Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Made Easy Training Tutorial

Adobe Lightroom Classic CC is a powerful software application for photographers of all skill levels. You can use Lightroom Classic CC to manage and edit photos in ways you might never have imagined. You can use also use Lightroom Classic CC to organize all of your photos on your desktop computer and share photos with others in a variety of ways. Additionally, Lightroom’s powerful, “one-click” editing tools allow to you enhance photos with ease. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you first launch Lightroom Classic CC, you will see the main image display area in the center of the screen, with panels to the right and left. Along the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the Filmstrip area. Before you import photos into Lightroom Classic CC, the Filmstrip area will appear blank. At the top left of the screen, you’ll see the Menu Bar. At the top right of the screen, you’ll see a group of “module” buttons labeled “Library,” “Develop,” “Map,” “Book,” “Slideshow,” “Print,” and “Web.” Learn this and more during this lecture.

As we learned in the last lecture, Lightroom Classic CC uses “modules” to organize its various tools and features. Each module provides tools used for a specific aspect of photographic workflow. Let’s look at a brief overview of Lightroom Classic CC’s seven distinct modules. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to customize the way that panels are displayed onscreen. By managing panels, you can maximize the display area of your photos while keeping the features you need available. Although Lightroom’s various panels contain different features and controls, all panels are managed in the same way. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC provides a toolbar along the bottom of the image display area, just above the Filmstrip panel. Depending on which view is active in the Library module, the toolbar displays different buttons and controls. You can show or hide the toolbar by selecting “View| Show/Hide Toolbar” from the Menu Bar. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Adobe Lightroom Classic CC allows you to import and work with photos in a variety of file formats. After reading data from a raw file format, Lightroom Classic CC processes and displays the data as a full-color photo. Lightroom is able to read the raw data from most cameras, in several different file formats. Let’s take a quick look at the file formats supported in Lightroom Classic CC. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Digital cameras, computers, and other electronic devices associated with photography are unable to accurately reproduce the full range of colors visible to the human eye. Instead, every digital device used in the photographic workflow operates within its own particular “color space.” The color space of a device is the range of colors that the device can record, store, print, and so forth. In addition to having a specific color space, every such device describes color in one of two ways: Either additively, using the RGB color model; or subtractively, using the CMYK color model. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Adobe recommends that users calibrate their monitors before using Lightroom Classic CC, so that colors are displayed reliably and consistently. Calibrating a monitor simply means that you adjust the monitor to conform with a known specification. Once you calibrate your monitor, you have the option of saving settings as a color profile for your monitor. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC offers a wide variety of help features that can be accessed through its desktop interface. You can access these features through the “Help” drop-down menu in the Menu Bar. Most of the help features listed in the “Help” drop-down menu connect to online resources from Adobe. Learn this and more during this lecture.

After familiarizing yourself with the Lightroom Classic CC environment, the next step is to import photos into the currently selected catalog. When importing photos into Lightroom Classic CC, you can move or copy the imported photos to a new location or leave them in their current locations. All importing choices, though, will create links between the photos’ locations and the record of the photos in your currently selected catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can import photos into your Lightroom Classic CC catalog directly from a digital camera or card reader. To set Lightroom Classic CC to automatically start looking for photos to import whenever you plug in a camera or card reader, Select “Edit| Preferences” from the Menu Bar. The “Preferences” dialog box is displayed. Learn this and more during this lecture.

If you use Photoshop Elements and Lightroom Classic CC on the same computer, you can easily add all of a selected Photoshop Elements catalog’s photos to your Lightroom Classic CC catalog. When you do this, information from your Elements catalog is preserved. In other words, within Lightroom Classic CC, you will be able to see ratings, tags, and other data you previously added to the photos in the selected Photoshop Elements catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When importing photos into your catalog using Lightroom Classic CC, you can use the “File Handling” panel on the right side of the import window to set a variety of import options. Because Lightroom Classic CC can automate several common importing actions, setting import options prior to importing photos can save you time later. To access the File Handling panel, open the import window. Learn this and more during this lecture.

As we saw in the last lecture, the File Handling panel in the import window provides a variety of tools for setting import options. This lecture will look at additional import options in Lightroom Classic CC. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In addition to providing a variety of import options, Lightroom Classic CC allows you to set a variety of import preferences. Import preferences can be set within the “Preferences” dialog box. To display the “Preferences” dialog box, select “Edit| Preferences” from the Menu Bar. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you import photos into Lightroom Classic CC, you don’t physically bring photos into the Lightroom application. Instead, you are creating a link between the actual photo and a record of the photo in the Lightroom Classic CC catalog. This offers two main advantages for photographers in that the editing is nondestructive and the photos can be stored anywhere. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you create a catalog in Lightroom Classic CC, you also create a folder for the catalog at the same time. The name of the folder is the same as the name of the catalog, but does not include the catalog suffix. Catalog files use the “.lrcat” file extension. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can customize many settings for Lightroom Classic CC catalogs using the “Catalog Settings” dialog box. To open the “Catalog Settings” dialog box, select “Edit| Catalog Settings...” from the Menu Bar. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you launch Lightroom Classic CC, the most current catalog opens by default. However, you can customize the software so that it opens a different catalog of your choosing. You can also set up Lightroom Classic CC to prompt you to choose a catalog each time you launch the application. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC is designed so that you can import, manage, and edit a large number of photos. However, after working with a catalog for a while, you may find that Lightroom Classic CC begins to experience “lag” issues, and runs a bit more slowly. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to copy and move catalogs and preview files, if necessary. However, before moving or copying a catalog in Lightroom Classic CC, is important to back up the file you intend to move or copy. Learn this and more during this lecture.

As we saw in the previous lecture, moving catalogs to a new location can result in Lightroom Classic CC being unable to locate photos. This is because moving image files in Windows Explorer can cause the link between the files and the Lightroom Classic CC catalog to break. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can select a group of photos and export them as a new catalog. This creates a catalog which contains a subset of a larger catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to delete catalogs. However, it’s very important to understand that deleting a catalog will erase all of the work you’ve done in Lightroom Classic CC, unless changes have been saved within the original photo files. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you back up catalogs manually and schedule automatic catalog backups. However, it’s important to understand that backups executed from within the Lightroom Classic CC interface only include the catalog file. If you want to back up edited photos or files exported from Lightroom Classic CC, you must perform independent backup operations outside of the Lightroom application. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to schedule automatic backups of your catalog. Keep in mind that a new catalog is written with each backup, so you may want to periodically delete or compress old backup files to save disk space. Learn this and more during this lecture.

After you schedule regular catalog backups for Lightroom Classic CC, the software will automatically begin the backup at the scheduled time as you exit the program. When this happens, the “Back Up Catalog” dialog box is displayed. You can click the “Back up” button at the bottom right of the dialog box to continue the scheduled catalog backup and exit Lightroom Classic CC. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can use a backup file to restore a catalog in Lightroom Classic CC. To restore a catalog, first uncompress or unzip the compressed copy of the backup file that you want to restore using your Windows File Explorer. If you want to replace a missing or corrupted catalog with the uncompressed or unzipped backup catalog copy, then copy the backed up catalog file to the location of the original catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, you will learn how to use the tools and features in the Library module. The Library module is considered the “home base” for working with your imported photos in Lightroom Classic CC. Using the Library module, you can view, organize, sort, compare, and rate photos in your catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to view your photos in several distinct ways: the Grid view displays thumbnail images; the Loupe view displays a single photo; the Compare view displays two photos side by side; and the Survey view displays two or more photos. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you use the Grid view to display specific photos in a variety of ways. You can click within the Catalog panel to instantly adjust the display of photos in the Grid view. If you click “All Photographs,” the Grid view will display the entire catalog of photos. Learn this and more during this lecture.

As you move between modules in Lightroom Classic CC, the Filmstrip panel along the bottom of the interface displays the photos you are working with. The Filmstrip behaves consistently across all Lightroom Classic CC modules, displaying photos from the currently-selected Library folder, collection, or keyword set. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to select photos in the Grid view to work with in the Library or other modules. As has been discussed, the Filmstrip always displays the same photos as the Grid view, and vice-versa. When you click to select a photo in either the Grid or the Filmstrip, that photo becomes the “active photo” in Lightroom Classic CC. Learn this and more during this lecture.

As you’ve learned, Lightroom Classic CC allows you to filter photos within the Grid view and Filmstrip. Unlike sorting features, which simply rearrange photos based on criteria, filtering photos allows you to remove photos you don’t want to work with from view. Filtering doesn’t remove photos from your Lightroom catalogs, folders, or collections. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC provides a Loupe view and several zoom tools to help you get a closer look at photos in your catalog. In the Library module and the Develop module, you can use the Navigator panel to set levels of magnification for images displayed in the Loupe view. Learn this and more during this lecture.

The Library module’s Folders panel displays the folders that contain your Lightroom Classic CC photos. Within the Folders panel, folders appear in alphanumeric order, and reflect the folder structure of the entire volume of photos. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you import photos into Lightroom Classic CC, the folders in which your photos are located are automatically added to the Folders panel. You can also use the Folders panel to add folders and import the photos within the folders. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can merge landscape photos in Lightroom Classic CC to create panoramic images. Lightroom Classic CC analyzes the metadata and boundaries of source images to create horizontal, vertical, and multi-row panoramas. When creating a panorama, you can see a preview and make adjustments before the merged image is generated. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can merge multiple exposure-bracketed images into a single HDR image using Lightroom Classic CC. HDR stands for “high dynamic range,” and refers to a photographic technique designed to produce a greater range of visible luminosity in images than is possible with standard photographic techniques. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, we’ll explore a variety of features that allow you to organize your photo catalog within Lightroom Classic CC. One such feature is facial recognition. Lightroom Classic CC allows you to use facial recognition technology to quickly organize and find images in your catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In the last lecture, we saw how Lightroom Classic CC groups photos of the same person during facial recognition operations, using “stacks.” Stacks help to manage your photo catalog by grouping visually similar images together. When photos are arranged in stacks, the Grid view and the Filmstrip are less cluttered, making it easier to locate specific images. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you use “keywords” to organize and manage your photo catalog. Keywords are image metadata describing the contents of a photo. You can use keywords to search, find, and identify photos in Lightroom Classic CC. Keywords applied to photos in Lightroom can be read by other Adobe applications, such as Photoshop, Bridge, and other software that supports XMP metadata. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can create and apply keyword shortcuts in Lightroom Classic CC, which allow you to quickly apply one or more keywords to multiple photos. You can create keyword shortcuts from existing keywords, or from new keywords. To create a keyword shortcut from an existing keyword, expand the Keyword List panel in the Library module. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC provides a variety of tagging features to help you organize and manage your catalog. In the Library module, you can apply flags, ratings, and color labels to your photos. When you use these tools in conjunction with sorting and filtering features, you can easily control the Lightroom Classic CC display. As your photo catalog grows, these features become even more helpful. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you assign ratings to files through a “star” system. You can award a photo from zero to five stars. After you rate your photos, you can use filtering and sorting to display only photos with a specific number of stars, or with a minimum number of stars. Ratings can be set and displayed in any Library module view. Lightroom Classic CC provides many different ways to apply ratings to photos. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you apply “flags” to photos. When you use flags to tag a photo, only three designations are possible: the photo can be flagged as a “pick;” the photo can be set as “rejected;” or the photo is unflagged. Used in conjunction with filtering, flags provide another tool for organizing and managing your catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you apply color labels to photos as another way to organize and manage your catalog. Unlike other tagging methods like flags and ratings, color labels aren’t designed to be used for a specific purpose. You can apply color labels however you like, and assign them whatever meaning you want. Learn this and more during this lecture.

The word “metadata” is used to describe data that contains information about other data. As it applies to digital photography, metadata describes a set of standardized information about a photo. Most digital cameras attach basic information to each photo capture. Typically, this type of information includes things like the file format of a photo, the capture time of a photo, geolocation information about where the photo was taken, and so forth. Lightroom Classic CC imports and supports this type of standardized metadata. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you add metadata to photos by entering information in the Metadata panel on the right side of the Library module. Using premade metadata sets, you can easy make all of a photo’s metadata, or just a subset of the metadata, available for adding or editing. You can also copy and paste metadata from another photo to quickly add metadata to a photo. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, you will learn about working with “collections” in Lightroom Classic CC. Collections are groups of photos from within your Lightroom Classic CC catalog. In other words, all photos in a collection are part of a catalog, but not all photos in a catalog are part of a collection. You can create multiple collections from a catalog, and the same photo can be part of more than one collection. Learn this and more during this lecture.

There are several ways to create collections in Lightroom Classic CC. If you want to quickly create a collection from all of the photos in a folder, you can click and drag the folder from the Folders panel to the Collections panel. The collection is created and listed in the Collections panel. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can create collection sets in Lightroom Classic CC. A collection set does not contain any photos. Instead, a collection set acts as a container for one or more collections in Lightroom Classic CC. You can use collection sets to organize and manage your photo catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

After creating collections and collection sets within Lightroom Classic CC, you can use them to manage and organize your photo catalog. You can add photos to a collection, remove photos from a collection, and move photos between collections. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC provides a “Quick Collection,” which is used to group photos temporarily. You can use the Quick Collection to work with the photos in any module. You can view the Quick Collection in the Grid view and the Filmstrip. You can also convert the Quick Collection into a permanent collection. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you create “smart collections” based on rules. When you create a smart collection, you specify metadata criteria, rather than manually adding and removing photos from a collection. After you specify criteria, any photo that meets the criteria is automatically added to the collection. Learn this and more during this lecture.

After you create a custom Smart Collection in Lightroom Classic CC, you can edit the rules of the Smart Collection to suit your needs. For example, if your Smart Collection includes any photo with a three-star rating or higher, you could adjust the criteria of the collection to include photos with four stars or higher by changing the rules for the Smart Collection. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Within the Catalog panel, you’ll find the “All Synched Photographs” collection. This collection, which is not displayed in the Collections panel, displays all your Lightroom Classic CC photos that are synced to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC mobile clients. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, you’ll learn how to find photos in the Library module. In the Library module, the Library Filter bar at the top of the Grid view provides three “modes” to filter photos: By “Text;” by “Attribute;” and by “Metadata.” You can use one mode at a time, or you can combine more than one mode to filter results in more complex ways. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can customize the Library Filter bar using one of several predefined, commonly-used filters. The “Custom Filter” menu is located on the far right of the Library Filter bar. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In the last section, you learned about using Collections to manage and organize your Lightroom Classic CC catalog. Collections are also useful when you are trying to find specific photos. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In the “Organizing Photos in the Library Module” section, you learned about using keywords to tag photos. You can use the Keyword List panel to find photos after you’ve tagged them with keywords. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, you’ll learn to use the Map module in Lightroom Classic CC. The Map module displays the capture location of your photos on a Google map, using GPS coordinates from the photos’ embedded metadata. If a photo in your catalog doesn’t have GPS metadata, you can manually add the photo to the Map module. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can create a collection from a group of photos that appear at the same location on the map. This can be helpful if you have many photos from a shoot that appear in one location. To create a collection from a group of photos on the map, first make sure the pin is “Unselected.” Then right-click the preview pin for the group of photos. Then select “Create Collection” from the menu that appears. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC lets you add GPS coordinates to photos and add photos to the Map module. There are several methods by which you can add GPS coordinates to a photo. You can click and drag photos from the Filmstrip and then drop them onto the map. Depending on your Lightroom Classic CC preferences, a confirmation box may appear and ask you to enable GPS address lookup. Learn this and more during this lecture.

You can create a saved location for photos captured with a defined proximity. For example, you can create a saved location that encompasses all of New York City. To create a saved location, display the Map module. Navigate to a location on the map that you want to use as a saved location. Learn this and more during this lecture.

In this section, you will learn basic information about the Develop Module in Lightroom Classic CC. Unlike the Library module and the Map module, which are used to organize and manage photos, the Develop module provides tools and features for editing photos in your Lightroom Classic CC catalog. Learn this and more during this lecture.

The Develop module in Lightroom Classic CC has three basic views available when you are making visual adjustments to photos: The “Loupe” view, the “Reference” view, and the “Before and After” view. The Loupe view is the same as in other modules, but the Reference view and Before and After views let you work with photos in new ways. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Develop presets allow you to apply a group of settings to a photo all at once. You can apply presets that are included with Lightroom Classic CC, and you can also create your own custom presets. Presets are stored in the “Presets” panel. Learn this and more during this lecture.

When you’re working in the Develop module, you are likely to make changes that you want to undo. Lightroom Classic CC allows you to undo adjustments to photos in a number of ways. In some situations, it may be helpful to save your settings as a preset or a snapshot before undoing them, so that you can reapply them later, if necessary. Learn this and more during this lecture.

The Camera Raw technology used by Lightroom Classic CC to adjust and render photos in the Develop module is known as the “process version.” In the Develop module, different settings and options are available, depending on which process version you use. Learn this and more during this lecture.

Lightroom Classic CC allows you to “soft-proof” images before printing or exporting. “Soft-proofing” describes the process of previewing a photo onscreen in order to see how the photo will look when printed. Soft-proofing also allows you to optimize a photo for a particular output device, such as a specific printer. Learn this and more during this lecture.

“History” panel, located in the panel grouping on the left side of the Develop module screen, allows you to track image adjustments made to photos. The History panel maintains a record of the date and time that photos were imported into Lightroom Classic CC, as well as whether presets were applied during the import operation. Learn this and more during this lecture.

To apply adjustments made to the current photo in the Develop module to multiple photos that are selected in the Filmstrip at the same time, open the photo to which you want to apply the shared adjustments within the Develop module. Learn this and more during this lecture.