Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 8 i Photoshop Lightroom The Complete Manual

Adobe Lightroom is a powerful and feature packed photo processor and image organiser designed to help photographers shoot, catalogue, edit, print and publish their images. In this series we take you through every aspect of using the desktop focused Adobe Lightroom Classic, including processing, printing and publishing your finished photographs. We also introduce you to Lightroom, which is a cloud based photo service that takes the essential tools you are used to using in the desktop version and gives you a mobile focused version that is still packed with the powerful features and tools that you would come to expect from such a popular class-leading program. Lightroom, in all its forms, is a powerful app that can help you to get the best out of your photos. Whether you want…

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: Catalog The Catalog Preset is a database that stores a record for each of your photos. This record contains key pieces of information regarding each of the photos you import into Lightroom, such as a reference to where the photo is stored on your system, instructions for how to process the photo and metadata relating…

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 words ‘No photo source selected’ in the middle. To get started with importing your photos, take a look in the bottom left corner. You should see a button labelled Import. Click on this and you’ll be taken to a new screen to begin the import process. 3 On the next screen, you’ll see a…

Metadata In the left sidebar you’ll also find the metadata panel. In the case of photographs, metadata is generated by the camera that took the picture. This data file is then attached to the digital image, carrying information about the image, such as the date and time it was shot, the type of camera and lens used, the exposure settings used, GPS location data, copyright information, the creator’s name, contact details and even information about the size of the photo and the flash settings if they were used in the shot. There are many editable fields in the image metadata and you can edit them by clicking on them in the sidebar panel and typing in your entry. If you upload images to photo sharing sites like Flickr, this data…

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 Import button, along with your images you’ll see the Apply During Import option, including a panel for keywords that will be added to all the images imported in that batch. You can always apply more keywords later but these first few will help. 3 You can apply keywords manually to images that have already been imported.…

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.…

Transformation Guidance The eight geometry controls allow you to physically alter the shape of your photos. The geometry can be manually controlled by moving each of the sliders between values of-100% and +100% for some extreme transformations. There are also options that let you specify which parts of your photo are level, on either the vertical or horizontal plane, by placing control points and letting the software work out the transformations required to bring those parts of the image back to straight and level.…

1 You can begin the set up by searching for the Lightroom app on your device’s application store and tap the relevant button to install it. Once the installation is complete, open the app and you will be prompted to accept the Adobe agreement and tap the Sign In button or Sign Up. 2 Enter your Adobe username and password, the same one that you used when you signed up for Lightroom or the Adobe Cloud. When ready, tap the Sign In button to log in to the Lightroom app and the Adobe Cloud. 3 After a few moments you should be logged in; if not, double check your connection to the Internet and username and password for any mistakes. The Lightroom interface appears a little bleak to begin with.…

1 The most basic level of sharing is a good place to start this tutorial. To begin with, select an image from within your device’s Lightroom app that you want to be able to share. You can see that there’s a three pronged share icon next to the three vertical dots in the top right of the interface. 2 When you tap the Share To… icon, the various apps you already have installed on your device open under the Sharing With menu. You may need to swipe to the right to display further apps capable of receiving the image. 3 Tap the app you want to share the image through. The app will then load, preparing the image in the background ready for sending. If it’s an app such as…

1 The main tools that you’ll need to straighten your shots are found in the Crop & Straighten tool, located on the editing tools panel that we looked at before. Click on the tool and you can see a grid with corner handles appear over your image, as well as a panel of other tools and options appear below the panel. Note the icon change in the 2022 update. 2 If you place your mouse cursor anywhere on the grey border of the workspace outside the image, you can see that it changes to a double-ended curved arrow, indicating rotation. Click anywhere in this area and you’ll see a grid appear over your image. You can simply drag the image around until your horizon lines up with the grid. 3…

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. Click on the white balance setting and you’ll see a drop-down menu appear. Select Auto and Lightroom will analyse the photo and attempt to set the correct balance based on the histogram. The results will usually be good for most common lighting. 3 As you can see, the results are pretty good in…

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 and the histogram curve is bunched up towards the darker end of the scale, indicating under exposure. The first step is to correct that under-exposure, so we need to open up the Basic tab on the right-hand sidebar. 3 To increase the exposure, simply take the Exposure slider in the Basic…

1 You can find linear and radial gradients under the new Masking icon, just below the histogram on the right-hand sidebar. In older versions of Lightroom, the Graduated filter was under the vertical rectangular icon, while the radial filters are under the circular icon to the right. Click your choice and you’ll see an array of sliders for controlling the filter’s effects. 2 As you can see, Lightroom’s graduated filter tool can apply a wide range of effects, far more than the simple darkening or tinting of a camera mounted filter. Start with something simple though and try to darken the sky of our example image. Locate the Exposure slider and drag it to the left until the value is -2.00. 3 Click your mouse at the top of the…

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 standard feature. Adobe Photoshop For more than two decades the industry standard for image editing software has been Adobe Photoshop and ever since it was first introduced in 1990…

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 software industry experts. There have been various attempts to update or replace the JPEG format over the years but it is now so entrenched in the digital world that it will…

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.…

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 stars below the image in all view modes. You can change the rating in several ways: by clicking on the row of stars below the image and dragging to the appropriate position, by tapping the number keys 0-5, or by right-clicking and selecting Set Rating from the menu. 3 As well as…

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 can choose either to fun face recognition on your entire catalogue of images or to just use it as needed. The first option will produce more useful results in the long run but the second is more convenient for a single image. 3 Click on the…

1 Add Photos If you want to import new photographs into your Lightroom catalogue or if you are starting from scratch, clicking this button will begin the process. 2 Learn & Discover Clicking this button will reveal panels dedicated to helping you learn more about Lightroom and discovering work by other artists around the world. 3 All Photos This is simply a complete listing of every photo you currently have in your library. 4 Recently Added This filters your photos by the date you added them to your collection. 5 Recent Edits This is a history of all the edits you've made to your current photo. 6 By Date This breaks down your photo collection by the year they were taken. 7 People Lightroom will scan your images and can identify any photos with faces in them…

1 Start the process by opening Lightroom and, if you haven't already imported the photos with which you want to work, begin to add new images by clicking the plus symbol in the top left corner and then clicking on Browse. For our processing workflow example, we browsed to a Raw file of a rocky landscape and double-clicked it to continue. 2 The ‘example 2.NEF’ file will be imported to Lightroom. In the top right corner of your workspace, click on the Add 1 Photo button to add the image to your current library. You have the option of importing to any of the named libraries you may have created. You can view your most recently added images under the Recently Added tab. 3 Ranged down the right side of…

1 We start by firing up the Lightroom app on your mobile device and begin with the Lightroom front screen. You will see the thumbnail marked All Photos and below that is space for any of the Albums you create. Let’s begin by tapping the plus icon to the right of the Album’s title. 2 This will open a text box for you to enter the name of the new Album. By default the Lightroom app inserts the current time and date but you can add whatever name you want. Tap the OK button when you’re ready to continue. A new album will be created with the filename you’ve used. 3 With the new Album created and ready for images, you have two ways in which you are able to…

You’ve familiarised yourself with the organisational abilities of the Library module, so now it’s time to get down to what Adobe Lightroom is really all about: using the powerful tools in the Develop module to enhance and improve your photos. From basic corrections like white balance and lens distortion, to sophisticated tone and filter effects, we’ll show you how to get the best results from this amazing program.…

Removing Spots 1 If you scan film photos or use an older DSLR, you may have problems with dust and blemishes on your images. Fortunately, Lightroom includes a handy tool to get rid of them. It’s the Spot Removal tool and you use it by clicking on the icon in the editing tools panel or by using the keyboard shortcut Q. Note the icon change in the 2022 update. 2 The Lightroom Spot Removal tool operates in the same way as the matching tool in Photoshop. You can adjust the brush size by using the slider in the control panel or by using the square brackets keys [and]. Simply click on a spot and it will be replaced by a matching background colour sampled from elsewhere on the image. 3…

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 the peaks of the histogram are clustered at the left-hand edge of the graph, which is the darker tones, indicating that there are more dark pixels. The curve actually runs into the edge of the graph, which is known as ‘clipping’. Any clipped pixels are pure black, with no detail. 3 The histogram can…

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 of the image, to be able to judge fine detail, so we need to zoom in. At the top of the left sidebar, on the right-hand end of the title bar of the Navigator panel, you’ll see a button for a drop-down menu. Click on it and select 2:1 or even 3:1 for a zoomed-in view. 3 In the…

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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 plugin. Workflow and image management is one of Lightroom’s main draws. You can easily import, organise, edit and manage each of your images without too much in-depth knowledge of advanced design techniques. There are less features than with Photoshop, which lessens its learning curve and thanks to a well-planned user interface, it’s relatively easy to adapt to if you’re…

For day-to-day use there aren’t many disadvantages to shooting in Raw mode. High capacity memory cards and multi-terabyte hard disks are now so cheap that storage capacity really isn’t a problem and if you want to send a photo via email or share it online it’s very simple to convert a Raw file into a more manageable JPEG. The only real disadvantage is that there is very little standardisation of Raw file types between different camera manufacturers, and all of them have their own proprietary formats. This means that when you buy a new camera you may find that Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw won’t be able to open or process the images until a compatibility update is released, which can sometimes take several weeks. One way around this is…

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, the other one that you’ll find yourself using most often is the Loupe view. A Loupe is a small handheld magnifier used by photographers to closely examine a negative or print, to check sharpness and spot minor flaws. Lightroom’s Loupe view performs a similar function. It magnifies the selected…

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 to add to the Quick Collection, in this case all the shots of flowers that are red, orange and yellow. Once you’ve highlighted a few, right-click on any of the selected shots and select Add to Quick Collection from the menu that appears. 3 You can see that photos are added to…

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 the top of the Quick Develop panel you’ll see a drop-down menu offering a wide range of preset developing settings. These are great for experimenting with different looks and styles and include a range of monochrome filter and toning effects, various colour processing styles, sharpening, contrast enhancement and more. There are also video effects available. 3 The next feature is the white balance…

1 Exposure Controls the brightness of your photo with a slider. Move left to make the image darker and mimic underexposure; move right to make the image look overexposed. 2 Contrast Determines the contrast between light and dark colours. Move left to flatten the contrast; move right to make the contrast more extreme and dramatic. 3 Highlights Controls the brightness of the lighter parts of your photo. Move left to darken highlights and recover details; move right to brighten them and reduce details. 4 Shadows Controls the brightness of the darker parts of your photo. Move left to deepen shadows; move right to brighten them and recover more details. 5 Whites Use Whites to set the white point of the image. Move slider to the right to make more colours appear completely white. Move to…

Download the Lightroom app for your Android device from Google Play. Check the Apple App Store to download this official application for your iPad or iPhone. Going Mobile Adobe’s reach to the mobile app world is one of the best examples of the collaboration between devices and standard desktop systems. There’s plenty you can achieve in the mobile version of Lightroom but thanks to some clever development on behalf of Adobe being able to get to the mobile images is remarkably easy from the desktop version of Lightroom. The Lightroom mobile app is frequently updated, with tweaks to its use, interface, how it interacts with the device and battery life considerations, and how it syncs with the desktop version. For example, with the Lightroom app you can create collections, just…

1 First you need to browse your images and find a photograph that is in need of some editing. Pick any from the Albums you currently have, or take a new image via the camera function on your phone and add it to an Album. When you’re ready, you can tap the image to select it to begin editing. 2 When the image is loaded, notice that the editing tools are spread across the bottom of the screen in a strip. You can change images, if there’s more than one in the Album, by swiping left and right. For now though, tap on the first editing option, Masking. Masking is the latest update to the Lightroom app. 3 The Masking tool enables you to specify an area on the image…

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 the Collections. The right-hand sidebar holds all the actual editing and enhancement tools, as well as the Histogram. 1 Navigator This shows you a view of the whole image, useful if you zoom in when using the spot correction tool and need to navigate around the frame. 2 Presets This list…

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 is using the white balance setting determined by your camera. If you click on this, you’ll see a context menu with more options. We’ll look more closely at correcting white balance elsewhere. 3 To the left of the White Balance selector you’ll see another tool with an icon…

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 is a very indiscriminate control when used on its own. The colours are certainly richer but it makes the already bright greens of the grass look too bright and unnatural. It also does nothing to help boost the contrast. 3 The Vibrance control is more subtle. Instead of boosting…

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 tab. There are presets for B&W Filters, B&W Toned processing and also for simple B&W conversion. Let’s take a closer look at these first. 3 Open the Presets tab and then click on Lightroom B&W Presets to see the list of available built-in options. They include high and low…