Lightroomers
Lightroom tutorials, tips and training for Lightroomers!
Tutorial: Rendered vs. Raw in Lightroom
Even if you only shoot raw the reality is that we all still have a lot of rendered files on our systems too. What are rendered files? These are the photos rendered in pixels as opposed to the raw capture data produced by our cameras. Lightroom can work with 3 …
Tutorial: Working with Smart Collections
One of Lightroom’s greatest strengths is the database (known as the catalog file) that records everything you do when working in Lightroom. When you import photos all the information contained in the metadata gets added to the catalog, such as exposure, ISO, time and date of capture, f-stop, camera model, …
Tutorial: Using the Secondary Display in Lightroom 2
Lightroom’s Secondary Display option allows you to make the most efficient use of your screen real estate when you are working with your photos. Ordinarily, when you open Lightroom you are greeted with Lightroom’s primary window. This is where you do all your work on and with your photos and …
Tutorial: Reconnecting folders and photos in Lightroom 2 and 3
Another significant yet subtle improvement in Lightroom 2 is the means to reconnect missing and offline folders and photos. While preventing your photos from being inadvertently disconnected from the Lightroom catalog is still just as important as it was in Lightroom 1, it’s good to know there are tools to help you get things back in order if you find yourself looking at a catalog full of question marks.
Tutorial: Moving Folders and Photos in Lightroom
Creating new folders and moving photos from folder to folder is a fundamental aspect of file management. It is also a fundamental task that should only be performed from within Lightroom in order to maintain the connection between the Lightroom catalog and the imported photos.
Tutorial: Managing Photos with the Folders Panel
The Folders panel may be one of the most used panels in all of Lightroom, but it may also be one of the least understood. There’s actually quite a bit of functionality in this little panel, and with the addition of the Volume Browser in Lightroom 2 it puts quite …
Tutorial: Finding Photos with the Library Filter Bar
In Lightroom 2 Adobe combined the Find and Metadata Browser panels from Lightroom 1, added some new functionality, moved them to center stage in Grid view and named it the Library Filter bar. The result is a tremendous boost in usefulness when you want to find and filter out all …
Tutorial: New Lightroom Slideshow Features and Functionality
The Slideshow module was a recipient of a number of new features in Lightroom 2. The basic functionality of the Slideshow module remains the same as in Lightroom 1, however this set of new features take its usefulness up a few notches. Let’s take a closer look at what has …
Tutorial: Working with Lightroom 2’s Panels
Lightroom’s interface is primarily comprised of panels. While they can’t be separated from the interface like the panels within Photoshop there are a number of cool things you can do with them. Knowing how to configure Lightroom’s panels to fit your needs can both speed up your workflow and maximize …
Tutorial: Lightroom Screen Modes and Lights Out
I’ve been surprised to find that a good number of Lightroom users are unaware of some of the functionality built into the Lightroom interface that is designed to help you get the most from your screen real estate and enhance your ability to work with your photos. I even get …
Tutorial: Back Up Your Lightroom Catalog
Lightroom is often referred to as a “metadata editor,” meaning that the work you do in Lightroom isn’t applied to the pixels in the source photo, but rather is saved as a set of metadata instructions (inside the catalog file) that are only applied to copies of the source photo during any type of output. Everything you do inside Lightroom, from adding keywords to making tonal adjustments, is recorded into Lightroom’s catalog file.
