Adobe Lightroom is the digital darkroom for thousands of photographers, professional and hobbyist alike. But to the novice it can be a challenge getting started.
THE ADVANTAGE OF LIGHTROOM Classic
Anything I do in one place, can be available to me in other places. It's a modern, non-destructive experience. From RAW capture to pro-grade editing, anywhere, anytime.
Agenda
- What is Adobe Creative Cloud?
- What is a Lightroom Catalog?
- Start-to-finish image processing
- Creating an import preset
- Adding a copyright watermark
- Integration w/ Lightroom Mobile & Lightroom Web
- Learning resources
And lots of live demonstration!
What is a Lightroom Catalog?
- A Lightroom catalog is a database.
- Images are "linked" to the catalog when you choose to "import" them into Lightroom.
- LR catalog does not store your photos in the catalog.
- Important to know where your photos located (or where you move them to).
- Important that file management always occur within LR, and not the Finder or Explorer.
- Often, a single catalog is enough, but you could create multiple catalogs to separate client work or subject matter.
- Folders vs Collections vs Collection sets
Where is the Catalog?
- A catalog contains up to 3 files:
- Lightroom Catalog (lrcat)
- Catalog Previews
- Smart Previews
- More info about the catalog at (Mac) Lightroom > Catalog Settings or (Windows) Edit > Catalog Settings.
- Backing up the catalog (lrcat) file.
Adding a Copyright Watermark
Basic steps:
- Lightroom > Edit Watermarks
- Choose watermark style (text/graphic)
- If text, type text, use dialogs to position watermark
- If graphic, browse for image, use dialogs to position watermark
- Set opacity value
- Save as new watermark preset, or update existing preset
Integration with Lightroom Mobile & Lightroom Web
Why is Mobile so Important?
- More than 4.8 billion people globally are using a smartphone
- 73% of people ALWAYS have their mobile device with them
- People pick up their mobile device 150 to 200 times a day for an average of 177 minutes of daily usage
- Mobile and social media are great ways to generate awareness of your work
Syncing with LR mobile and LR Web
Basic steps:
- Create a collection in LR CC (desktop)
- Enable sync with LR Mobile (LRm)*
- Collection shared to both LR Mobile and LR Web
Syncing from Mobile to Desktop:
- Enable Auto Add Photos from LRm preferences
- Images automatically added as captured
OR manually add images to Lightroom Mobile:
- Select Lightroom Photos or specific collection by tapping thumbnail
- Tap Camera Roll bar at bottom of screen (Lightroom Photos) or Add Photos bar (Collection)
You can also add new images directly to LRm by using the camera feature in LRm
Optional: set up target folder in Lightroom Desktop (Preferences >Lightroom Mobile>Location)
*Creative Cloud subscription required
Editing with LR Mobile and LR Web
- Lightroom Mobile has approx 90% feature parity with the desktop.
- Lightroom Web employs Artificial Intelligence to search for images without keywords
Sharing images/collections using LR Mobile and LR Web
- Sync between LR Mobile and LR Desktop requires a subscription (Creative Cloud Complete or Creative Cloud for Photographers)
- Collections synced with LR Mobile also appear in LR Web.
- Lightroom Web enables editing and easy file/collection sharing.
Other Options for Sharing
- Create web stories, social media graphics using Adobe Spark
- Creating video slideshows using Premiere Clip
- Create collages and do deeper editing with Adobe Mix and Adobe Fix
- Push right to social media from Lightroom Mobile
Learning Resources
Find Jim
Credits:
All photography in this Spark Page story created by Jim Babbage