Tutorials

THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG

• What is Lightroom
  A quick review of the program and what it can do for you.
• The Catalog and Photo Library Organization
  A comprehensive and easy to understand strategy for setting up your Catalog and managing your Photo Library.
• Folder management and missing Images
  The importance of file management in Lightroom and how to relink files when something goes missing.
• Backing up your Catalog and Library
  How to back up the images in your Photo Library and your Lightroom Catalog. Don’t skip this one!
• Importing and merging Catalogs
  Location Catalogs: how to manage your photos while on vacation and what to do when you get back home.
• Exporting Catalogs
  Export and manage bite size pieces of your main catalog to show as a portfolio, or to make develop adjustments while on the road.
• The Lightroom interface
  Familiarize yourself with Lightroom’s layout and its workflow concept.

THE LIBRARY MODULE

• Importing Photos from a camera card
  Learn the right way to import fresh captures into your Lightroom Catalog.
• Importing Photos from a hard drive
  Move, add or copy the images already on your hard drive into Lightroom’s catalog.
• Renaming Strategies
  The Filename Template Editor is powerful stuff. See how I rename my photos and why.
• Adding and Managing Keywords
  Learn these keywording secrets to create a very powerful and searchable database.
• The Metadata Panel
  Take advantage of Lightroom’s amazing database capabilities and find specific images through metadata info embedded in each file.
• Creating a Metadata Template
  Save time and effort creating Metadata templates that store both copyright information and shoot specific data too.
• Flagging Images
  Evaluate shoots using Lightroom’s various view modes to separate high priority images from the rest.
• Star Ratings and Color Labels
  Assign subjective value to your shots and group them to quickly identify them from the rest.
• Collections and Smart Collections
  Manage important photos and find them quickly with custom designed collections. Use regular collections and rule based smart collections to find the photos you access most frequently.
• Stacking Photos
  Group panoramics, bracketed shots, HDR photo sets and compositions of similar subject matter using Lightroom’s Stacking feature to keep your workspace neat.

THE DEVELOP MODULE

• The Basic Panel
  White balance, exposure and other global adjustments set the foundation  for an optimized image. Learn it all here.
• The Tone Curve
  Slider adjustments make finessing contrast in specific tonal ranges easier than ever.
• Hue Saturation and Luminance
  Optimize water, sky and other areas by finessing individual color tones using the HSL sliders.
• Creating Black and Whites
  Generate high contrast black and whites that carry local zing! Experiment freely with virtual copies and snapshots.
• Split Toning Images
  Color tone your black and whites with creative split toning techniques.
• Sharpening your Shots
  Restore image sharpness lost during the capture stage, then locally brush in more for added impact.
• Noise Reduction
  Eliminate unwanted noise and learn how the same controls can be used for creative effects.
• The Lens Correction Panel
  Correct distortion, chromatic aberration and problematic lens vignetting with custom lens profiles and advanced sliders controls.
• The Effects panel
  Stylistically add vignettes for photographic effect and mimic the feel of film grain.
• Cropping Images
  Straighten, rotate and creatively crop for stronger compositions.
• The Spot Removal Tool
  Effectively remove backscatter, sensor dirt and distracting elements from your photos.
• The Graduated Filter
  Locally correct broad regions in a photo using the gradient capabilities of the Graduated Filter. It’s perfect for skies, the water column and other elements that need a boost.
• The Adjustment Brush – Localized Corrections
  Locally finesse exposure, contrast and saturation with the delicate touch of the Adjustment Brush.
• The Adjustment Brush – Dodging and Burning
  Strengthen visual interest on a subject and tone down unwanted attention in a photo, creatively dodging and burning with the Adjustment Brush.
• The Adjustment Brush -  Depth of Field
  Selectively sharpen areas in a photo and control depth of field.

EXPORTING

• Exporting Images
  Create JPEGs, TIFFs and other copies of your finished work to share with others and send to print.
• Watermarking with Text
  Protect and brand your work easily with Lightroom’s newly improved Watermark Editor.
• Watermarking with a graphic
  Add creative flare to your image protection using a graphic watermark.
• Watermarking with frames
  Here’s a neat way to quickly frame your finished work using the Export command.
• Importing, Managing and Exporting Video files
  Got video? Import, manage and export it right alongside your digital stills.
• Publish Services: Publishing to Hard Drive
  Keep track of and externally manage select photos that live outside your Lightroom Photo Library.
• Publish Services: Publishing to Flickr
  Use Lightroom to upload your Flickr Photostream, manage Photosets, comments and more.
• Publish Services: Publishing to Facebook
  Upload photos to your Wall, create Albums and manage your Facebook comments, all from the Lightroom interface.

PHOTOSHOP AND PHOTOMATIX PRO INTEGRATION

• Editing camera raw files in Photoshop
  Round trip camera raw files to Photoshop, set Lightroom’s preferences for the trip and pick up a few advanced tips on Photoshop’s Content Aware Fill and the Clone Stamp Tool.
• RGB files in Photoshop – Edit Original
  The Edit Original command effectively manages the RGB files you round trip to Photoshop, adjustment layers and all. See it in action here.
• RGB Files in Photoshop – Edit a Copy
  Create, manage and enhance copies of RGB files to take them in all different directions.
• RGB Files in Photoshop – Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments
  Preserve layers and your Lightroom adjustments while making the trip to Photoshop and back.
• Creating a Panorama
  Learn how Lightroom and Photoshop work together to build and manage panoramic images.
• Creating HDR images in Photoshop
  Manage the image sets and tonemapped results you generate when merging photos to HDR Pro in Photoshop.
• Exporting to Photomatix Pro
  Organize and manage the image sets and final HDR files you tone map in Photomatix Pro.
• Open Photos as Layers in Photoshop
  Digital composites are easy to make and manage using Lightroom. One cool way to create a tryptic in Photoshop.

SLIDESHOW, PRINT AND WEB MODULES

• Create and customize a Slideshow
  Take a tour of the Slideshow Module and see how collections help make professional looking slideshows complete with musical playback options.
• Output Creations For Slideshows
  PDF presentations, MP4 files and JPEG slides.
• The Print Module
  Explore need-to-know settings, correctly set color management and choose the right ICC Profile so you get great looking prints every single time.
• Multi image print layout
  Build multi image layouts using presets or customize your own with the many options inside the Print Module.
• Contact Sheets and Promo sheets
  Display your best work creating promo sheets and learn a few ways to archive your photo collection using contact sheets.
• The Web Module
  Generate and upload impressive web galleries directly from the Lightroom interface.