option to select a range of colours using the color picker tool. You can pick a single colour, drag out a sample area box, or click and press Shift to add additional data points to your selection. Because the orange tones all fall broadly within the same range,…

8 Split Toning Display Split Toning has recently been updated to Color Grading but if you are using Lightroom pre 2022, Split Toning is a cool creative tool that lets you add a certain colour feel to your images by altering the Hue and Saturation of the Highlights and Shadows in your photos. Whether you are trying to subtly alter a colour cast, or radically adjust the colours present in your photo, it is a great little tool used by many photographers. Altering the colours of your Highlights and Shadows is a bit tedious as you have to jockey the Hue and Saturation sliders to see the effect you're having. If you hold the Alt key, you can select the Hue for Highlights and the Saturation is automatically set at…

11 Cropping Cropping an image is an essential part of any photographer's creative arsenal. A simple crop can often turn a mediocre image into a sensational one. Cropping in Lightroom is normally a case of dragging control points to get the rough shape of the crop you want, then you have to drag your cursor around with the crop to move your image so it can be placed in the correct position. Then, if its not perfectly scaled to your requirements, you have to tweak the size of the crop box. Sometimes, you just literally want to crop the edge of the frame by the same amount. If you hit the Crop tool and hold the Alt key, you can crop from the centre of your image. If you have…

18 Switch Brush with Eraser Once more a very simple, but time-saving, trick that can speed up the application and refinement of your adjustment brushes. In normal operation, applying an adjustment brush is an easy enough process, right up until you decide you want to edit the brush strokes you've currently added. This would normally mean moving your cursor off the main image window and clicking on the Erase button in the Brush parameters panel beneath the main adjustments panel. Now, instead of doing that, you can just press the Alt key and the cursor will change from the adjustment brush, with a small + (plus) symbol in the centre, to an Eraser with a small - (minus) symbol. You can erase parts of your current adjustment using whatever current…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC BEFORE AND AFTER: STRIKING IMAGE CONVERSIONS Striking Image Conversions Lightroom offers some impressive results from very little effort on the part of the user. The conversion from the before image to the after image took just ten minutes and a few clicks of the Mouse button. Read on and we’ll show you how. This striking wide-angle shot of a brooding harbour sunrise started out looking a little lacklustre, but, thanks to Lightroom, there’s huge scope for adjustment and improvement. We can emphasise the dramatic light of the sun's colours on the horizon and boost Clarity, Shadows, and Saturation; the image is transformed. Additional use of adjustment brushes on both the sky, the cobblestones and the sea ensures a good tonal balance between foreground and background.…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC SHOOTING IN RAW MODE Shooting in Raw Mode To get the best out of your digital images with Adobe Lightroom, you should always shoot in Raw Mode. If you’ve bought this book, we can safely assume that you know something about digital photography, so you’re probably already aware that the vast majority of digital images are stored in a file format known as JPEG. Nearly all digital cameras and mobile phones record their images as JPEG files. You can spot a JPEG file because it will usually have the filename extension .jpg or .jpeg. The JPEG format has been around since 1992, when the standard was first specified by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (after which it takes its name), a standing committee of imaging and…

GET STARTED WITH LIGHTROOM CLASSIC BEFORE AND AFTER: USING FILTERS Using Filters Filters play a huge role in getting a photo just the way you want. With some clever tweaks, Lightroom is capable of delivering spectacular results, such as the before and after images you see on these pages. We delve into elements like this later in the book. Shots like this, that combine dark foreground with bright sky, are prime candidates for a graduated filter. In this case, we’ve increased the overall exposure slightly, pulled back the highlights to bring detail into the sky, and reduced the shadows to bring out texture in the rocks. We then applied Texture and Clarity too bring out all the little details inthe rocks and increased colour saturation. The result is a striking and…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE ORGANISING PHOTOS WITH COLLECTIONS 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…

GETTING ORGANISED: THE LIBRARY MODULE FIX PHOTOS WITH QUICK DEVELOP Fix Photos with Quick Develop Lightroom offers two ways to get the best out of your images. We’ll take a closer look at the power of the Develop module in the next section but the Library module Quick Develop tab features a range of tools that can apply quick fixes to improve your photos. 1 You can find the Quick Develop tab in the right-hand sidebar of the Library module. To get the best use out of it, it’s a good idea to make sure you have the Histogram tab open at the same time, to help get the exposure right, and use the Loupe view in zoomed-out mode so you can see the whole picture much more clearly. 2 At…

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. 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 views and…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE ADJUSTMENTS USING THE BASIC PANEL Adjustments Using the Basic Panel After cropping and straightening, the most common adjustments made are white balance, exposure, tonal balance and colour saturation. Lightroom’s Basic panel is where you can find these features, with an easy-to-use slider interface. 1 You’ll find the Basic panel in the right-hand sidebar of the Develop module. Click on the title bar to open the panel and you’ll see an array of sliders for things like colour temperature, tint, exposure and contrast; also a panel of Tone controls and another one for Presence controls that adjust Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation. 2 Near the top of the Basic panel you’ll find the White Balance controls. This will usually show As Shot by default, indicating that Lightroom…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE BASIC COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS Basic Colour Adjustments Using the Basic panel’s Presence controls we can tweak and adjust the colour balance and saturation of digital photos, creating stunning scenes with life and colour. As with most image editing operations, the key to success is subtlety. 1 For our basic image, we’ll use this woodland scene. It’s a decent shot with good composition and a nice bright sunny glow to the light; but the colours look a little muted, it lacks punch and it doesn’t really capture the full potential of what should be a striking scene. There are several things we can do to adjust the colours in this photo. 2 Simply boosting the saturation by +65 does make the colours pop but the Saturation slider…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE IMPROVE YOUR MONOCHROMES Improve Your Monochromes Black and white photography remains as popular today as it ever was and as you’d expect Lightroom supports monochrome photography with a wide range of dedicated features. Lightroom especially supports conversion from colour to monochrome, with great effect. 1 Successful monochrome photography is all about lighting, contrast and texture, so the best monochrome conversions will be images that emphasise these qualities. Artistic portrait studies, modern urban architecture and rugged rural landscapes are all good candidates. For our example, we’ll be using this shot of a coastal sunrise. 2 For quick results, Lightroom comes with a number of built-in presets for converting colour photos to monochrome. You can find them in the left-hand sidebar, not too surprisingly in the Presets…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE EDITING LINEAR AND RADIAL GRADIENTS Editing Linear and Radial Gradients Following on from graduated filters, you can edit the filter for specific areas of an image selectively by using masks. This will be familiar territory to anyone who’s proficient with Adobe Photoshop, because Lightroom works in a similar way. 1 If you followed the tutorial from a couple of pages ago, you know how to add a Linear Gradient over it. However, in some cases the filter you've added can darken the background nicely but it can also darken foreground objects, reducing detail and texture visible. You can erase part of the gradient to correct this. 2 Using the Linear Gradient tutorial mentioned above, follow steps 1-5 and add a new graduated filter to your…

IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE: THE DEVELOP MODULE BEFORE AND AFTER: DEVELOPING YOUR IMAGES 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…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING IMAGE SHARPENING WITH THE DETAIL PANEL Image Sharpening with the Detail Panel Image sharpening works by increasing the contrast between edges in the detail of your shots, while concealing blur and softness. Careful use of Sharpening controls can improve the appearance of your images, but the key to success is subtlety. 1 Select the image that you want to sharpen and open it in the Develop module. To get a really close look at it, go to the view options on the Navigator panel at the top of the left sidebar and select the 1:1 view ratio, to see the image at 100 per cent size. If you want, you can zoom in even further with the expanded view options, but 1:1 should be enough. 2…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING COLOUR GRADING ADJUSTMENTS Colour Grading Adjustments Many of Lightroom’s photo enhancement tools replicate the effects that can be achieved in traditional darkroom processing. Split Tone processing is another such feature; it’s a method of adding different tones to both the highlights and the shadows of an image. 1 Color Grading is a process whereby the image is divided into highlights, mid-tones and shadows. Different tones are applied to each. It was a popular print processing technique in the 1970s and was used to create psychedelic pop-art posters. You can replicate the effect in Lightroom using the controls found in the Color Grading panel, located in the right sidebar. 2 Before we get started, we need to choose a good base image. Color Grading can produce…

GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING INSTANT EDITS WITH LIGHTROOM PRESETS 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…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE INTRODUCING 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…

YOU ARE HERE: THE MAP MODULE THE MAP MODULE: SAVED LOCATIONS The Map Module: Saved Locations If you travel a lot with your camera, there are probably locations that you visit frequently, whether professionally or for leisure. You can set up locations in the Map module like bookmarks, so that you can quickly find them again; but it doesn’t stop there. 1 Saved Locations is a powerful tool within the Map Module that lets you quickly select frequently used locations, view those locations and tag photos to those locations. To get started, pick a location that you have visited and photographed, in the case of our example shown here, Haytor Rocks, Dartmoor, Devon. 2 To create a Saved Location, look at the left-hand sidebar, at the Saved Locations panel. On the…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE INTRODUCING 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,…

HARD COPY: THE PRINT MODULE CREATING YOUR OWN WATERMARKS 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 identity plate 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…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK 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…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK THE WEB MODULE 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…

SHOW AND TELL: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK BEFORE AND AFTER: GETTING COLOURFUL Getting Colourful You’d be surprised just how often a great photo is edited using simple, but very effective, techniques. These techniques often centre around the colour options within Lightroom; and through the tutorials in this book you can learn to apply these fine alterations to great effect. Not all Lightroom effects have to be dramatic. The great strength of the program is that it can be used to make some subtle improvements to images, making great shots even better. The difference between these two images may appear fairly subtle at first glance but the exposure, saturation and colour balance of the main image has been carefully tweaked using the Basic panel, found in the top right sidebar of the Develop…