LightroomBook-01

8/6/2019 LightroomBook-01

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Peachpit will be publishing The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book

by Martin Evening. Martin has been working with Lightroom rom

the beginning, providing eedback to Lightrooms development well

beore the public beta and monitoring the products development.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book describes Lightrooms eatures

in detail and with photographers in mind. The book is aimed at

photographers at all levels: amateurs as well as proessionals and will

oer a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about

the program. Photographers who routinely work with raw images

will nd Lightroomand The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Bookan

indispensable tool in their digital darkroom.

Publicain a: Mac 12, 2007

Pin ISBN-10: 0-32-138543-8

Pin ISBN-13: 978-0-321-38543-7

Pas: 352

USA: $40.00

Canaa: $50.00

UK: 28.99


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3/37

Introducing AdobePhotoshop Lightroom

1

Welcome to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, an image processing

and image asset management program that is designed to

meet the needs o digital photographers everywhere. This book

will help explain all the main tools that are in Lightroom and

provide inspiration and advice on how to get the most out othis new program, as well as oering tips on how to setup up

your computer and how to get the best results rom your digital

camera les.

The Lightroom program has been designed rom the ground

up to provide todays digital photographers with the tools they

most need. This is refected in the way Lightroom separatesthe various tasks into separate modules, is able to process

large numbers o images at once and will let you archive and

retrieve them quickly. But beore we get into too much detail,

let me begin by explaining a little about the basic concept o

Lightroom beore moving on to an overview o all the main

eatures and how you might go about using these in a typical

digital photography workfow.


4/37

Chapter 1 INtrodUCINg AdoBe PhotoShoP LIghtrooM

What is Lightroom?Lightroom is essentially a high quality image processor and image data-

base management system rolled into one, with a modern interace andast image processing capabilities. The guiding light behind Lightrooms

development is chie architect, Mark Hamburg, who up until recently

had been the chie scientist working on Adobe Photoshop. For the past

ew years Mark and the rest o the team at Adobe have been looking

closely at how photographers work digitally and the problems they

ace when processing and managing large numbers o digital images.

Lightroom is the result o this research. Lightroom is not so much a

single, monolithic application, but should be viewed more as a suite o

application modules which combine to provide an ideal workfow or

digital photographers.

Keeping things simple

One o the early aims o the Lightroom project was to remove

complexity. Right rom the start, the ounding principle o Lightroom

was to provide unreasonable simplicity. Lightrooms tools are thereore

designed to streamline the image management and editing process and

to make the user experience as smooth and simple as possible. The pro-

gram aims to provide photographers with the tools they most need and

do away with the need or complicated workarounds. You will nd that

or the most part, that Lightroom has managed to do this and does

not have complex preerence dialogs, or demand that you do anythingspecial to optimize the program settings beore you can get started. For

example, there are no color management settings dialogs to congure,

since the color management in Lightroom is carried out automatically

without requiring too much thinking rom the user. On the whole,

I think Adobe have been successul here, but as the program has

evolved, these principles have sometimes been compromised with the

introduction o more and more options and new eatures.

Modular design

Lightroom has the advantage o being created rom scratch and this

has allowed the engineers to build upon their experience and knowl-

edge o how Photoshop works to produce a brand new program that

is purpose-built or modern day image processing requirements. TheLightroom program is comprised o individual, sel-contained modules

built around a core that contains an advanced image processing


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the adobe photoshop lightroom book

engine and image database engine. Each module can be thought o

as oering an individual set o unctions and in Lightroom 1.0 you will

see ve separate modules: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web.

This modular approach will make it easier in uture to add more new

eatures as well as being easier to maintain. So or example, i at some

point it is decided that Lightroom needs to have an image warping

module, the Lightroom engineers will be able to design new sel-con-

tained module that perorm specic, new tasks. From an engineering

point o view this enables Lightroom to run more eciently because

each module can have direct access to the central engines at the

core o the program. And i there are faws or bugs in any particular

module, these will only show up in the unctionality o the module

itsel they will not compromise or aect the perormance o any o

the other modules. One o the reasons why Adobe Photoshop rose tosuch prominence as an image editing application, was because o the

way Adobe openly encouraged third-party companies to create their

own lter plug-ins or Photoshop. Lightroom will continue that tradi-

tion by providing third party companies with the inormation they need

to create their own modules. It is too soon to tell i this will result in

lots o new third party modules or Lightroom, but rest assured that as

new modules are added, Lightroom will never risk becoming bloated.

Theoretically, it should in the uture be quite easy to turn o or remove

the modules you dont need.

Figure 1.1 Lightroom is engineered using a modular architecture system. At

the heart o Lightroom are its image processor and image database engines.

Lightroom is designed so that all individual modules are able to tap into these two

core components o the application. This is what gives Lightroom its speed and

adaptability.

NOTEt a a numb l-lik a-

us in Psp, suc as Liquiy

an Vanisin Pin a av

b implmn via a spaa

mal ial. t wnsi is

appac is a mal plu-ins

n av accss cnal

Psp ima nin cay u

ima pcssin wk. ty a

lik applicains a av wk

wiin Psp applicainan is xplains wy ms mal

plu-ins can l qui sluis

cmpa wn yu a wkin

icly in main Psp

pam. Lims mula

acicu will man a as nw

aus a a y will all av

qual accss ima pcssin

an aa manamn nins in

Lim.

NOTEt llwin scus can b

us wn swicin bwn

iniviual muls (s a

Mac scus. PC uss sul us

ca plus numb).

#a1 will slc Libay

#a2 will slc dvlp

#a3 will slc Slisw

#a4 will slc Pin

#a5 will slc Wb

#a>will back pviusmul.

In aiin G will slc Libay

mul in gi m, E will slc

Libay mul in Lup m.

D will slc dvlp mul.


6/37


Lightroom perormance

So long as the computer you are using exceeds the minimum require-

ments that are set out on page 9, you will have all thats needed to

get started, although Lightroom perormance will be relative to the

size o your image captures. The basic specications may be ne or

5-6 megapixel camera captures, but i you are shooting with an 11-16

megapixel camera you will denitely want to use a modern, dual core

processor computer with a minimum o 1.5 GB RAM in order to get

the best perormance out o the program. With the right computer

conguration you can quickly navigate a collection o images, zoom in

and out and apply image adjustments with ease. Image library searches

are ast and the Lightroom interace is designed to make it easy to

update the metadata and narrow down your search selections within

the content area. Wherever possible, Lightroom utilizes the cached

image data used to generate the previews. Because o this you will nd

it takes no time at all to generate a slideshow or a Web photo gallery.

And when you are in the Print module it will only takes a ew seconds

to generate the print le to print out a set o contact sheets in dratmode. This is because Lightroom is able to print directly rom the high

quality image previews, instead o having to re-render each separate

image rom a master le.

Adobe Camera Raw processing

I you are accustomed to using the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in via the

Bridge/Photoshop dialog, then some o the controls in the Develop

module will already be amiliar. This is because Lightroom shares the

same Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) processing engine that is used in

Photoshop and Bridge. The Adobe Camera Raw processing engine was

originally developed by Thomas Knoll, who with his brother John Knoll,

created the original Photoshop program. The Adobe Camera Raw plug-

in has since evolved to become one o the best raw processing tools in

the market, supporting over 150 dierent proprietary raw le ormats,

including most notably the ull Canon range o digital SLRs. And

Thomas has now been joined by Zalman Stern and Michael Jonsson

(ormerly o Pixmantec) who have both made a signicant contribution

with their work on Camera Raw. Michael incidentally, was also the

main engineer who worked on the Capture One raw processing appli-

cation, beore going on to create the highly successul Raw Shooter

program. Evidence o this collaboration can be seen in the addition onew raw editing eatures such as the Recovery and Fill Light sliders.

NOTEt is cainly n sa

xps w lv au a

aw pcss pam y us

pucs supi suls cmpa

vyin ls. I am n in

au ny qualiy an

pnial aw pcssin

pams, suc as Capu on

m Pas on an ppiay

swa a is bunl wi cain

iial camas. W am I y issua ppl i a-l

pinins i y a sais wi

suls y a in? Bu

Ab Cama raw s av sm

uniqu aus n un lsw

in aw cnv pams.

M impanly, Cama raw

ima pcssin as implmn

in Lim bns m a m

samlin wkw.


7/37


Color controls

The Develop image adjustment controls are easy to access and hitting

D, will always take you directly to the Develop module. Lightroom is

mainly intended or working with raw images, but the image adjust-

ment controls in the Develop module can also be applied to TIFF, PSD

or JPEG images that are in RGB, Grayscale or Lab mode (but note that

Lightroom image adjustments are always carried out in RGB). The

Basic and Tone Curve panels provide intuitive controls with which you

can easily adjust the white balance and tones in any photograph. And

the Grayscale Mixer oers an adaptable approach to black and white

conversions whereby you can adjust the balance o color inormationthat is used to create a monochrome version o a color original. As

you dig deeper you will discover that the split tone controls can work

well on color images as well as black and white converted pictures and

with a little experimentation you can easily produce quite dramatic

cross-processed type eects. The Develop module controls also

provide a greater range o controls over the colors and tones in your

photographs. For example, when you adjust the luminance o a color inthe HSL/Color/Grayscale panel, the sliders behave exactly the way you

would expect them to, so you can easily darken colors selectively. For

example, i you want to darken the color o a sky, you simply adjust the

Blues and Aqua Luminance sliders.

It is worth pointing out that all the Develop adjustments in Lightroom

are non-destructive and are recorded as edit instructions that are

stored with the image. And a single raw master le can be edited inmany ways and printed at dierent sizes without having to make lots

o dierent pixel image versions rom the original. Any image edits

and ratings you make in Lightroom will also be recognized in a current

versin o Bridge and Photoshop. The same is true o labels and meta-

data. Any metadata inormation that is added to an image via another

program that can be recognized by Lightroom will be preserved and

updated in Lightroom. So or example, i you add keywords and assigna colored label to an image in Bridge, these changes will be transerred

across to Lightroom and updated in the Lightroom library. Although,

this does raise the question o which setting is the correct one when

a single image has been modied in two separate programs. In this

situation, Lightroom will inorm you o any conficts and let you decide

(see side note on updating settings in Lightroom).

NOTEAn Ab Cama raw ajusmn

ma in n Ab pam will

always pviw inically in any

Ab pam. I an ima is

al usi Lim a wanin

xlamain mak will al yu an

l yu ci w sick wi

cun ima sin upa

wi nw n a was appli

usi Lim.


8/37


The Lightroom workow

You will notice how the modules and controls are all presented in a

logical order, rom the import stage through to managing the images

in the Library module, processing them in the Develop module and

nally exporting les to an output older. Or, you can output images

via the Slideshow, Print or Web modules.

Managing the image library

Lightroom has been designed to oer a fexible workfow or all types

o photographers that meets their dierent requirements. When youwork with Lightroom you begin by explicitly choosing which images

you would like to see added to the Lightroom library and rom there

the way Lightroom manages those images is actually not that much

dierent rom working with any other type o browser program. Most

browser programs are like a gloried nder and are mainly useul or

inspecting the contents on a computer and allowing you to see every-

thing that is on a drive or in a specic older. The main dierence withLightroom is that you always strictly control which images are imported

into the library. Images are either imported rom a camera card (or

directly rom the camera) by copying them to a older. Or, you simply

import images by reerencing the older they are in already. Once

images have been imported into Lightroom, any changes you make to

the older or le names, le deletions or moving o les, these actions

are all mirrored at the system level. Working with the Folders panel in

Lightroom is thereore not too dissimilar to working with a hierarchical

older list tree view in a browser program. Except in Lightroom the list

tree in the Folders panel reveals just the images you requested to be in

the library and nothing else.

O course, hierarchical older management is ne i you know which

olders your images are kept in. But when you start working with many

thousands o pictures you will soon nd it is no longer practical to relyon a older hierarchy as the main means o navigation. Lightroom can

store all your images in neat olders, but its real power as an image

asset manager comes when you use the Find, Collections, Keyword

Tags and Metadata Browser panels to search or images in the library.

And i you get into the habit o entering descriptive inormation each

time you import a batch o images, this too will enable you to search

your archive more easily and more quickly by using dierent criteria to

search the archive.

NOTEW a alay sin sma ways

sac a cmpu aciv, suc

as Spli au n

Macins sysm, wic bypasss

n navia by ls wn

yu a sacin a spcic l.


9/37


Where does Photoshop ft in?

For many years now, Photoshop has pretty much dominated the pixel

image editing market and the program has constantly adapted to meet

the varying demands o lots o dierent types o Photoshop customers,

rom graphic designers to illustrators to special eects artists working

in the motion picture industry. Now although Photoshop is a really

powerul image editing program with a wide range o tools to suit

everyones requirements, Photoshop has also become increasingly more

complex. When the two Knoll brothers, Thomas and John rst created

Photoshop, they could hardly have predicted then what Photoshop

users in the uture would be doing with their program, much less pre-dict the technological demands that would be made upon Photoshop

with digital capture. Photoshop started out as a program or editing

single images in real time and the legacy o this basic Photoshop

architecture has led to various compromises having to be made as the

number o eatures in Photoshop have expanded.

Many Photoshop authors love to write about what they describe as

simple Photoshop techniques, but then proceed to take up eight

pages with step-by-step instructions (beore anyone gets too upset, I

coness that I have been just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to

writing about Photoshop)! And then there are all those bits o advice

that appear to contradict themselves, such as dont use Convert to

Grayscale to convert a color image to black and white, or dont use

the Brightness and Contrast dialog to adjust the brightness and con-

trast. But sometimes it is almost impossible to avoid going into suchdetail, because to write any less would only cause more conusion. Plus

some eatures, such as the aorementioned Brightness and Contrast

command have been in Photoshop or so long that it would be unwise

to remove them now. Lightroom is unencumbered by such legacy

issues. You dont have to ollow complex workarounds to achieve the

best results and the controls in Lightroom do exactly what you would

expect them to.Lightroom also has the advantage o being built rom the ground up

and this has allowed the engineers to design a program that is more

adaptable and can grow more easily in the uture. Take or example,

image adjustments. I you apply consecutive image adjustments in

Photoshop, you progressively degrade the image. Lightroom on the

other hand allows you to make as many adjustments and changes as

you like, but only applies these as a single adjustment at the pointwhere you export the image as a xed pixel TIFF, PSD or JPEG image.

NOTEonc yu sa binin imas in

Lim yu wn ncssaily

n yusl lck in wkin

xclusivly in Lim, way

yu a wi sm pams.

Lim is xibl nu

allw yu wk simulanusly

wi Bi ima bws

pams.


10/37


The Adobe Camera Raw plug-in used by both Bridge and Photoshop

does provide the same level o fexibility, but only up until the point

where you render a raw le as a pixel image to be edited in Photoshop.

Lightroom on the other hand, will allow you to preserve an image inits raw state throughout. And you can make prints at any size you like

without having to x the image data as a pixel image.

Integrating Lightroom with Photoshop

At this early stage it is too soon to judge i Lightroom will ever become

a complete replacement or Photoshop, but I do believe that Lightroom

can currently be used to perorm many o the tasks that up until now

were once carried out exclusively in Bridge and Photoshop. Lightroom

is perect as a ront-end application or importing new images into the

computer and renaming them. From there you have all the controls you

need or carrying out image edit selections, grouping and renaming

them, plus making basic and advanced develop setting adjustments.

The speediness o program will allow you to quickly print drat mode

contact sheets, run a slideshow presentation or generate a completeweb gallery and upload it to your server.

Photoshop is still important or major image retouching and perorming

other essential production tasks such as CMYK color conversions.

Although o course, this may all change in the uture. I have ound that

one way to integrate Lightroom with Photoshop is to use Lightroom

to manage all the importing, image selections and initial image adjust-

ments. When I am ready to retouch the master images, I export these

in one go using the Export command. From there on I will usually work

on the images in Photoshop and Bridge. Once I have completed doing

all the retouching and editing in Photoshop, I import the derivative,

master les into the Lightroom library using the import by reerence

method (rather than copying them into the library). This allows me to

use Lightroom to maintain a library archive o all the raws and masters

and keep the raw and derivative les on separate drives and back eachdrive up separately. And or printing, I much preer the Lightroom Print

module interace or making the nal print outputs.


11/37


What youll needLightroom is designed specically or photographers working with digi-

tal photos, so above all you will need a camera o course! Lightroomcan process JPEG, TIFF or Raw images, but i your camera is capable

o capturing raw images, I advise you shoot in raw mode wherever

possible. Lightroom supports over 150 dierent raw camera ormats.

You will require a computer that meets the minimal specications listed

at the bottom o this page. Although it is possible to run Lightroom on

a three year old laptop computer with just 1 GB o RAM memory, you

will notice a substantial improvement in perormance with a more upto date computer. Lightroom will certainly benet rom having as much

RAM memory as possible and I thereore recommend you have, i

possible, at least 1.5 GB o RAM installed on your computer. Although

you dont need much hard disk space on your computer to install and

run Lightroom, you will need to give serious consideration to how

you are going to store all your image archive les. Some people can

easily shoot 5 GB worth o images (or more) in a single day. And i you

export some o those les as rendered TIFFs or PSDs, you can see how

your storage requirements might grow quite considerably in a short

space o time. In Chapter two I will be making suggestions about what

type o storage systems you should use.

Wndows

in pnu 4 ( c) c

Wnw Xp n h n w svc pc 2 (sp2)

768 mb ram (1 gb cn)

1 gb c

C n y w 1024 x 768 un

Macntosh

g4, g5 in mcn c unnn 1 ghz

mc os X 10.4.3

768 mb ram (1 gb cn)

1 gb c

C n y w 1024 x 768 un

Tipt s i aw ls m

cama yu s wi is supp

in Lim, Ab

Psp puc pa wbsi:

www.ab.cm/pucs/

psp.

W a als nw sin a w cam-

as a a capabl capuin

aw imas usin dNg ma

an bcaus dNg is a sl- cnain

aw ma, i is ial ma

us wn xpin imas wi

aw aa psv wiin l.

NOTE

Lims pmanc will alwaysb laiv siz yu mas

ima ls. t minimum spcica-

ins ulin may sufc i

yu a nly iin aw JPeg ls

m a 5 6 mapixl cama. I

yu wis pcss ls la an

is yu alms cainly n a

as cmpu wi a l m rAM

mmy.


12/37

10 Chapter 1 INtrodUCINg AdoBe PhotoShoP LIghtrooM

Introducing the Lightroominterace

Filmstrip

Content areaLet panel Right panel

Top panel

Figure 1.2 The Lightroom interace.

Tool bar

Lightroom menu bar


13/37

11the adobe photoshop lightroom book

Lghtroom nterface comonents

Lghtroom menu bar

a w ny cn, n nu c-

n c n l nu

cn. i yu n u u

cn nu w n, u cn

v y y n u

cn.

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u c, wc w yu wc

wn n l u. t

ly u w yu vw n n

yu ccn. dv cn

. sw n yu uu

ccn n-cn nn. t pn

u uun n. an W u w yu n w

l. t cn cnn

n iny yu cn cuz v

l iny p su... nu. F

x, yu cn c a p

l w yu wn n

cny c n.

Content area

t n n nc w

yu w w w v n

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g ( wn n ) yu w

y un n c

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dv u, yu w y

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uc pn n sw, yu cn

vw w cn w

wn y uu l.

Tool bar

t cn l un cnn vu n.

Rght anel

t -n n w y cnn cn-

jun n , nn u

n , yu n. in ly

u yu cn y Quc dv n n

yncnz c u . t

dv u w yu vnc

jun, w n sw n

pn u, -n n w u cn vnn yu n uu. t

pn n cn xn c y

ccn n pn .accn n n

w xnn w cnn

n ny n xnn w n.

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nn n cn nvu n n y wnw.

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t -n n ny u nn

n n. in dv,

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n qucy ccn v n. s

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cnc n n nn

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fn n c.

Flmstr

t F c

cn n cnn un

cuny y n ly, n ny

c. t F un cn

cc v u, w

yu cc nvu u-cn

, wu vn wc c ly u.


14/37


Installing LightroomThe Lightroom installation process is quick and easy. All you need to do

is to load the installation CD disk and start installing Lightroom. Figure1.3 shows the Macintosh installation dialog. Simply drag the Lightroom

icon across to the Applications icon in the window and the installation

process will almost be complete. Figure 1.4 shows the rst dialog

in the PC installation process. Keep clicking on the Next button and

ollow the installation instructions until the nal dialog says Finish.

The rst time you launch Lightroom you will need to read and click to

agree with the terms and conditions o supply. Once you have donethat, whether you are on a Mac or PC, the installation process should

be airly swit and straight orward. I you are installing Lightroom and

Figure 1.3 The Lightroom Mac installation dialog.

NOTEMak su a yu a raM

l an wnla an insall la-

s Flas upa. Yu will n is

pviw Flas allis na

m Wb mul.

Figure 1.4 The Lightroom PC installation dialog.


15/37


TipI yu un u a isk spac yu

can mv Lim Libay

l a nw, bi a iv.

opn Lim Pncs an

us gnal Pncs lca

nw l lc ain. Yu can als

slc a nw Libay l lcain

by lin wn a ky (Mac),

C ky (PC) uin saup. tis

will pp a naviain ial, a will

n allw yu s lcain Libay l.

Figure 1.5 In the Lightroom General preerences you have checkable options

to display the splash screen during startup and automatically check or program

updates. In the Library preerences you can set up an automatic library le backup

routine . Below that are the completion sound alert options. You will oten see warning

dialogs with a Dont show again check box at the bottom o the dialog. I you click

the Reset all warning dialogs button here, you can restore all the warning alerts. Andat the bottom are various reset buttons that can be used to restore Lightroom settings

such as all warning dialogs and naming token presets.

updating an existing database, you may be asked at this stage i you

would like Lightroom to run a verication process to test the integrity

o your current database.

Ater you have successully launched the program, you will wantto visit the Lightroom preerences in the Lightroom system menu.

In the General preerences, go to the Deault Library section and

choose a location or the deault library le. This decides where the

Lightroom older containing the Lightroom database, metadata and

preview library les will be kept. The deault setting will point to the

Users Pictures older on the main hard disk. I you want the Lightroom

Library older to be somewhere else such as on a dedicated externaldrive, now would be a good time to choose a new older location. You

can choose to have multiple library les and you will notice there is a

Choose button that will allow you to switch Libraries via this preerence

panel (see tip sidebar on choosing a library le during startup). But

to start with I suggest you work with just the one Lightroom library.

Another important inclusion here is the Automatic back up library

option. Set this to however oten you would like to back up the master

library le. In Figure 1.5 below I have shown the Back up library dialog

which will appear every time you need reminding about what to do

and where to save the back up library to.


16/37


Figure 1.6 In the Lightroom External Editors preerences you can customize the pixel

image editing settings or Photoshop plus one other external, pixel editing program

(such as Photoshop Elements or PaintShop Pro). These are the le ormat, color space

and bit depth settings that are used whenever you ask Lightroom to create an Edit

copy o a library image to work on in an external pixel editing program.

Figure 1.7 In the Lightroom File Management preerences I suggest you set the

When a memory card is detected settings to: Show Import dialog. This will orce theImport dialog to appear automatically whenever you insert a camera card into the

computer. In the Preview Cache section you can set the preview pixel dimensions to

whatever would be most ideal or your display size. The preview cache can take up

a lot o hard disk space and the size o the cache will be dependent on the deault

standard preview size and preview quality. Plus, the preview cache will keep growing

as you add more pictures to the Lightroom library. The preview cache will also include

1:1 previews and these, being higher resolution previews, take up even more disk

space, so there is a preerence to discard these ater a certain amount o time has

elapsed. I you check the Automatically write changes to XMP sidecar les option,this will allow you to synchronize Lightroom settings when exporting les to another

computer running Lightroom.

NOTEI yu slc pin wi

cans XMP sica ls,

is will allw pams, lik

Bi, a any maaa a

in Lim suc as ima

dvlp sins ima ains an

kyws.

NOTEt Fil ma pins inclu

naiv Psp, PSd l ma

tIFF. t cl spac can b

PP rgB (wic is aily cls

cmaiciis naiv

Lim wk spac) Ab

rgB (wic many paps lik

usin in Psp), srgB (wic

is ial Wb-bas upu nly).

t bi p can b 16 bis, wic

will psv ms amun

lvls inmain, bu ubl

upu l siz, 8 bis, wic is a

m sana bi p, bu wn

ncssaily psv all lvls

inmain a is bainabl m

yu mas libay imas.


17/37


A quickstart guide to LightroomLets get started with a quick overview o how to use Lightroom,

beginning with a look at how to customize the interace, ollowed by

an overview o a typical Lightroom workfow.

Identity plate options

1. The top panel in the Lightroom interace contains the Lightroom

Identity Plate and module selectors. I you go to the Lightroom

menu and select Identity Plate Editor... you will see the dialog

shown here. This will allow you to enable the identity plate, which

will then appear in the top let section o the Lightroom interace,

replacing the normal Adobe Lightroom logo.

2. The standard identity plate will use a text style identity plate

that shows the name registered as the computer administrator

displayed using a deault system ont. I you click on the Font

Panel... button (Mac), this will open a Font dialog that will allow

you to choose a dierent ont type and ont size. Note that I you

are using the PC Identity Plate Editor, you are able to edit the ont

characteristics within the Identity Plate Editor dialog itsel.

NOTE

t iniy pla can als builiz by Slisw, Pin an

Wb muls an i Us a syl

x iniy pla pin is slc,

iniy pla lin will pin

a any siz upu sluin

slc in Pin mul.


18/37


3. I you select the Use a graphical identity plate option, you can

add an image logo by pasting or dragging a PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG,

TIFF or PSD image into the identity plate area. The logo image you

place here cannot be more than 60 pixels tall, but can contain

transparent pixels. A graphical identity plate can useully be added

to Slideshow and Web module templates, but be warned that

the a 60 pixel tall logo may be ar too small or most print layouttemplate designs that use an identity plate (unless you are printing

the identity plate really small on the page. You can also customize

the appearance o the module selector names by mousing down

on the Font menus to select a new ont and ont size. And i you

click on the two little color swatch icons (circled), you can change

the ont colors as well.

4. Now lets take a look at how the top panel looks ater customizing

both the identity plate and Lightroom module selectors.

Figure 1.8 Once you have congured

a custom identity plate, remember to

mouse down on the Custom menu and

choose Save As... to save these settings

as a saved template design.

NOTEPSd ls can nly b a via

Iniy Pla ei usin

Macins vsin Lim 1.0.


19/37


5. With the Lightroom Interace preerences you can customize the

appearance o the interace when using the lights dim mode (dis-

cussed later in Step 13 on page 24). You can also customize the

background appearance when viewing an image in Loupe mode.

6. In the example shown here, I set the Background Fill Color to aWhite with the Overlay Texture set to Pinstripes.


20/37


7. To get images into Lightroom, click on the Import button in the

Library module. This will open the Import Photos dialog shown

here (there is a Lightroom preerence that will automatically open

the Import Photos dialog when a new camera card is detected). I

you are importing rom a camera card you can decide whether to

make a straight copy o the images rom the card or convert them

to DNG les as they are copied. Images can also be renamed andbacked up to a second drive at the import stage. You will notice

that Lightroom encourages you to enter a Subolder name. Giving

imported shoots meaningul names plays an important role in the

way Lightroom can help you keep track o your image les. The

same is true i you add keywords and other metadata at this stage.

This will all urther help with the management o your Lightroom

library. Once you have nished conguring the dialog, click the

Import button to start importing.

Importing images into Lightroom

NOTEt is a wl cap in is bk

v impin imas. Bu

nw, I sul jus pin u a

a w main ways binin

imas in Lim libay.

Cpyin mvin ls will pysi-cally mak a cpy Lim

libay l. Yu msly us is

m imp imas m a

ca. A cpy by nc will l

imas say w y a an

mly ca a nc w

y a s. Yu msly us is

m imp imas a a

alay n cmpu a isk.


21/37


Library views

8. The imported images are now shown here in the Library module

with the Grid view selected. The activity viewer in the top let

corner indicates that Lightroom is actively carrying out background

processes such as importing images or building thumbnails. I

more that one operation is taking place at a time, you will see thegrouped status indicator (see Figure 1.9). I you click on the arrow

to the right, you can toggle the status indicator between each

o the tasks that are in progress and the grouped indicator. The

imported images will appear in order o preerence within the Grid

cells and you can make selections o images by using either the

Library Grid or the Filmstrip at the bottom. Plus you can rearrange

the order o the images in the Grid by dragging and dropping, andthe order sequence will be carried through to the other modules.

Figure 1.9 The status indicator shows

the progress o background processes

such as importing images or rendering

previews.

The activity viewer indicates

Lightroom is busy importing imagesand/or building a preview cache.

The imported les will show here with

the subolder name assigned in theImport Photos dialog.

The Library view is

currently in Grid (G) mode.

Use # key (Mac),c key (PC) in

combination with a keypad number

(1,2,3 etc.) to toggle showing and

hiding panels. Quick Develop=1,

Keywording=2, Metadata=3 etc.


22/37


9. Now lets switch to viewing individual images one at a time using

the Loupe mode where we can toggle viewing the images in

Loupe mode at a base magnication that can be set to either Fit

or Fill the width o the content area. And the magnied loupe

view can be set to anything rom a 1:4 to a 11:1 zoomed pixels

view (yes, Lightroom goes to 11!) You can switch modes by click-

ing on the Loupe view mode button or by hitting the E key. Or,

just double-click an image to switch rom the Grid view to seeing

the selected image displayed in Loupe mode. The arrow keys on

the keyboard will let you quickly shuttle through all o the images

in the current image selection. To scroll through a selection withoutscrolling the images, drag the scroll bar in the Filmstrip.

TipYu can pn an cls

Lim panls by clickinanyw n panl ab. I yu

aclick n a panl ab yu can

swic a sl m pain,

w clickin n an iniviual

panl ab will pn a panl nly

an cls all s an pnin

all panls in cun mul.

aclick a panl aain s

nmal panl b avi.

The Library view is currently

in Loupe (E) mode.

The scroll bar

This image is currently displayed using the Fit to

view Loupe mode. A Single-click will magniy the

image to a 1:1 or custom zoom view. Another

single-click will return you to the previous view.

You can right-mouse click to access the

contextual menu options or the panel

tracks and use this to hide and reveal

individual panel tracks in any o the

Lightroom modules.

The panel behavior is currently in

solo mode, where only one panel will

open at a time (see Tip below).


23/37


10. Now lets look at ways to make the Lightroom interace simpler to

work with, plus how to hide interace components and place more

emphasis on the images. Start by pressing thet key. This will

temporarily hide the two side panels and allow more room or the

image to be displayed in Loupe mode. But you can still access the

side panels by rolling the mouse cursor over to the side edges o

the screen. Do this and the panels will be revealed one at a time,

and you will notice how the panels temporarily overlay the image

below, but you can still access the panel controls as usual. I you

click on the little arrow on the side o the screen in the middle,

you can lock these panels independently, in which case the image

will center adjust to reveal the entire image area again. Press

t and both panels will be revealed once more. Panel rolloverbehavior can be modied via the contextual menu (see above).

Tipt aul si panl bavi is

Au hi & Sw si panls

will au val an i as yu

ll cus si

scn. t Au hi pin will

i panls an y will nly

b val (vlayin ima)

wn yu click n si aw,

cyclin u i/vlay/val

an siz ima in cnn

aa. In Manual m yu can l

bwn i/val an siz

ima in cnn aa.

Simpliying the interace

Roll the mouse over to

the side o the display

to temporarily reveal

the hidden side panel.

Mouse-drag on the panel edge

to resize the panel width.

Click anywhere on the side

panel to lock the panel in

position. Use thec key

(Mac), or right-mouse click (PC)

to access the contextual menu

options or the side panels.

Double-clicking on the

divider line will toggle the

Filmstrip thumbnail size.

Clicking this arrow will collapse

the Top panel (this also applies to

the Filmstrip below).

As well as dragging on the

sidebar to scroll the panels,

you can moue-down and drag

anywhere in the panel area.


24/37


11.We have so ar been working with the Lightroom interace indocument window mode. I you press the F key, the interace

will switch to ull screen mode and expand to ll the whole o

the screen. Press F a second time and the interace will switch

to absolute ull screen mode where the system menu bar will

disappear and Lightroom will override any operating system

rollover behaviors. For example, on the Macintosh, the absolute

ull screen mode will override the Dock appearing as you roll the

mouse cursor to the bottom or side o the screen. But you can still

access the system menu bar by rolling the mouse cursor to the top

o the screen. Now try pressing the F5 key to toggle hiding and

showing the Lightroom menu bar (as shown above). Next try press-

ing the F6 key to toggle hiding and showing the Filmstrip at the

bottom. And lastly, useSt to toggle hiding and showing

everything!

TipI yu v suck in a siuain

w yu n s in-

ac layu, iSt a cupl

ims an is will s vy in

back aul layu.


25/37


Zooming in

12. We shall stay in the ull screen Loupe mode with the side panels

hidden and roll the mouse over to the let o the screen to reveal

the let hand panel, which can be locked in position (see Step 10).

Make a single-click anywhere in the picture and the image will

zoom smoothly to a 1:1 or custom magnied pixels view. Click on

the image again and it will return to the t to the normal screenview. You can also use # + to zoom in and #- to zoom out.

Use the tilde key (~) to toggle between the Grid and Loupe view

modes. And whether you are in Grid mode or Loupe mode, i you

press Z, the image will instantly be displayed at the 1:1 (or custom)

magnied view mode. Press Z again and the image will revert to

the Library Grid view. In the Navigator panel, you can click inside

the image preview to select an area to zoom to and drag therectangle within the navigator to scroll the image.

TipYu can als us Spacba

l bwn sana an

mani Lup viwin ms.

You can select an area to zoom

to by clicking anywhere in the

Navigator preview

To scroll the image, drag the zoom

rectangle in the navigator

You can set a custom magnied

preview size (other than 1:1) romthe y-out menu options.

You can also use the Zoom

slider to set the zoom view.


26/37


13. Lightroom has a Lights Dim and a Lights Out mode. These two

viewing modes allow you to dim or hide the interace so that you

can ocus more on the photographs, yet still have easy access to

the interace when you need it. To see how this works, press the

L key once. This will switch Lightroom to Lights Dim mode (you

could go to the Window menu and choose Lights Out Lights

Dim, but hitting the L key is easier to remember). The Lights Dim

mode just darkens the interace so you can still see (and access) all

the Lightroom controls and menu items. Press L a second time and

this will take you to the Lights Out mode and pressing L one more

time will take you back to the deault viewing mode. Note that

i you roll the mouse to the top o the screen, you will always be

able to view the menu bar at normal brightness.

Dimming the lights

NOTEt aul lis im an lis

u ms us vayin paciis

black. I yu Lim

pncs yu can s Lis

ou scn cl a sa ayan ajus im lvl paciy.

tis is usul i yu wul p

viw yu imas isla aains a

nual ay insa a sli black.


27/37


Develop module

14. I you now click on Develop this take us to the Develop module

where you can start adjusting things like the color, the tonal range,

image cropping and sharpness. I you are accustomed to working

with the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in in Bridge and Photoshop,

you will already be amiliar with the Basic controls and there is a

lot you can do to correct an image by using just these Basic panel

adjustments. But also in Lightroom are the Tone Curve, Crop &

Straighten, HSL/Color/Grayscale, Split Toning, Detail, Lens

Corrections and Camera Calibration panel controls. Favorite

Develop settings can be saved as Presets that can then be applied

to other images. With Presets you can choose to save everything or

save selected items only and Lightroom ships with a small selection

o Develop presets to help you get started. Try rolling over the list

in the Presets panelto see how these look in the preview beore

applying them to the actual image.

Figure 1.10 Favorite Develop settings

can be added by clicking on the Addbutton below the Presets panel.

The Basic Develop controls are a

great place to start adjusting the

tones and colors in an image.

The Tone Curve ofers some

advanced Develop options.

Single-click the arrow button at

the top o the panel to expandor compact a panel.

Click to add a Develop

setting as a Preset.

Click the switch icon to toggle

turning panel adjustments on or of.The Develop module toolbar contains

a Crop Overlay mode (R), Remove Red

Eye tool and Remove Spots tool (N).

The History panel records all the

image settings adjustments you

make as history states.

Use# key (Mac),c key (PC) incombination with a keypad number


hiding panels. Basic=1, Tone Curve=2,

HSL/Color/Grayscale=3 etc.


28/37


Retouching a photograph

15. The Develop module toolbar contains some basic image editing

tools or retouching photographs with. When the crop tool is

selected (use R as a shortcut to select the crop tool), the Crop &

Straighten panel will become active and you can apply a crop to

an image and use the straighten tool to straighten horizon lines in

a picture. The Remove Red Eye tool can be used to simply drag

across the eyes wherever there is red eye in a fash photograph

and remove it. And shown here is an example o the Remove

Spots tool being put to use in Heal mode. These tools can be

used to carry out basic image spotting, just as you would do

normally in Photoshop, except the spotting you do is recorded as

edit instructions. Essentially what this means is that ater you do

any retouching, you have the reedom to make urther changes

to any other Develop module settings, such as change the white

balance.

The Remove Spot tool is

currently in Heal mode.

The red circle represents the area

being repaired and the green

circle shows the area that is

being sampled rom.


29/37


Synchronizing the Develop settings

16. Once you have made a ew adjustments to an image you may

want to synchronize those settings with other photographs that

were taken rom the same shooting sequence. To do this, select all

the images you want to synchronize via the Filmstrip. Make sure

that the image you want to synchronize rom is the most selected

image and then click on the Sync button to synchronize all o

the selected images with this image. Note that Lightroom oers

unlimited undo options, so you can always use the Edit Undo

or #Z any time you need to revert to a previous step. And i you

want to redo a step, use #SZ. The History panel oers

even more fexible control, allowing you to preview and select

specic history steps to go to, which also remain stored with the

image. Selected history states can also be saved as snapshots via

the Snapshots panel.

Figure 1.11 Develop settings can be

selectively synchronized across other

images, including the spot removal and

the crop and straighten settings.

Click on the Sync... button to

synchronize the settings to the

most selected image. Use the

# (Mac)c (PC) key to apply

Auto Sync, and thes key to

apply the Previous settings.Make a selection o images

in the Filmstrip where you

wish to synchronize the

Develop settings.

The Snapshots panel can

be used to store saved

history versions.


30/37


Reviewing images

17. I you want to compare a select group o images, go to the Library

module and make a selection o photographs either rom the Grid

or rom the Filmstrip and click on the Survey mode button (or

press N). Note that i you are in the Library module and make a

multiple-image selection via the Filmstrip, Lightroom will automati-

cally switch to displaying the images in the Survey mode. While

you are in Survey mode, the selected images will auto-resize to t

within the working area. I you want to inspect a particular image

in close-up, double-click to open it in Loupe mode and double-

click or press N to return to viewing it in Survey mode again. And

when you are in Survey mode you can #click (Mac),Cclick

(PC) on an image to remove it rom the current selection. The

Compare mode (C) lets you compare a most selected image with

all others in the selection in a 2 up display mode.

Tiprmmb a il ky (~) can

als b us lin bwn

cun an pvius viw m.

TipUs#d (Mac),Cd (PC)

slc a Libay slcin

imas an us#Sd (Mac)

CSd (PC) slc

ms slc ( aciv) p nly.

The currently selected image is highlighted

with a border and a orward slash in

the bottom right corner. Use#+arrow

keys (C on a PC) to move between

images and#click to remove an image

rom a selection.

Select images to Compare

rom the Filmstrip.

The Library view is currently

in Survey mode (N).

The Compare mode button (C) will

switch to a 2 up display mode, or

comparing images side by side.


31/37


18. So lets assume you have now made a selection o images, but

you wish to rene them urther. You can do this by making them

into a Quick Collection. I you return to the Library Grid view,

the currently selected images will be highlighted and you can save

this current selection as a Quick Collection by hitting the B key.

Quick Collections are useul or marking avorite images and orcombining selections rom dierent, separate olders. You could

now go back to Step 9 and inspect the images one at a time in

Loupe mode, but this time assign number ratings to the shots. You

can do this by hitting 1 to 5 on the keyboard or use the ] key to

increase the current le rating or [ to decrease the current le rat-

ing. You can also use 6 through 9 to assign color labels to images.

In the example shown here, the selected image and one beore itwere both assigned a yellow label.

Assigning ratings and Quick collections

NOTEt Fin panl will l yu l

imas by cnucin a x-bas

sac any macin maaa.

t calna viw scin will l

yu naw wn a sac usin

a ciia. An lasly, in

Filmsip yu can us Fils

cnls (cicl) l imas in

cnn aa by ains i

an, lw an by a spcic

ain nly. o, l by ain

cl labls.

This Library panel shows the

number o images that have been

grouped as a Quick Collection.

The Quick Collection imageshave here been saved as a new

collection in the Collections panel.


32/37


19. So having created a collection o images, lets now look at how

a collection can be used to create a screen presentation. The

Slideshow module has a Template Browser with a choice o

ready-made templates that can be used or making an on-screen

slideshow. And there are plenty o options here that will allow youto create your own custom templates. The Options and Layout

panels let you decide how to present, position and embellish the

image rame area. You can use the Overlays panelto add an

image to the background and the Backdrop panel to add your

Identity Plate logo and you can even choose music to accompany a

slideshow via the Playback panel.

Prepare a presentation

Use# key (Mac),c key (PC) in



hiding panels. Options=1, Layout=2,

Overlays=3 etc.

C b h ll


33/37


Create a web photo gallery

20. The Web module can generate web photo galleries using HTML or

Flash gallery styles. This screen shot shows a preview o the current

Quick Collection using a custom template based on the HTML

Gallery template, which I selected rom the Template Browser

panel. As with the Slideshow module, the Web module options

allow ull control or you to modiy and create your own web

photo galleries. The preview displayed in the content area will only

take a second or so to generate and is actually showing you a webbrowser view o a ully coded website. When you are happy with

the way the site is looking, you can click on the Upload... button

to tell Lightroom where to upload the complete site les and

olders. You only need to congure the FTP settings or your server

once and then add this as an FTP preset. Ater you have congured

your server settings and saved them as a preset, it becomes a nice

and easy process to upload new web photo galleries to a savedavorite server location.

NOTEWn yu slc n Flas

mplas, Lim will cck

s a yu av las Ab

Flas Play vsin 8.0 insall,

an i n, will pvi a link yu insall i.

Figure 1.12 The Congure FTP File

Transer dialog.

Use# key (Mac),c key (PC) incombination with a keypad number


hiding panels. Gallery=1, Labels=2,

Color Palette=3 etc.

C t t h t i ti


34/37


21. Now over to the Print module. In the example shown here, I kept

the same selection o images active and then selected a modied

contact sheet template rom the Template Browser panel.

Lightroom will display a preview o the contact sheet, that contains

the currently selected images. The Ino overlay indicates that we

are looking at page one out o two printable contact sheet pages.

For speedy printing, go to the Print Job panel and check the

Drat Mode Printing box, which is ideal or ast contact sheetprinting. The simplest way o making a color accurate print is to

leave the Profle setting set to: Managed by Printer. Then click

on the Print... button and make sure in the ollowing system print

dialog that the ColorSync option (Mac), ICM (PC) is switched on in

the Color Management section, along with the correctly matched

media/paper type in the Print Settings.

Contact sheet printing

Figure 1.13 Here is a view o an

HP print dialog, where because the

Managed by Printer option was selected

in Lightroom, I made sure the correct

media type was selected, and that

ColorSync (Mac), ICM (PC) was switched

on.

The Print button.

The Print settings are used to set

and save the print driver settings.

Click here to congure the

Page Setup settings.

Use Drat Mode or

ast print outputs.

Making a fnal print


35/37


Making a fnal print

22. I you want to make a high quality print output, try selecting one o

the single page templates. Depending on how you want the image

to appear on the page, you may wish to click on the Page Setup

button to congure the printer or landscape or portrait printing.

When you go to the Print Job panel, you will need to disable the

drat mode printing and choose a sharpen setting suited to the

type o output you are making. You could continue to make a print

using the same settings as beore, but i you happen to have a

custom print prole or your printer, you can mouse-down on the

Profle options to select the desired print/paper prole. Click on the

Print Settings and enter the same system print settings that were

used to create the prole target (with ColorSync/ICM switched o).

This will lock the print settings to the current setup. Nowaclick

the Print... button to bypass the system Print dialog and go straight

to making a print.

TipAs yu ca cusm pin sins,

s can b sav wi Pin

tmplas. hl wn C

ky (Mac nly), l wn

i mus bun (b Mac an

PC) an n slc a pin ps

an cs Upa wi cun

sins m cnxual mnu.

tis will pmannly sav pa

sup an pin sins pin

mpla ps. tis can ally mak

pinin a l m l-p nc

yu av sav all yu pin sins

a mpla, is n n

cnu m wn yu slca mpla aain.

Use# key (Mac),c key (PC) in



hiding panels. Image Settings=1,

Layout=2, Overlays=3 etc.

Exporting images


36/37


23. Export can be used whenever you wish to apply the Lightroom

settings to an image and export that photograph (or collection

o images) as a JPEG, PSD, TIFF or DNG le. To export rom

Lightroom make a selection o images either in the Library Grid

or in the Filmstrip and then choose File Export (or click the

Export button). This will open the Export dialog, where you can

determine which older the images are exported to, how you

might want to rename them and the le ormat you want the lesto be in. Note that when the TIFF, PSD or JPEG options are selected

you can choose which RGB color space to use, constrain the pixel

dimensions and set the pixel resolution or the exported images.

Exporting images

Working through the book


37/37


Working through the bookThis more or less concludes the introduction to working with

Lightroom. In the remainder o the book I will be exploring each aspect

o the program in greater depth. Lightroom has been designed almost

exclusively or digital photographers. This makes my task slightly easier,

because being a photographer mysel I have a clearer idea o what

other photographers will nd important and useul to know. To this

end I have structured the book to match a typical workfow, starting

with the import and export o images out o Lightroom. At the begin-

ning o this chapter I described how the philosophy behind Lightroom

was to oer unreasonable simplicity. I Adobe have been successul inthis mission then you should nd that much o the Lightroom program

is airly sel-explanatory. For example, i you go to the Help menu you

will see a Shortcuts item or whichever module you happen to be using

at the time. Figure 1.14 below, shows the shortcuts or the Library

module. In keeping with the spirit o Lightroom I have tried as much as

possible to avoid discussing the technical workings o the program, and

stick to discussing what Lightroom does best: managing, editing and

printing photographs. And i you really want to know more about how

Lightroom works, then I have reserved a technical section at the back

o the book in the appendix to elaborate on things like the Lightroom

native RGB space. I have also included several pages devoted to side

topics that relate to working in Lightroom, such as how to choose an

optimum setup or your managed photos older and you will nd lots

o quick tips are included in the page margins.

Figure 1.14 It is always worth selecting the Shortcuts item in the Help menu:#/

(Mac),c/ (PC), to nd out more about the shortcuts or each module.

Documents

LightroomBook-01