Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from TRODUCTION1EDo you trawl through thousands of webpages looking for the information youneed? Perhaps post on a forum, wait hoursfor anyone to reply, and hope they give youthe right information? From now on, youlook right here! Adobe Photoshop LightroomClassic—The Missing FAQ is a compilation ofthe questions most frequently asked—andmany not so frequently asked—by real userson forums all over the world.PLAdobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 wasreleased on February 19th 2007, after a longpublic beta period, and it rapidly became ahit. Thousands of users flooded the forumslooking for answers to their questions. Inthe years that have followed, Lightroomhas continued to gain popularity, becomingthe program of choice for amateur andprofessional photographers alike.1SAMIn October 2017, Adobe announced thatLightroom was dividing in two differentdirections, so that each program canfocus on its strengths. Lightroom Classiccontinues the desktop folder-basedworkflow we’ve used for the last 13 years,whereas the Lightroom ecosystem is cloudnative, so all of your photos are stored in thecloud and accessible from any device.Lightroom Classic and the Lightroom cloudbased ecosystem are like distant cousins, sotheir communication is limited. We’ll discusstheir interactions in the Cloud Sync chapterstarting on page 525, but the rest of thebook will focus on the desktop workflowthat is Lightroom Classic’s primary focus. Tosave writing it’s full name—Adobe PhotoshopLightroom Classic—over and over again, we’llmostly refer to it as Lightroom in this book.Google now turns up around 95,000,000web pages when you search for the wordLightroom. So when you have a questionor you get stuck with one of Lightroom’sless intuitive features, where do you look?Unlike many ‘how-to’ books, this isn’t justthe theory of how Lightroom is supposedto work, but also the workarounds andsolutions for the times when it doesn’tbehave in the way you’d expect. We’re goingto concentrate on real-world use, and theinformation you actually need to know.I know you’re intelligent (after all, youchose to buy this book!), and I’ll assumeyou already have some understanding ofcomputers and digital photography. Unlikethe other books, I’m not going to tell youwhat you ‘must’ do. I’m going to give you theinformation you need to make an informeddecision about your own workflow so youcan get the best out of Lightroom.Two of my favorite comments about thisseries of books are “it’s like a conversationwith a trusted friend” and “it’s like havingVictoria sit next to you helping.” That’s myaim—I’m here to help.

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/2ADOBE LIGHTROOM CLASSIC - THE MISSING FAQTHE BOOK FORMATREGISTER YOUR BOOK FORADDITIONAL BENEFITSLet’s just do a quick guided tour so you canget the best out of the book.If you purchased the paperback fromAmazon, Barnes & Noble or anotherretailer, register your copy of this bookto download all the eBook formats andget access to updates, as well as gainingaccess to other member benefits. Tolearn more, turn to page 544.The Fast Track for New Lightroom UsersMPLStarting on page 5, the Fast Trackweaves its way through the book, givingyou the essential information you need toget started. At the end of each Fast Tracksection is another red arrow, along witha page reference and clickable link whichtakes you to the next Fast Track section.into Lightroom, then viewing them, selectingthe best photos, grouping them, addingmetadata and filtering the photos. Next, wemove on to editing your photos, both in theDevelop module and external editors, andthen outputting the photos as individualimages, emails and publishing them on socialmedia websites. Finally, we discuss how toaccess your photos on multiple computersor mobile devices.ELightroom’s a big program these days, andwhen you’re just getting started, it canbe overwhelming. Have you heard of thePareto principle or 80/20 rule? In short, theidea is that 20% of the effort creates 80%of the results. But when you’re just startingout, it’s hard to know which information youneed to understand, so I’ve done the workfor you.IndexSAThe aim of the Fast Track is to make theinformation accessible to less experiencedusers, while retaining all of the advancedgeeky detail, so the book’s useful to youthroughout your whole Lightroom journey.You can either read the book cover tocover, or you can follow the Fast Track tounderstand the basics, and then dive intothe rest of the book to round out yourknowledge, or use it as a reference whenyou have a question.STARTS ONPAGE 5Workflow OrderIf you read the book from front to back,I’ll lead you through a typical workflow. Itbegins with getting your photos and videosIf you’re using the book as a reference, youcan find the information you need using theindex starting on page 545. In the eBookformats, you can also use the search facilityor bookmarks to find the specific words, andyou can add your own bookmarks and notestoo.AppendicesIn the complimentary eBook formats, thereare additional appendices covering theless frequently used Book (page A1),Slideshow (page B1), Print (page C1)and Web (page D1) modules, but you’llalso find introductory tutorials for thesemodules in the Output Modules chapter inthe main book (page 423).In The Geeky Bits appendix starting on pageE1 (only available in the eBook formats),

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from e explore the pros and cons of the DNGformat and other geeky topics such as howto use the DNG Profile Editor, how to hackthe TranslatedStrings file and how to importfrom other software.On Windows, standard accelerator keysalso work—hold down the Alt key to showthe underlined letters.Keyboard ShortcutsThe links in the eBooks are all clickable.In order to keep the website links current,and make them easy for you to access,I’ve used my own short-url domainhttps://www.Lrq.me (that’s LRQ.ME) tohandle the redirections.Multiple FormatsEYou can choose how to you wish to readthe book—PDF, ePub, Kindle, Paperback, orall four! You might want the PDF versionon your computer for searching while youwork with Lightroom, the Kindle versionfor reading cover-to-cover while relaxing inthe garden, and the paperback for scribblingextra notes. It’s up to you. I would suggest:PLMany controls can be accessed in multipledifferent ways—buttons in the userinterface, menu commands, contextsensitive menus and keyboard shortcuts.If I listed every single one, you’d be boredstiff, so I’ve noted the most frequentlyused (and most easily remembered)commands and shortcuts. They’re alsolisted at the end of each related chapter,and you can download the completeprintable keyboard shortcuts list fromhttps://www.Lrq.me/keyboard-shortcuts/LinksMOn both platforms, in addition to keyboardshortcuts, the standard modifier keys areused in combination with mouse clicks toperform various tasks.PDF—used on computer or large tablets.ePub—used on smaller mobile devices andmost eReaders.Shift selects or deselects multipleconsecutive items. For example, hold downShift while clicking to select multiple photos,select multiple folders, select multiplekeywords etc.It doesn’t matter whether you’re using theWindows or Mac platform, or even both.Lightroom is cross-platform, and thereforethis book will follow the same pattern.The screenshots are mainly of the Macversion because I’m writing on a Mac, butthe Windows version is almost identical infunctionality, and any significant differenceswill be explained and illustrated.SACtrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) selects ordeselects multiple items that are notnecessarily consecutive. For example, holddown Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) to selectmultiple photos, select multiple folders,select multiple keywords, etc.Alt (Windows) / Opt (Mac)—Changes theuse of many controls. For example, in QuickDevelop, it swaps the ‘Clarity’ and ‘Vibrance’buttons for ‘Sharpening’ and ‘Saturation.’ InDevelop panels, it changes the panel label toa panel ‘Reset’ button, and holding it downwhile moving some sliders shows masks orclipping warnings.Kindle—used on Kindle eReaders.Windows or Mac?Where keyboard shortcuts or othercommands differ by platform, both areincluded. The exception is the shortcut toview a context-sensitive menu, which is

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/4ADOBE LIGHTROOM CLASSIC - THE MISSING FAQright-click on Windows or Ctrl-click on Mac.I’ll keep that simple and just refer to rightclicking. If you use a trackpad on a Mac,right-click is a two-finger tap and draggingtwo fingers up or down the trackpad is thesame as scrolling.MPLThis book is based entirely around userfeedback, so we’d love to hear the thingsyou like about this book, and anythingyou feel could be improved. We’re alwayslooking for ways to make this book evenbetter, so if you come across a question thatwe’ve missed, something that’s not clear, oryou just want to tell us how much you lovethe book, you can send us your feedbackusing the Contact form on the website athttps://www.lightroomqueen.com/contactWe promise to read every email, even if wecan’t reply to them all personally.ETALK TO US!SAWe’ve also included a year’s LightroomClassic Premium Email Support with yourpurchase, via the form in the PremiumMembers Area, in case you get stuck whileyou’re reading (see page 544).If you enjoy the book, posting a review onAmazon or your favorite online bookstorewould make our day, and would help otherLightroom users find it too. Thank you!Now, where shall we start ?

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/Before You StartBEFORE YOU START2library of books to illustrate. (Figure 2.1)EA file browser looks at the files directly onthe hard drive and organizes photos byfolder. This is like walking straight into thelibrary and looking round the shelves ofbooks. If someone’s borrowed a book, youwon’t even know it exists.PLIf you’re anything like me,the first thing you want todo with a new program isdive right in. Who wants toread an instruction manual when you canexperiment? If you’re nodding in agreement,that’s fine, but do yourself a favor and justskim through the Fast Track before youjump in head first.5SAMLightroom’s designed around a database,so it doesn’t work in the same way as mostother image editing software. You’ll saveyourself a lot of headaches by understandingthe basics!WHAT IS A LIGHTROOM CATALOG?A database is a series of text records. This islike the library’s catalog of books. In the olddays, it was made up of drawers full of cards,but these days it’s all computerized. Eachcard—or computerized record—containsinformation about the book, who wrote it, adescription, its ISBN number, perhaps apicture of the cover, and most importantly,which shelf the book is stored on.(Figure 2.2)There are basically two different types ofimage management software—databases(catalogs) and file browsers. So what’s thedifference? Let’s compare to a physicalThe books themselves are still on theshelves. They’re not IN the catalog. Ifsomeone’s borrowed a book, you can stillFigure 2.1 The Lightroom catalogis like a library of books.Figure 2.2 There’s a text recorddescribing each photo.

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/ADOBE LIGHTROOM CLASSIC - THE MISSING FAQsee the information describing the book, butyou can’t read the book until it’s returnedto its shelf. If someone moves the book toa new shelf, the information on the card isincorrect and you’ll be looking in the wrongplace until the record is updated.What do I need to remember? Always rename photos within Lightroom,using the Library menu Rename Photoscommand. If you don’t, you have to fix thelinks one at a time. BIG job! (See page 125for more detail.) Move photos within Lightroom bydragging and dropping them on anotherfolder—or if you move them using Explorer/Finder/other software, update Lightroom’srecords immediately, before you forgetwhere you put them. (See page 127 formore detail.)PLLightroom uses a database rather thanacting as a file browser. Photos are never INthe catalog. The Lightroom catalog containstext records of information describing thephotos, with small previews stored nearby,and most importantly, a note of whereeach photo is stored on the hard drive. Ifthe hard drive is disconnected or a photo ismoved to a new location, you can still seethe information describing the photo and asmall preview in the catalog, but you can’twork with the photo until the original file isfound.series of text instructions in the catalogitself. While it’s possible to store some ofthis metadata with the files (in a formatcalled XMP), by default it’s only stored inthe catalog. If you remove the photos fromthe catalog, all of your Lightroom edits willbe gone. Even if you reimport the photoslater, you won’t get this information back.E6MWhy does understanding the catalogmatter?SAWe’re very familiar with working in filebrowsers. Windows Explorer and MacFinder are used on every single Windowsand Mac computer, so handling files in abrowser comes naturally to most computerusers.Catalogs are different. If you move, renameor delete a file outside of Lightroom, therecords in the catalog won’t get updatedto match. Lightroom will still be looking inthe old location on the hard drive for thefile, and won’t be able to find it. When thishappens, you may not be able to edit orexport the photos (just like you can’t read alibrary book until you find the book itself).As well as the information about theoriginal image files, the catalog contains arecord of all of the work you’ve done to thephotos. This includes flags, stars, keywords,captions, collection membership, and more.Even your Develop edits are stored as a Don’t remove photos from the catalogunless you’re also intentionally deleting theoriginal photos (e.g. the fuzzy ones). (Seepage 124 for more detail.) Back up your catalog regularly. It containsa lot of essential information! (See page59 for more detail.)DESIGNING YOUR WORKFLOWFinally, before we start using the softwareitself, let’s talk briefly about workflow.It’s one of the most popular topics amongphotographers, but why? What does itactually mean?The term workflow simply describes a seriesof steps undertaken in the same order eachtime. For photographers, this workflow.continues on page 9

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/Before You Start7Basic Lightroom WorkflowRaw vs. JPEGThink about your fileformat when shooting.ExposureExpose the photo correctly in thecamera to produce the best quality.ImportImport Your Photos and Videos intoyour Lightroom Catalog, sync fromLR mobile or tether your camera.Back Upyour catalog, photos and presets.WorkspaceNavigate the Lightroom Interface.View Your Photosusing Grid, Loupe, Survey, Comparemodes and secondary window.Select the Best Photosusing Ratings, Quick Develop,Stacks and Collections.Manage Your Files,Folders and Photos by moving,renaming and deleting.Add Metadataincluding IPTC, Capture Time,Keywords, Faces and Map Locations.Find & Filter Photosby changing the Sort Order,Filters & Smart Collections.Basic Editsadjusting tone and color, ToneCurve, B&W, Split Toning, HSLand Effects. sharpening, noisereduction and lens corrections.Selective Editsusing crop, spot removal, red eyereduction, graduated and radialfilters and the adjustment brush.Sync to Lightroom Cloudto view on mobile devices andshare as web galleries.Switch to Photoshopor other external editors forpixel-based retouching.Export or Email Finished Photosin the size, format and colorspace of your choice.Use Publish Servicesto synchronize with Facebook, Flickrand other photo sharing websites.View Slideshowsand export them to video,PDF and JPEG formats.Printusing your printer or save layouts toJPEG to print at a local print lab.Create Web Galleriesto upload to your website.Design Photo Booksand save them as PDF eBooks orhave them printed by Blurb.SAEdit &RetouchPLOrganizeMViewECaptureOutputFigure 2.3 Each photographer’s Lightroom workflow is different, but there are similar themes.

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/ADOBE LIGHTROOM CLASSIC - THE MISSING FAQ8A Typical WorkflowShoot raw formatusing camera,exposing to the rightShoot raw format oniPhone, taking care toget exposure rightAdd GPS directlyto camera photosusing iPhone appImportImport via card reader,adding to syncedinbox collectionAuto add mobilephotos to LR iOS, andsync back to ClassicIn Classic, addcopyright &rename photosBackupRun automatedphoto backupsusing ChronosyncClear cardsonly after visualcorruption checkAutomatically back upto cloud via CrashplanViewUse iPad to rankfavorites. 2 passes(flags then stars)Delete rejectedphotosPLMGroup photosinto collectionsSAOrganizeEdit &RetouchStack and mergeHDR and panoramicphotosBack up catalogAdd simple keywordsto best photosUse smart collectionsto see whichmetadata is missingAdd map location,if I forgotBasic Developadjustments on allremaining photosAdditional Developmodule edits onbest photosEdit in Photoshopfor best photosBack up catalogRun automatedphoto backupsusing ChronosyncAutomatically back upto cloud via CrashplanShare best photoson social mediaCreate photobookExport photos to sendto local print labBackupOutputECaptureFigure 2.4 This is a typical workflow. Your workflow won’t lookexactly the same, but it’ll share the same principles.

This is a sample of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ.The full book is available from https://www.lightroomqueen.com/shop/Before You Start9runs from the time of shooting (or evenbefore), through transferring the photos toyour computer, sorting and selecting yourfavorites, editing and retouching them, andthen outputting to various formats, whetheron screen or in print.picture style, crop ratio and high dynamicrange camera settings. Most other camerasettings are ignored by raw editors such asLight

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 was released on February 19th 2007, after a long public beta period, and it rapidly became a hit. Thousands of users flooded the forums looking for answers to their questions. In the years that have followed, Lightroom