MASTERING

LIGHTROOM
A PHOTOGRAPHERS GUIDE TO LIGHTROOM 4 & 5
Book One: The Librar y Module

ANDREW S GIBSON

CONTENTS
Introduction
Notes

3
5

What is Lightroom?
The transition to Lightroom

6
7

Advice to new Lightroom users

The workflow advantage

Organising Raw files

12
15

Introducing the Lightroom Library module

The Lightroom modules
Customising the Identity Plate

17
18
23

Getting started: Importing images

How Lightroom works: a brief overview
Beginning the import

24
25
26

Using the Library module

The power of the Lightroom Catalog
Lightroom shortcuts
The purpose of the Library module
Viewing images
The Toolbar
View modes
Lights out
The most selected image
Searching images
Selecting folders or Collections
Library filters
Rating images

38
39
40
41
43
44
45
53
54
55
57
58
61

The right hand panels

The Histogram
Quick Develop panel
Keywording and Keyword List panels
The Metadata panel

98
99
100
101
104

The Lightroom Publish Services

Hard Drive Publish Service
Flickr Publish Service
Facebook, Behance and 500px
Koken

106
108
111
113
114

Whats new in the Library module?

116

The left hand panels

Working with panels
Solo mode
The Navigator
The Folders panel
The Collections panel
Putting it together: Importing Raw files
Collections and virtual copies
Smart Collections
The Catalog panel

70
71
72
73
74
75
78
90
92
96

Conclusion
Photography ebooks

121
122

INTRODUC TION

Theres no doubt that digital photography is a revolution that

has changed the nature of photography as both a hobby and a
profession. As digital cameras have come down in price, and the
image quality has improved, more and more photographers have
made the transition. Now digital photography is mainstream, and
film photography is, depending on your viewpoint, either a memory
or a niche.
One of the benefits that digital photography has brought is ease of processing.
Computers, like digital cameras, have become both more powerful and less
expensive as the years go by. Now just about anybody can buy a relatively
inexpensive computer and software for processing images. For most of us the
question has become not Should I post-process my photos? but What software is
best for processing my images?

For many years the answer was simple Adobe Photoshop. It was the best image
editing software out there and most photographers either bought it or (lets be
honest) used a pirated copy.
Photoshop was, and still is, great software, but it has two weaknesses. The first
is price. The cost is off-putting for many hobbyists who would like to use good
software, but find the price of Photoshop prohibitive (or dont like the licensing
model of Photoshop CC).
The second is related to workflow. Photoshop was designed from the start as photo
editing (and graphic design) software. The first versions were created before Raw
files were invented, when hardly anybody owned a digital camera. The need to edit
Raw files didnt exist, and no-one prioritised the task of organising images. Now
any photographer who values image quality uses Raw. Adobe Camera Raw, the
Raw converter built in to Adobe Photoshop, is very good at what it does. But when
it comes to organising and searching images, Photoshop (and Adobe Bridge) are
clumsy tools.
Software makers have realised there is a better way. They are creating software
that is designed from the ground up to organise, search and process Raw files, and
is built for photographers not designers. Adobe hasnt been left behind, and has
produced what is probably the most popular program out there Lightroom.
The main benefit of Lightroom is that it addresses the twin weaknesses of
Photoshop: price and workflow. Lightroom is relatively inexpensive. Indeed, for all
that you can do with it I dont hesitate to say that its the best value software you
can possibly buy.

Lightroom also addresses the issue of workflow. It is much easier and quicker to
organise and process your Raw files in Lightroom than it is in Photoshop with
Adobe Bridge. I genuinely believe that buying Lightroom is one of the easiest and
most cost-effective ways to improve your photography. It will help you realise
your vision by letting you process your Raw files in a way that gets the most out
of them. But first, you need to get your images organised. This ebook will help
you understand how Lightrooms Library module works and how you can use it to
organise and search your images.
Believe me theres plenty to get excited about as you delve into the workings of the
Library module. For instance, if you shoot plenty of photos you are probably aware
that it takes time to edit them down to the best ones that you want to process.
Lightroom has tools to help you do that quickly.
Or perhaps youd like to upload photos directly to Flickr, 500px or Facebook
from Lightroom? Its easy and I will show you how. Maybe you would like to
build a website to display your best photos, and push updates to it directly from
Lightroom? The Library module lets you do that too.
Ive written this ebook for two types of reader. The first is the complete newcomer
to Lightroom. If youve never used it before, you can use this ebook to get started.
The second type is the one who has used Lightroom, but wants to learn how to get
the best out of it. This ebook is a little different from most others because I will tell
you why you should do certain things as well as how. The aim is to streamline your
workflow so you spend no more time than necessary in the Library module, freeing
you up to get on with the creative task of processing your Raw files.

Notes
Screen shots are taken from a MacBook Pro using OS X. If you are a
PC user your screen will look different. Most of the differences are
minor, and down to the operating system not the program on the
whole Lightroom looks the same most of the time in both Windows
and Mac OS X.
I would also like to clarify the way shortcuts are used in this ebook:
Right-clicking: On a PC you can right-click just about anywhere in Lightroom to
bring up a contextual menu. If youre a Mac user and you use an Apple mouse
right-click is disabled. You can access the contextual menu by holding the Control
key down when you click. Or, you can enable right-clicking (System Preferences
> Mouse) even with a single-button Apple mouse. The easiest solution is to use a
Windows mouse the Mac OS X recognises it and enables right-clicking. I find the
right-click invaluable, and will mention it frequently in the ebook. So please dont
get confused if you also use a Mac and right-clicking doesnt work.
Option/Control keys: Keyboard shortcuts on the Mac often use the Option key,
also known as the Command key. Windows keyboards use the Control key instead.
I will list the Mac shortcut in the ebook with the PC shortcut in brackets, like this:
Cmd-S (PC: Ctrl-S).
Keyboard shortcuts: Although I will mention the most useful keyboard shortcuts,
I wont use them all. Most of the time I will guide you to the appropriate menu

option (i.e Photo > Add to Target Collection). If a shortcut exists, it will be listed
next to the relevant option in the menu (in this case, the shortcut is B). You can
also bring up a list of keyboard shortcuts relevant to the module youre in by
pressing Cmd-/ (PC: Ctrl-/) at any time.
Terminology: Photoshop comes in several versions: Photoshop Elements,
Photoshop CS, Photoshop CC and Photoshop Lightroom. For the sake of simplicity,
I will use the term Photoshop to refer interchangeably to Photoshop Elements,
Photoshop CS and Photoshop CC, and Lightroom to refer to Photoshop Lightroom.

Left: Right-click on a PC
or Ctrl-click on a Mac to
bring up a contextual
menu like this. Contextual
menus act as a shortcut to
commonly used functions
in the Lightroom menus.
The options presented are
unique to the part of the
program you click on.

What is
Lightroom?
Lightroom is designed to manage and process your photo files. It is
part Raw converter, part photo processor (yes, you can edit JPEG and
TIFF files in Lightroom too) and part photo organiser. The latter task
is often referred to as digital asset management (or DAM for short).
Why use Lightroom instead of Photoshop? For one, its as powerful as Photoshop
when it comes to Raw processing, but much less expensive. Second, it lets you take
charge of your growing photo collection and get it organised. Thats something
Photoshop cant do. Third, Lightroom saves you a lot of hard drive space, especially
compared to using TIFF or PSD files. Fourth, it saves time.
Is there anything Lightroom cant do? Well, it cant help you directly with tasks
such as compositing, layer blending, adding texture layers or any similar tasks that
Photoshop excels at. You can, however, export your images to a suitable plug-in
when you want to do something that isnt possible in Lightroom. In this world view,
Photoshop counts as a plug-in.

The transition to Lightroom

My view is this. The way photographers use photo editing software is going
through a transitional stage. Not so long ago, most used Photoshop as their main
editing tool. It was more or less the only serious contender for this task. There have
always been competitors, but none of them ever managed to achieve the power,
ease of use or ubiquity of Photoshop.

carry out some processing tasks on JPEG and TIFF files. If you need to use other
software to carry out a specific task that Lightroom cant handle, then there is
probably a plug-in or standalone program to do that. The benefit of plug-ins is
a seamless transition from your main software (i.e Lightroom) to the peripheral
programs (Photoshop, Silver Efex Pro and so on).

Then, as more photographers made the switch to digital, we realised that

processing images is only part of the equation. Its as important to organise,
search and back up photos as it is to process them. When you have tens, or even
hundreds, of thousands of images a good system for organising them is essential.
Photoshop doesnt do that. Hence a demand for software that does so (and is
simple to use) has been created.

And yes, Photoshop is viewed as a plug-in. Thats because it carries out a single
task editing JPEG or TIFF files (albeit with a lot of power). And consider that even
photographers who edit the majority of their images in Photoshop can still use
Lightroom to organise their images and carry out some processing tasks before
switching to Photoshop. In this workflow example, you are using Lightroom and
Photoshop in conjunction.

At the same time, external hard drives have grown in capacity and dropped in
price to the point where they are the only realistic option for saving and backing
up large amounts of Raw files. Other media, like DVDs, dont have sufficient
capacity and are too unreliable. Now, hard drives are affordable enough that most
photographers can store their entire collection of Raw images on a single unit. That
makes it easy to use software like Lightroom to organise them.

It is like the transition from film to digital photography. Eventually so many

photographers switched to digital that it became mainstream, the accepted way
of doing things. Film is now used by a minority. I predict the same will happen to
Photoshop. The day is coming when workflow based software like Lightroom is the
centre of most photographers post-processing set-up.

Now, many of those photographers are switching to Lightroom (or alternatives

such as Apples Aperture or Phase Ones Capture One Pro). The benefit of these
programs is that they let you manage your entire workflow from within one
interface. You can import, view, search and organise photos, process Raw files and

Lightroom
This diagram shows how Lightroom sits at the heart of a software ecosystem.
For any task that Lightroom itself cant do, there is bound to be a plug-in that
can. The list here isnt intended to be exhaustive software comes and goes
and Im sure that there are many I havent heard of or used.
The arrows show the way photos flow through the ecosystem. Lightroom can
take care of your photo collection from the initial import to the final export,
storing every edit you make in its Catalog so that you can come back and see
what you did in years to come. Lightroom is designed so that everybodys
needs are catered for, from beginner through to seasoned professional.

Importing and backing up Raw or

photo files.

Digital asset management

Processing Raw files
Editing JPEG or TIFF files

Exporting photo files to display on

a website, tablet or smartphone.
Preparing photos for print.
Exporting photo files for a client.

Other software
Plug-ins for editing JPEG or
TIFF files (powerful editors)
Photoshop CS/CC
Photoshop Elements
GIMP

Plug-ins for editing JPEG

or TIFF files (specialised
effects)
Perfect Effects
FocalPoint
Color Efex Pro
Viveza
Topaz Adjust
Topaz Clarity
Topaz Lens Effects
Alien Skin Exposure
Alien Skin Bokeh
DxO Film Pack

Plug-ins for editing JPEG

or TIFF files (black & white
conversion)
Perfect B&W
Silver Efex Pro
Topaz B&W Effects
Plug-ins for editing JPEG
or TIFF files (portrait
retouching)
Perfect Portrait

Advice to new
Lightroom users
These are the things that I wish someone had told me before I used
Lightroom for the first time. These concepts will save you a lot of
effort and wasted time in the long run. If this is the first time you
have used Lightroom, you have a huge advantage as it means you
can establish a consistent workflow from the start. That makes life
easier as your photo collection grows.
Before we get onto the advice Id like to give you a tip. Whatever you want to do
with Lightroom, keep things as simple as possible. Its easy to over complicate
matters. Youll save yourself a lot of work by looking for the simplest way to get
where you want to go.
Above all, have fun! Lightroom is there to make processing and organising your
photos a simple and enjoyable process. It will give you the freedom to do that
thing we all love the most being creative and producing beautiful photos.

Understand what Lightroom is for.

Hopefully youre beginning to understand by now, but just in case lets recap.
Lightroom helps you organise and back up your images, process your Raw files and
export them as photo files as quickly and painlessly as possible. It is the heart of
your workflow and the first program that you open when you want to organise or
edit photo files.

Put all your Raw files in a single folder on an external hard drive.
Doing so makes it easy to back them up at any time. I will explain how I organise
folders and back up my Raw files later on in the ebook. You dont have to do things
the same way; there are many ways to organise files and ultimately you need to do
what suits you best. But sticking to the principle of creating a master folder to hold
your Raw files (and Raw files only no TIFFs or JPEGs) will help you a lot.

Set Lightroom to backup your Catalog to the same hard drive that
you store your Raw files on.
With Lightroom, all you need for a successful backup is a copy of your Raw files and
your Catalog (minus preview files). Theres no need to back up JPEG and TIFF photo
files, unless you have edited them further in another program. Any JPEG or TIFF
files created by exporting from Lightroom can be created again. You can think of
Raw files as being like negatives you will never suffer an irrevocable loss as long
as they are safely backed up.
This leads to another benefit of Lightroom that becomes apparent as your photo
collection grows. Lightroom makes it easier to back your photos up. One reason for

10

this is that the total hard drive space occupied by Raw files and the Catalog is much
less than the hard drive space required for TIFF and PSD files created in Photoshop.
That greatly simplifies the task of making copies.

Use a single Catalog.

Earlier versions of Lightroom slowed down as the number of photos in the Catalog
grew, but thats no longer an issue. Lightroom is for organising and searching
your Raw files as well as processing them, so it makes sense to keep your entire
image collection together. You can only have one Catalog open at a time, so if your
images are spread across multiple Catalogs you cant search your entire photo
collection at a time.

Keep a copy of your Raw files and your Catalog off-site.

If the worst happens, youll be glad you did. Its also a good idea to regularly back
your Catalog up to Dropbox.

Decide how you are going to use star ratings, colour labels and
metadata from the outset and then stick to it.
This isnt easy, as youll probably think of different ways you can use these features
as you become more proficient with Lightroom. But the more consistent you are,
the simpler it is to use these tools to organise and search your photo collection.
Later on Ill give you lots of tips for using these features, and keeping your
approach to using star ratings, flags, keywords and colour labels as straightforward
as possible.

Use Collections and Collection Sets to organise your images.

Undo is your friend.

They are the heart of Lightroom and free you from the physical constraints set by
the folders containing your Raw files.

Just about anything you do can be undone by pressing Cmd-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z). If
youre not sure what effect doing something will have on your photos, just try it.
The Undo shortcut is there to help if it doesnt work out. On the rare occasions you
are about to do something that cannot be undone, Lightroom will warn you.

You may have noticed that you can only browse photos by folder in the Library
module. In the others, you only have access to images contained in a Collection.
Adobe wants you to use Collections (and Collection Sets) as they are the easiest
way to organise and collate your images. I will show you how in this ebook.

Use Smart Collections sparingly.

There are many ways to use Smart Collections. While they may seem useful
because they are automated, its easy to over-complicate things. Only use them
when they will genuinely save you time, or as a way of storing search results.

Convert your Raw files to DNG.

There are two main benefits of converting your Raw files to the DNG format. The
first is that DNG files are smaller than your regular Raw files. Youll save ten to
twenty percent of hard drive space that adds up over time.
But the main benefit is that using DNG files speeds up Lightroom. DNG files
contain a preview in a form called fast load data that enables Lightroom to render
previews up to eight times faster. This saves you time when viewing and processing
images. Theres nothing more frustrating than zooming into an image then having
to wait several seconds for the preview to render. Using DNG helps prevent that.

11

Do as much work in Lightroom as possible.

When processing images, do as much as you can in Lightroom. You should only
export a photo to Photoshop or another plug-in if you need to do something that
Lightroom cant handle.
Processing images solely in Lightroom whenever you can helps keep your
workflow quick and simple. Exporting to other programs or plug-ins uses more
hard drive space and means that you end up with additional JPEG or TIFF files to
keep track of and back up.

Lightroom will change your life.

Im not exaggerating youll be amazed at how much time having an organised
photo collection will save you. Youll also be pleasantly surprised at how fast you
can process your Raw files once you get up to speed with Lightrooms Develop
module. If youre the type thats always behind on processing, Lightroom will help
you catch up. You can wave goodbye to folders of unprocessed photos and say
hello to being a well-organised photographer.

The wor k flow

advantage
In the introduction I wrote about Lightroom and workflow. Its time
to take a deeper look at the benefits of working with Lightroom
has especially compared to the old way of using Photoshop for
processing your Raw files.
But first, lets consider what workflow was like in the days of film. If youve never
used film this may seem strange to you. Compared to digital, there were so many
laborious steps involved in processing film and printing images in the darkroom
that its a wonder anyone bothered.
The diagrams on the next page show you how workflow has progressed. The
advent of Lightroom is merely the latest development in a process that has been
refined over the years by the major camera manufacturers and (more recently)
software engineers.

12

Film
Photographer takes
photos on film, and
either sends it away
to be developed or
develops it himself.

13

If the photographer
used slide film, the
process stops here.

If the photographer
used colour or black
& white negative film,
he then makes prints
in the darkroom.
Once a print is made,
the only way to make
another one is to
repeat the process.

Photoshop
Photographer takes
photos with a digital
camera and saves
them in the Raw
format.

Photographer selects
favourite images
and processes them
one by one in Adobe
Camera Raw.

Photographer
finishes processing
images in Photoshop.

This is the workflow used by photographers before the digital age. It was time
consuming it takes much longer to develop film, or have it developed, than it
does to import images from a memory card to your hard drive. It also takes longer
to make a good quality print in a darkroom than it does in Lightroom or even
Photoshop. Worst of all, once youve made a print (or a slide) theres no way of
duplicating it without losing image quality. If you wanted to make ten copies of a
print, you would have to carry out the physical steps required ten times.

This diagram shows how your workflow looks if you process your Raw files using
Photoshop. Its much quicker than using film and making prints in the darkroom.
You also get to spend your time sitting at your computer in a nicely lit room
rather than shut away in a darkroom. Thats even if you had a darkroom many
photographers never did. Darkrooms require space, and money to buy the
equipment to put in them, and not everybody could do so (which probably helps
explain why digital photography became so popular so fast).

In the digital world, the film photographer has an extra choice. He can scan
the negatives, save them to his computer and work on them in a program like
Photoshop. Many film photographers worked using this hybrid system until they
completed the digital transition by buying a digital camera. With film experiencing
something of a renaissance in popularity, there still are photographers that choose
to work this way.

Compared with using film and a darkroom, this workflow is paradise. Then the
day comes when you realise that creating 16 bit TIFF files and multi-layer PSD
documents from Raw files made by cameras with 18 to 24 megapixel sensors
takes up a ridiculous amount of hard drive space. Not to mention those tens of
thousands of Raw files scattered around hundreds of disorganised folders. There
must be a better way, right? Luckily there is, thanks to those clever software
engineers at Adobe who were thinking about these things way before most
photographers.

Lightroom
Photographer takes
photos with a digital
camera and saves
them in the Raw
format.

Photographer
imports images
using Lightroom and
selects best ones
to process. He uses
batch processing to
save time.

Photographer
processes Raw files
in Lightroom. The
final images can be
exported in different
file formats and sizes
according to the
required purpose.

This diagram shows the modern photographers workflow in Lightroom. The

differences between this and what you get with Photoshop are profound. At last
we have software that is designed for photographers and helps us organise our
images as well as process our Raw files.

asset management programs around, but none of them seemed to do the job well
enough and simply enough to capture the public imagination or challenge the
dominance of Photoshop.
Until, that is, Lightroom came along.

The biggest limitation to film and darkroom users, in terms of time, is that you
could only process your images one at a time. You have more options if you use
Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), as it is possible to batch process Raw
files. However, Photoshops capabilities for batch processing are limited compared
to Lightroom.
The ability to organise and edit (as in choose which photos to process and which
ones to reject) is also very primitive. This is something that photographers lived
with for many years, as it was the only way of doing things. Yes, there were digital

14

Heres a simple example to show you the benefits of the Lightroom way of doing
things. Imagine that you have taken two hundred or so portraits of one of your
favourite models. Youve used the Library module to narrow them down to the
best. Now, once youve processed the first image, you can copy all of the settings
you used, right down to the minutest edit, and apply them to any of the others. As
they are completely non-destructive, you can use the copied settings as a starting
point and work from there. It really does save you a tremendous amount of time.

Organising Raw files

Now Im going to show you how I organise my Raw files. I realise everyone has their
own preference for this sort of thing, but this system works well for me so its worth
sharing with you. Feel free to use, adapt or ignore it.
The main benefit of this system is that it is easy to back up your Raw files.
Organising folders by date makes sense to me because you can see at a glance
whether the most recent folders have been backed up. Backups are important, and
I recommend that you keep your Raw files backed up to at least three different hard
drives, with one of those kept off-site in case of theft or fire at home. Its easy to do
with external hard drives, theres no need to invest in a RAID system or anything
complicated unless you absolutely want to.
Whatever your folder structure, its a good idea to store your RAW files in a master
folder. Keep JPEGs and TIFFs in a separate folder.
As you learn how to use the Library module, you will realise that your folder
structure is relatively unimportant. Thats because you will start to use Collections,
a kind of virtual folder that you can organise any way you like. You can create
Collections based on any criteria you like, and add any photo to any Collection
regardless of which physical folder it resides in.
You might like to read the section on using Collections and Collection Sets before
deciding on a folder structure for your Raw files.

15

Above: Heres my system. I keep all my Raw files in a folder called RAW. The
first level in the RAW folder contains a folder for each year that I have owned a
digital camera.

Above: Each monthly folder contains one folder for each shoot that I shot that
month. This file structure lets me see right away which folders are yet to be
backed up.

Above: Each year folder contains 12 folders, one for each month.

16

introducing
The Lightroom
Library module
Most of a photographers work is carried out in the Library and
Develop modules. This ebook concentrates on the Library module.
It will teach you how to import your images and organise them into
Collections so that you can use the Develop module efficiently.
If you are new to Lightroom, you will discover it looks very different from Adobe
Bridge, Photoshop or any other image editing software you may use. Remember,
Lightroom is a tool for both organising and processing photo files. It is a workflow
tool as well as an image editing program, and the interface reflects that.

17

The Lightroom modules

18

an earlier version of Lightroom you will be pleasantly surprised at the advances

made in Lightroom 5. It is now possible to process most of your Raw files here
without going into Photoshop.

Before we go any further, Id like to explain the function of each of the seven
Lightroom modules. The Library and Develop modules will be of primary interest
to most photographers. You can use the Maps module to geotag your images, and
the rest are there to help you do various things with your photos after you have
processed them.

Map module

To be honest, you might never even go into most of these for anything other than
the sake of curiosity. The heart and soul of Lightroom resides in the Library and
Develop modules. The others are there to assist or encourage you to do some
interesting things with your images after you have processed them. But dont
ignore them they are well worth a look once you have got to grips with the initial
tasks of organising and developing your images.

If your camera has GPS Lightroom can map the location where your photos were
taken if the information is embedded in the metadata. You can also use the track
log from a synchronised GPS device or add location information to your photos
manually by dropping images onto a map. Lightroom lets you add GPS coordinates to the metadata and organise your images by location. In this sense it
extends the search criteria of the Library module. The Maps module uses Google
Maps and you must be online to use it.

Library module

Book module

This is where you import, organise and search your Raw files. Yes, you can also
import JPEG or TIFF files, but for the moment Im going to assume that your
main interest is in processing Raw files, otherwise you would probably be using
Photoshop. You can view your images here, make comparisons, and select the ones
that you would like to process in the Develop module.

Enables you to select and lay out photos to produce a photo book. It is designed
to work with Blurb books and lets you upload your completed book to its website.
You can also export it as a PDF file (ideal for ebooks) or a JPEG file. The Book
module doesnt give you the same functionality and flexibility as using software
like InDesign, but it does simplify the process of creating a book.

Develop module

Slideshow module

This is where you process your Raw files, and export them as JPEG or TIFF files as
required. For many photographers its the most important part of Lightroom and
the reason they bought the program in the first place. If you have upgraded from

The Slideshow module is for creating slideshows with your photos. You can add
text and transition effects. Portrait or wedding photographers may find it useful for
creating presentations for clients.

Print module
The Print module helps you prepare your images for printing. There are a number
of options to help you do so including the ability to choose paper type, border size
and print resolution.

Web module
The Web module helps you organise selected images into galleries. There are
several design options to choose from, and more are available online. Once you
have created a gallery you can upload it your website from within Lightroom or
with FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software.
The Web module is probably most helpful to photographers who need to put a
gallery of photos online for a client or for friends. It doesnt take the place of using
software like WordPress or Koken (discussed later in this ebook) for creating a fullyfledged website.

Above: You can create photo galleries quickly and easily with Lightrooms Web
module .

19

Library interface
This is the Lightroom Library
module interface. This is what you
see when you open Lightroom and
go to the Library module if have
already imported some images. It
will look a little different to this if
you have yet to do so.
The Lightroom Interface is divided
into five sections. This design is used
throughout all seven modules. The
top panels and the filmstrip stay the
same. The content of the side panels
changes according to which module
youre in.
The diagram on the next page
shows the name of each section.

20

Identity Plate & Module picker buttons panel

The default Identity Plate displays the Lightroom logo and version (above). You can
customise the Identity Plate to display text or a logo that you have created yourself.
Ill show you how to do that in a couple of pages.

The Module Picker buttons let you move around between the seven modules
available in both Lightroom 4 and Lightroom 5. When you start Lightroom it goes
to the last module that you used.
Identity Plate & Module picker buttons panel
Left panels
Content window
Right panels
Filmstrip

21

You can click on the white arrow above the top panel to remove it from the display
(circled). You can also use the Shift + Tab shortcut to remove all four side panels.

Left and right panels

The panels grouped on the left and right hand side of the display (right) contain
the controls required to carry out tasks within each module. The side panels shown
on this page are from the Library module.
You can remove the side panels from the display by clicking on the white arrows at
the edge of the screen. Remove both together by pressing the Tab button.

Content window
This is where you view photos. The photos may be contained in folders (Library
module only), Collections or Collection Sets, or organised according to a search.
You can view multiple images together (Grid view and Survey view), compare
two images (Compare view) or view your photos one at a time (Loupe view). I will
explore how this works in more depth later in the ebook.

Filmstrip
Displays the photos that you are viewing within the content windows in film-strip
style (below). There are options to filter the photos displayed according to ranking,
EXIF data or other criteria. Just like the other panels, you can hide the filmstrip by
clicking the white arrow at the edge of the screen.

22

Customising the Identity Plate

If you have any read many Lightroom tutorials you may have noticed a customised
Identity Plate in the illustrations. A lot of photographers like to do this so that you
can see their name or website address. Its easy enough, and you can replace the
default Lightroom logo with customised text or a graphic file you created. The file
may come in useful for displaying a logo.

Right: The default Lightroom 5

Identity Plate.

To create a text-based custom Identity Plate, tick the Enable Identity Plate
box and select Use a styled text identity plate. Enter your text in the box
underneath. Use the drop down menus underneath to select font type, size
and colour. You can customise the font in the module picker buttons to match.

Right: To customise
the Identity Plate
and replace it with
a text or graphical
alternative start by
going to Lightroom >
Identity Plate Setup
(PC: Edit > Identity
Plate).

Alternatively, select Use a graphical identity plate and click the Locate File
button to upload an image (dimensions 400 x 57 pixels).

23

Getting started:
Importing images
Naturally, once you have installed Lightroom you will want to import
some images. This adds them to your Catalog: the database that
Lightroom uses to store information about your photo files, and
details of any changes you have made to them, such as altering
metadata or editing images in the Develop module.
To get the most out of Lightroom it is crucial to understand how the
Catalog works. This section will help get you started by explaining its
relationship with your images and the metadata they contain.

24

How Lightroom works: a brief overview

If you have used Photoshop to process Raw files, you are probably aware that it
doesnt make any changes to the Raw file. Instead, your alterations are recorded in
a text file (extension .xmp) that is saved in the same folder.
Lightroom works in a similar way, except that it stores information about your files
in your Catalog. A benefit of this system is that it keeps the editing information
separate from the Raw files themselves. This makes it easy to back both up.
Another advantage of this method of working is that it enables far more
sophisticated ways of organising and searching images. Thats why we refer to
Lightroom as a workflow tool. You can use it to keep your photos organised from
the moment you import them.
The Catalog does not contain any of your original Raw files. It only contains
information about those files.
The Catalog is saved on your computers hard drive. To see where, go to Lightroom
> Catalog Settings (PC: Edit > Catalog Settings) and look under the General tab.
The first line shows the location of your Catalog, and the second line its name. The
default location for the Lightroom Catalog is Pictures > Lightroom (Mac) or My
Documents > My Pictures > Lightroom (PC).
While you have the Catalog Settings open, its a good idea to go to the Back up
Catalog setting at the bottom and select Every time Lightroom exits. With this
option selected, Lightroom will backup your Catalog every time you close it. The

25

default location for the backup is in a folder called Backups, contained within your
Lightroom folder. If you open it, you may find several backups of your Catalog.
You can delete some of the old copies (but not the most recent backup) to free up
hard drive space. You will be offered the opportunity to change the location of the
backup in the Back Up Catalog box when you exit Lightroom.
If you click the Show button, your computer will open the folder containing your
Lightroom Catalog. The Catalog is actually split into two files. One has the format
catalogname.lrcat and the other catalogname previews.lrdata. The previews
file contains previews that Lightroom has built of your images, and is much bigger
than the Catalog. They are what you see when you view images in Lightroom.
It isnt necessary to back the previews folder up, and Lightroom doesnt do it
when it backs up your Catalog. Previews can be generated again. The important
information is contained in the .lrcat file. As long as your Raw files and the .lrcat
file are intact, your photo collection is safe.
The Catalog takes up so little space because Lightroom is a metadata editor. The
changes you make to your Raw files are stored as text commands in the Catalog.
Photoshop, by contrast, is a pixel editor. Changes are made at pixel level, and once
the file is saved they are permanent. The only way to avoid that is to use layers,
which add to the file size.
Adobe Camera Raw is also a metadata editor. If you open an .xmp file with a text
editor you will see a list of edits made in text form. If you import a Raw file into
Lightroom that you have edited in ACR, Lightroom adds the metadata in the .xmp
file. That way any edits you have already made are not lost.

Beginning the import

Before you import your Raw files into Lightroom, you need to decide which folder
you are going to copy them to from your cameras memory card. You could follow
my suggestion and organise your Raw files in date order, or do it differently in a
way that suits you. Whatever you decide, once your Raw files are in the designated
folder, leave them there. After the import, you can use Collections and Collection
Sets to organise them.
The illustration on the right shows the Folders panel, part of the left hand set of
panels in the Library module. The folders displayed here mirror the folder structure
on your hard drive. Click on the arrow next to any folder name to reveal or conceal
subfolders. The contents of the selected folder or folders are displayed in the centre
of the screen.
Click the Import button at the bottom of the left-hand panel to begin importing
Raw files. This opens the Import window shown on the next page. After the
import, your photos will appear in the Folders panel.

TIFF and JPEG files

You can also use Lightroom to import and edit TIFF and JPEG files. Its useful to
know that you can use the Library module to organise your TIFF and JPEG files,
as well as your Raw files, if you wish. Any edits you make to a JPEG or TIFF file are
saved in the Catalog, the same way as edits made to Raw files. The original always
remains intact and you can revert back to it any time.

26

These are the hard drives

containing images that have
been imported into your Catalog.
Each hard drive has a separate
heading. If the Catalog contains
files from hard drives not
connected to the computer, they
are displayed but greyed out to
indicate they are not connected.

Important: If you move folders or

files, or change their names after
importing into Lightroom, then
Lightroom wont know where to
find your images. You can avoid
this by renaming files or moving
folders within Lightroom. Moving
folders is easy just click on the
folder you want to move and drag
it to the new location. Get in the
habit of moving or renaming files
and folders in Lightroom it will
save you a lot of frustration and
wasted time.

Importing Raw files from

a memory card
This is Lightrooms import panel.
There are three steps in import
process, each controlled by a
different part of the Import window:
1. Tell Lightroom where to
import Raw files from.
2. Select which Raw files to
import.
3. Decide where the Raw
files are to be saved, and
which settings to apply
to the images as they are
imported.

27

1.

2.

3.

The location
from which you
are importing
Raw files. In this
example it is a
memory card with
the title EOS_
DIGITAL.

The destination
where the Raw files
will be moved or
copied to.

Other potential
locations on your
computer for
importing photos
from. Most of these
are hard drives.

Indicates which
Lightroom preset,
if any, is used to
process the Raw
files.

Select quality of
image previews.

Indicates which
additional
metadata, if any,
is added to the
images upon
import.

Minimise Import
window button.
Shrinks import
window down to
smaller size.

Number of photos in current import,

plus approximate size of import.

28

The destination of
the imported files.

Toggle between thumbnail

and single image view.

Indicates if an Import
Preset is selected.

Thumbnail size
slider.

When the settings are finalised, click the

Import button to commence importing.

Importing photos from

an external hard drive
If youre not moving your imported
files to a new folder, you will see
less options in the right hand
panels. This may happen if you are
importing JPEG or TIFF files into
Lightroom. In this example, the
source is a folder (or folders) on an
external hard drive.

29

Import window options

Benefits of DNG:

Lets look at some of the import options in greater detail. These are the main
settings you will use. The idea is to let Lightroom do as much work as possible
upon import, so that you dont have to do it later.

When you convert Raw files to DNG Lightroom gives you the option of embedding
Fast Load Data (set this up under the File Handling tab in Preferences). This is a
preview that enables the Develop module to work faster and can also speed up the
rate at which Lightroom creates previews. If you ever feel that Lightroom is running
too slow, then switching to DNG could be beneficial. According to Adobe, including
Fast Load Data adds around 200Kb to the image size and gives a speed increase of
up to eight times. DNG files also take up less hard drive space. The overall saving
can be as much as 20%.

Copy as DNG

With DNG files you can save editing data in the file itself rather than in a sidecar
(.xmp) file that sits alongside the file in the same folder. This is useful if you use
Photoshops Adobe Camera Raw to process your images, but is not important in
Lightroom as the data is saved in the Catalog instead.

Use this setting to copy your Raw files from your cameras memory card, convert
them to the DNG format, save them in a new location and add them to the Catalog.

What is DNG?
DNG stands for Digital Negative and is a Raw file format created by Adobe. There
are very few cameras that use the DNG format (Hasselblad and Leica are two). Most
manufacturers have their own Raw file format. One benefit often touted of the
DNG format is that converting your Raw files to DNG ensures that they are saved in
a format that Adobe software can read for many years or decades into the future.
While this seems logical, Im sure that Canon, Nikon, Sony etc. will support their
Raw formats for just as long. And if any of these companies are to fold in the future,
who knows which it will be? Maybe Adobe will be the first to go and DNG will no
longer be supported. Regardless, if there is ever a need to convert Raw files to DNG
in the future for archival purposes, you can do it at any time, either with Lightroom
or Adobes free DNG converter program (download links: Mac | PC).

30

Note: You can set Lightroom to save editing information in a sidecar file, or within
a DNG file, by going to Metadata > Save Metadata to File. This is useful if you
intend to open the file in Adobe Camera Raw, but there is not much point if you
only ever edit the file in Lightroom. You select this option on an image by image
basis.

Tick this box to include Fast

Load Data in DNG files.

Disadvantages of DNG:
Longer import times. It takes longer for Lightroom to convert your Raw files to
DNG than it does to simply copy them. However, you can always let your computer
import Raw files while you are busy doing something else, or even let it do it
overnight so your files are ready for you in the morning. The increase in speed
gained from including Fast Load Data is worth the effort.
Some software, such as Canons DPP, Nikons Capture NX and DxO Optics Pro
cannot read DNG files.

31

File Handling

Copy
Copies your Raw files, saves them in a new location and adds them to the Catalog.
Select this option if you are importing images from a memory card, but dont want
to convert them to DNG.

The File Handling panel is where

you tell Lightroom which size
previews you would like to create
when you import photos, and
whether you want it to build Smart
Previews or make duplicate copies
of your files.

Render Previews
Set to 1:1 for the highest quality previews. They take longer to render, but make
previewing and processing images much faster.

Move
Moves your Raw files from their current location to a new one and adds them to
the Catalog. Select this option if you want to move files from one folder on a hard
drive to another and import them to the Catalog at the same time.

Build Smart Previews

Smart Previews are new in Lightroom 5. They let you edit images in the Develop
module when the hard drive your Raw files are stored on isnt connected.
Potentially useful if you use a laptop and would like to take it away somewhere
with you. You can leave the external hard drive containing your Raw files safely at
home and edit any images with Smart Previews while on the road.

Dont Import Suspected Duplicates

Keeping this box ticked prevents you accidentally importing the same set of
images twice.

32

Add

Make a Second Copy To

Add photos from the selected folder or folders to the Catalog. Use this option if
you have already moved or copied Raw files from a memory card to a hard drive.

Tick this box if you are importing files from a memory card and would like
Lightroom to make a second copy of the Raw files to another external hard drive.

Tick this box to enable file

renaming.

File Renaming
Lightroom gives you the option of renaming your photo files during the import.
You dont have to do this, but it may come in useful as your photo collection grows.
Here are some reasons why:

Select one of Lightrooms file

renaming templates from this
drop-down menu (below). The
Custom Text, Shoot Name and
Start Number fields become
available if you need to enter
more information to complete the
file naming template. File name
templates you create yourself (see
next page) also appear here.

Your camera uses a sequential file naming sequence that repeats when you
reach the end. For example, on my Canon EOS cameras the first photo taken
with the camera is given a file name of IMG_0001.cr2. This cycles through until
it reaches IMG_9999.cr2, then it starts again. This means that file names repeat
themselves as the years go by. A search of my Raw files reveals that I have six
files that share the same name: IMG_0001.cr2. Theres nothing wrong with that
it doesnt affect the way Lightroom works. But you may prefer to use the File
Renaming panel to give each photo a unique name.
It may be useful to give your photos a name that tells you something about
the photo. For example, you could include the date the photo was taken, or
something relevant to the shoot (such as the name of a place or person).
Professional photographers may like to rename photo files to according to a
system that works for them. Wedding photographers could include the clients
name and the shoot date in the file name. Stock photographers may prefer to
assign filenames according to the system they use for submitting photos to their
photo libraries.
The File Renaming panel makes assigning new file names easy. Its simple to
customise all you have to do is decide how to use it.

33

Use this menu

to set the file
extension to
uppercase or
lowercase.

A sample filename, using the

criteria you have selected, is
displayed here.

If you click the Edit option in the

Template menu you will bring
up the Filename Template Editor
window (right). Use it to create
your own customised file naming
system.
The blue tokens show what will
appear in the file name. Click on
a token and press the delete key
(PC: backspace key) to delete
it. You can enter a dash (-) or an
underscores (_) between tokens
but not a space. Click on the white
arrow in the token to change your
selection. Lightroom displays an
example name above the tokens
so you can see how the file name
will turn out.

34

You can select one of these

presets to use as the basis of your
new file name template (below).
You also come here when you
are ready to save your filename
template. Select Save Current
Settings as New Preset when you
are ready.

Use these drop-down menus

to select file naming options.
Selecting a new option from a
menu inserts it into the file name
template, as does clicking the
Insert button.

Right: These images show

the difference that using a
Develop preset on import
makes. The photo on the
right was processed with
a Develop preset I created
to apply to portraits. The
differences are subtle, and
include important settings
such as Lens Corrections
and Camera Calibration.
The preset saves me time as
I dont have to make these
adjustments in the Develop
module.

Without Develop preset

With Develop preset

Apply During Import

Keywords

Apply Develop Settings and add Metadata and Keywords at the import stage.

Add keywords to the imported images. Use them wisely to help you manage and
organise your growing collection of images.

Develop Settings
One of Lightrooms features is that you can save some or all of the settings that you
use to process a photo into a Develop Preset. You can then apply that Develop
Preset to other images in the Develop module, the Library module or the Import
window. An advantage of presets is their potential for automating mundane
processing tasks to save you time. You can also buy presets created by other
photographers designed to give your photos a certain look. Some photographers
and software companies give presets away for free.

35

Heres an example. Lets say youve just taken some portraits of a friend or model.
At the import stage you can add that persons name to the Keywords field. Then,
at a later date, you could bring every photo youve taken (and keyworded) of that
person together into a Smart Collection.
The same applies to photos of any subject. A few minutes thinking about how you
use keywords will pay dividends as your confidence with Lightroom grows.

Metadata
Any images you import already contain metadata inserted into the photo by
the camera. Metadata is information such as the camera settings used (aperture,
shutter speed, ISO, focal length and so on) and the model, make and serial
numbers of the camera and lens.
You can add or amend metadata in Lightroom. One of the places you can do
this is in the Library module. Another is the Import window, and you do so by
creating a Metadata preset to apply to imported images. Its a good way to ensure
that important information such as copyright, your name and contact details are
embedded into every one of your images. Heres how to set it up:
Go to Metadata > Edit Metadata Presets.
Scroll down to the IPTC Copyright and IPTC Creator headings and fill in the
appropriate fields with your personal information. Use or Option + G (Mac) or
Alt + 0169 (PC) to enter the Copyright symbol.
Repeat with any other fields that you want to include. Note that if you leave a
field blank, Lightroom will clear that metadata field in your Raw files even if it
contains information. Press the Check Filled button to avoid that.
Click Done, then Save As to give the Metadata Preset a name.
Select the Metadata Preset name you have just created in the Metadata field
of the Apply During Import panel.

36

Destination
Select the destination for Lightroom
to save the imported files if you
have selected the Copy as DNG,
Copy or Move options.
The large white arrow indicates
the destination folder.

Import Preset
Tick the Into Subfolder box to
create a new folder to save the
imported files in.
The Organise setting lets you
choose whether to save all
imported files in a single folder,
or whether to save them in
subfolders according to date.

When you import images, Lightroom remembers the settings that you selected for
the next time. If you follow the same pattern whenever you import new images
you probably dont need to create any Import presets, as you will only ever make
minor changes (such as choosing a different destination).
However, its possible that you change your settings regularly according to the
requirements of each particular shoot. One example I can think of is where two
people or more photographers share the same Lightroom Catalog. In this case, you
could create two Import presets, one for each person. Its an easy way to ensure
that the correct settings, including the Metadata preset, are used for each import.
To set up an Import Preset, go to the Import Preset menu at the bottom of the
Import window. Click the double-arrow icon on the right and select Save Current
Settings as New Preset. You will be prompted to give the Preset a name. You can
switch between presets or restore the default presets at any time.

37

Using the Library

Module
The time required to import your images depends on the number
and size of your Raw files plus the settings you selected. Large
shoots may take several hours.
When the import is complete, Lightroom returns you to the Library module. Now
you can view your images and start the process of editing them down to the
best few to process in the Develop module. There are a number of tools to make
viewing and editing (as in selecting the best) of your Raw files quick and simple.
Once you have a good system in place, you will be surprised at how easy it is to
keep your photos organised. The benefit becomes clear right away as you find
yourself with more time to take and to process your images.

38

The power of the Lightroom Catalog

Lets take a closer look at the Lightroom Catalog, and why it is such a good way of
organising your images.

You open the edited Raw file in Photoshop, where you make some more
adjustments, then save the edited image as a TIFF or JPEG file.

At first it may seem problematic to store every edit you have ever made to your
photos, including Raw processing, in a central location. What if the Catalog is lost or
the file corrupted is the potential there to lose all your edits in one go?

Do you see what just happened here? If your Raw files and sidecar files get
separated, the edits are lost (one exception: if you use the DNG format you can
save the sidecar file information within the DNG file itself ). You also have an edited
TIFF or JPEG file, most likely saved in a different folder (which needs backing up,
creating more hassle). Youve just ended up with two versions of the same photo
(Raw file plus sidecar file and a TIFF or JPEG file).

Thankfully, the answer is no. Lightroom makes regular backups of your Catalog
(providing you havent disabled this in the Catalog settings). Furthermore,
Lightroom saves each backup in a new folder. So, worse case scenario: both your
Catalog and the most recent backup become corrupted or somehow get lost (an
event that is highly unlikely in itself ). You can then go back to the previous backup,
and you will only lose the edits you made since that backup was made. If you make
an off-site backup of your Raw files (which you should), you can also include a copy
of the most recent Lightroom Catalog for extra security. Not to mention backing up
the Catalog to Dropbox every now and then. Take care of your backups, and you
have nothing to fear from a corrupted Catalog or hard drive failure.

In Lightroom, you have just one Raw file, and the edits are stored in the Catalog.
As long as you have a copy of the Catalog, you will never lose any of the edits. You
dont even need to finish the editing process by converting the Raw file to a TIFF or
a JPEG file until you actually have need of that file. This will save a lot of hard drive
space in the long run. My Catalog and previews folder together occupy the same
hard drive space as 66 16 bit TIFF files created from my EOS 5D Mark IIs Raw files.
The total number of images in my Catalog? A little over 50,000. Only the best of
those have been processed, but 50,000 is still way more efficient than 66.

Compare this to the way it used to be with Photoshop:

You open your Raw file in Adobe Camera Raw and edit it.
You save the file. Edits are stored in a sidecar file (extension .xmp) in the same
folder as the Raw file.

39

Furthermore, all the edits are non-destructive. I can go back to any file and change
any of the settings, or make a virtual copy and a new interpretation of the image.
This is all down to the power of the Lightroom Catalog.

Lightroom shortcuts
Cant remember your shortcuts? You can view a list at any time by pressing Cmd +
/ (PC: Ctrl + /). Lightroom displays the shortcuts relevant to the module youre
using. They stay on the screen until you click on the overlay.

Library module shortcuts

40

Develop module shortcuts

The purpose
of the Library
module
The illustration on this page
shows the Library module after an
image import. The screen is a little
crowded, but dont forget you can
hide any of the four edge panels
by clicking on the white arrows at
the edge of the screen. You can also
press the Tab key to hide the side
panels or Shift + Tab to hide all four.
By the way, when you see your
photos laid out in a grid like this
you are in the Grid view. If you see
a different layout, press G to get to
the Grid view.

41

The purpose of the Library module

is to view, search, organise, rate,
keyword and edit (as in select the
best photos for processing) images.
You can also carry out rudimentary
developing in the Quick Develop
panel.
At this stage, straight after the
import, Lightroom opens the
Folders panel (one of the left hand
panels). The folder containing the
imported photos should be selected
(right).

Tip: If there are any images in laying on their side, you can rotate them by
hovering over the thumbnail and clicking on one of the rotate arrows that
appear in the bottom corners. If the auto-rotate feature on your camera is
enabled, Lightroom rotates the images automatically for you.

42

Viewing images
Soon, I will show you how to
organise your photos in Collections.
This makes it easier to edit them
down to the best ones that you
are going to process. But first, lets
take a look at the tools Lightroom
gives you for viewing, comparing
and searching your images. They
work regardless of whether you are
looking at photos stored in a folder
or in a Collection.
If you are like most photographers
one of the first things you will want
to do after import is view your
photos to see if they look as exciting
as they did on the cameras LCD
screen. Lightroom 5 (but not earlier
versions) gives you an easy way
to do that. Just press the F key to
enter full-screen mode. Your photos
will fill the screen (right), and you
can use the arrow keys to move
through them.

43

The Toolbar
The Toolbar is located at the bottom of the Content window (below). The icons
represent the different functions available in the Library module. They are there to
help you navigate through and organise the images in the folder or Collection that
you are viewing. The Toolbar appears in every module, and changes accordingly.

Tip: Click on the white arrow

on the right-hand side of the
toolbar to select which icons are
displayed (right). The settings
change according to the module
you are working in.
Shortcut: Press T to hide and
reveal the Toolbar. This shortcut
works in every module.

Toolbar (T)

44

View Modes
There are four view modes in the
Library module:

White flag
icon indicates
image is
flagged as a
pick.

Image size
in pixels.

File name
and type.

This number indicates the

image is the fourth in the
selected folders or Collections.

Click this circular icon to add

or remove photo to Quick
Collection or Target Collection.
Can also use the letter B.

Grid View (G)

Unselected
image (dark
grey border).
The style of the
coloured frame
indicating the
colour label is
also different.

Displays thumbnails of
selected images. Use the
Thumbnail Size slider
in the Toolbar (press T to hide/
reveal) to adjust size of thumbnails.
The diagram opposite shows the
information about the photo
contained in the Grid View with
the Expanded Cells option
activated (View > Grid View Style >
Expanded Cells).

Selected
image
(light grey
border).

Shortcut: Use the G key shortcut

to enter Grid View from anywhere
in Lightroom.

Image star rating

45

Image colour label (also

indicated by coloured
frame around thumbnail).

These two small icons indicate that the image

has been added to at least one Collection (left)
and that it has develop adjustments (right).

Grid View styles

You can customise the appearance of the Grid View cells by going to View > Grid
View Style > Expanded Cells (below). Alternatively, use the J key shortcut to
cycle through the styles.
You can customise the Grid View cells even further by going to View > View
Options (right). Here you can decide what information you would like to see
displayed alongside the image thumbnails.

46

Loupe View (E)

Loupe View is for viewing one photo at a time. It differs from Full-screen
mode in that you can access the Toolbar, and apply a grid overlay to
help you see whether the horizon, or any other lines such as the sides of
buildings, are straight.
Use the Zoom slider in the Toolbar to enlarge the image. The left-most setting
of the Zoom slider (Fit) makes it fit your screen size. The next setting (Fill)
expands the image so that it matches the dimensions of your monitor. The next
settings are size related and range from 1:16 to 11:1.
Click the left-mouse button to zoom between the Fit and the last zoom setting
used. This also works if you press the F key shortcut (Lightroom 5 only) to enter
full-screen mode.
Shortcuts: In Loupe view, hit the Escape or G keys to return to Grid view. If the
image is zoomed, the first touch of the Escape key will return it to the Fit setting.
Press Escape again to return to the Grid view.

47

Tick the Show Grid box to reveal the grid overlay. Use the slider underneath to set
the size of the squares. If you hold the Cmd key (PC: Ctrl) down you can alter the
size of the grid and the opacity of the lines by mousing over the Size and Opacity
settings that appear at the top.

48

Go to View > Loupe Overlay and tick the Guides option. This turns the central
horizontal and vertical grid lines into guides that you can move by holding down
the Cmd (PC: Ctrl) key. They may come in useful for checking the straightness of
horizons and buildings.

Customising Loupe View

In both Loupe View and Compare View, you can use the I keyboard shortcut to
display an overlay containing information about the selected file or files (below).
Press the I key again to see new information, and a third time to make it disappear.
You can customise the appearance of the Info overlay by going to View > View
Options (right). Here you can select which information you would like to see
displayed when you press the I key by changing the settings in Loupe Info1 and
Loupe Info 2.
Tick the Show Info Overlay box to see the Info Overlay whenever you enter
Loupe view or Compare view.

49

Compare View (C)

The Compare View lets you view two images together in order to, well,
compare them. There are many reasons why you might do this, not
least is that it lets you chose between two similar images.
To compare two images, do the following in Grid View:
Select an image by clicking on the thumbnail. The border turns light grey to
indicate it is selected. In Compare View, Lightroom calls this image the Select.
Select a second image to compare it to by clicking on the thumbnail. The border
turns a slightly darker shade of grey to indicate the selection. In Lightroom this
image is called the Candidate.
Press the C key shortcut to go to the Compare View.
The Compare view lets you compare two images. Use Survey View to compare
more than two photos.

50

Select image.

Candidate image.

Use these keys to

navigate through
the images in the
selected folder
or Collection.
The Select
stays the same,
the Candidate
changes.
Set colour label.
Set star rating.

Deselect photo.

Reject image.
Flag or unflag
image as a pick.

Link Focus: Click the lock to

zoom both images in tandem.

51

When the Link Focus lock icon is in the

unlocked position you can zoom into
either image independently. Click the
Sync button to bring the second image
back into tandem.

Swap the Select

and Candidate
images.

Make the
Candidate
image become
the Select
image.

Press Done to leave

the Compare View.
Lightroom takes you
to the Loupe View
and displays the
Select image.

Survey View (N)

Use Survey View to
compare three or more
images. Click on one of
the images to select it. The selected
image has a white border. You can
flag, reject or change the rating of
the selected photo.

52

Lights out
There are times when you will find everything going on in the background around
your photos distracting. When that happens, press the L key to highlight the
selected image (or images) by fading out the rest of the Lightroom interface.

53

Its an ideal way of examining your images without distractions. If you go to the
Interface tab in Preferences you can also change the screen colour and the dim
level from their defaults. You can activate Lights Out from anywhere in Lightroom.
Use the L key to cycle through the Lights On (below left), Lights Dim (below
middle) and Lights Off (below right) display modes.

The most selected image

Did you notice that in the screen shots on the previous page one of the selected
images is surrounded by a lighter grey panel than the other? That means that it is
the most selected image:
The first image you select has the lightest border and is the most selected
image.
The next images you select have a light border.
Unselected images have a dark grey border.
You can use the / key shortcut to deselect the most selected image. The
second image you selected then becomes the most selected image.
Keep in mind the following principles as we work our way through the ebook. They
will help you understand the way selecting images works in Lightroom:
In Grid view (G), any changes you make will be applied to all selected images.
In Loupe view (E), any changes you make are applied to the most selected
image only.

54

Searching images
One of the benefits of Lightroom is that it is very easy to search through your
images. The precise reasons you might do this depend on your needs. For example,
you may have owned a 50mm prime lens for a number of years, and be curious to
see photos taken with that lens. Thats simple to achieve in the Library module.
You can also refine the search. You might choose to limit it to certain folders or
Collections, to a specific date range, or even to photos taken using an aperture of
f2.8 or greater. All these, or any combination, are possible.
Incidentally, you could also carry out this search using a Smart Collection. I will
show you how later in the ebook.
Filter Bar
Use the Filter bar to make a search. Its positioned above your photos in the centre
panel of the Library module. If you dont see it, use the \ key shortcut to reveal it.
Use Cmd + L (PC: Ctrl + L) to turn the filters on and off.

55

Filter bar

Tip: Use the Sort menu in the Toolbar to set the criteria determining the display
order of images. The default is Capture Time, which displays images in the order
they were taken. There are 11 more criteria to choose from (right). Click the Sort
Direction icon (AZ icon) to reverse the display order.
This simple search technique may be all you need to find the photos you are
looking for in a folder or Collection. For example, lets say you want to find all the
photos in folder or Collection with the colour label green. Go to the Sort menu and
select the Label Color option. Lightroom displays the images with colour labels
first, and groups photos with the same colour label together.

Sort menu

56

Selecting folders or Collections

Your first task is to choose which folders (or Collections) to search. You do that by
going to the appropriate panel and clicking on the relevant folders or Collections.
Select more than one by holding down the Cmd (PC: Ctrl) key while you click:

Example 1: Search the folder Hawkes Bay and all

subfolders.

57

Tip: Use the Lock Icon on the right-hand side of the Filters bar to retain the current
search settings when you go to another folder or Collection after performing a
search. If it is in the unlocked position the filters will be turned off when you switch.

Example 2: Search the folder 2013 and all

subfolders.

Example 3: Search the folders 01. January, 02.

February, 03. March and all subfolders.

Searching by text

Library Filters
The filters accessed through the Filter bar are called Library filters. They fall
into three categories: Text, Attribute and Metadata. Selecting None turns the
filters off. The double arrow icon on the right hand side of the filter bar provides a
shortcut to commonly used search criteria.

Text
The Text filter is for searching metadata for specific text, or combinations of text.
The most useful searchable field here is keywords, assuming that you apply to
keywords to your photos upon import.
Example use: With landscape photos you could add the keywords landscape plus
the name of the country they were taken in to the images upon import. This makes
it easy to search for landscape images taken in a specific country (enter the terms in
the Keywords field) and bring them together in a single virtual folder.

58

Attribute
Lets you search according to pick status, star rating or colour label. You can also
limit the search to include master photos, virtual copies or movie files.

Metadata
This is the most powerful of the three filters. The default setup is shown on the
right. You can add or remove columns (hover over the column heading and click
on the arrow that appears on the right) and you can also change the search criteria
in each column by hovering over the column heading and clicking the doublearrow icon that appears on the left. There are 26 search criteria to choose from
in Lightroom 5, including some you wont find in earlier versions such as Smart
Preview Status.
Note that each column is dependent on the results from the previous column to
its left. For example, the first column in the example here includes all the images in
my Raw folder. The second column lists all the cameras I have used in that nine year
period, and the third all the lenses.
If I limit the search to the year 2013 (bottom right) the second and third columns
change to include only the cameras and lenses used during that year.
Tip: You can combine any two search types search by clicking on both to activate
them. You can even use all three for the ultimate customised search.

59

Finally, there is one more way to search photos. If the Filmstrip is visible at the
bottom of the screen you can enable Library filters by selecting one of the options
from the menu on the far right (see below). The selected setting activates the
relevant Text, Attribute or Metadata filters in the Filter Bar. The search is carried
out in the selected folders or Collections.

Tip: Click the flag, rating or colour

label icons in the Filmstrip to filter
the displayed images by those
criteria (right). You can combine
filters: for instance, you could
choose to display flagged images
with a star rating of five and a colour
label of red.

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Show Flagged images only.

Show images with a rating of five stars only.

Show images with a red colour label only.

Rating images

Flagged as pick.

Now, there seems to be as many ways of rating images as there are photographers,
so Im going to share the method that works for me here and then leave it up to
you to decide what to do. My approach is based on the idea that I dont want to
spend too much time rating images my aim is to narrow down the selection to
the best images and the ones that Im interested in processing.
Whichever way you prefer to work, Lightroom gives you plenty of options for
rating and grading images. Thats a good thing as some photographers have
more complex rating and sorting criteria than others. Wedding photographers, for
example, have different requirements to say, occasional landscape shooters.
My approach differs according to the subject. If its a landscape shoot I may only
take five or ten images. Its easy to use flags to mark the ones that I want to process
as it isnt difficult to pick the best photos from such a small selection.
Portraits, however, are different. Ive had shoots where Ive taken over 500 images.
My aim is to get that number down to the thirty or so best that I will process
properly. It takes time, so I want to simplify the process. I use Collections and Picks
to do so. Adopting the system I will show you here has been one of the best things
Ive ever done. Im much more organised in Lightroom because of it, and I spend a
lot less time in the Library module than I used to.
Lightroom provides three rating tools for you to use: flags, star ratings and colour
labels. Ill explain how they work over the next few pages.
Star rating.

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Colour label.

Tip: One benefit of rejecting images is that Lightroom gives you the option of
deleting them from your Catalog. You can do this by going to Photo > Delete
Rejected Photos in the Library or Develop modules. Selecting this option deletes
rejected photos from the currently active folder or Collection.

Flagging images
The flag tool is very useful and is the basis of my method (which I explain fully in
the section about Collections). The default status of imported images is unflagged.
Press the P key to flag an image as a pick. Lightroom displays a white flag next to
the image (see above) and in the Toolbar. If you change your mind, just press the
U key to remove it.
Press the X key to mark a photo as rejected. Lightroom displays a black flag and
greys out the image in Grid view. Use the U key to remove it, or P to flag it as a
pick. Rejected images can still be selected and viewed in Compare or Survey Views.

62

In the Folders panel (it doesnt work with Collections) Lightroom gives you a
choice between deleting rejected photos from the Catalog (which means they
remain on your hard drive and can be re-imported) or deleting them from the hard
drive as well. Deleting rejected files from your hard drive will save on disk space.
But unless you have copies elsewhere, the files are gone forever.
Whether you do that or not is down to you. The risk is that you may delete files that
have emotional or documentary significance in the future. But it may be a useful
way of saving hard drive space by deleting images that are poorly exposed or not
focused properly.

Star ratings
Star ratings assign images a value from one to five. The general approach seems to
be to give the best images a five star rating and use the other star ratings for the
rest. Imported images have a zero star rating by default. You can assign a rating by
using the keyboard shortcuts 1 to 5 or by clicking on the star icons in the Toolbar.
Lightroom displays the star rating next to an image and in the Toolbar (see right).
Star ratings have a use in searches. For example, if you wanted to find your best
portraits, you could search for images that have a five star rating and contain the
keyword portrait. Naturally, this will only work if you adopt a consistent approach
to keywords and star ratings from the beginning.
My aim is to spend as little time in the Library module as possible, and decide
which images to process in the Develop module as quickly as I can. For this reason I
dont use star ratings. An image either makes the cut or it doesnt. I have no interest
in wasting time trying to decide how many stars an image that I am not going to
process deserves.

Five star rating.

Three star rating.

63

Three star rating.

Colour labels
The final way of rating an image is to assign a colour label. There are five to choose
from: red, yellow, green, blue and purple. You can use these for any purpose you
like. Lightroom gives you some options to get you started, or you can customise
the settings to suit yourself.
Suggestions Ive come across include marking images for conversion to black
and white, uploading to Flickr or for printing or uploading to a website. Another
use is to help you keep track of images that you are processing. You could assign
one colour to images that you want to process, another to images that are partly
processed, and another to images that are finished.
Go to Metadata > Color Label Set (while in the Library module) to view the
colour label options (see right). From here you can select one of Lightrooms Colour
label sets or create your own. The colour label is displayed in the Toolbar and as a
coloured frame around the photo in Grid view.

The selected image has a thin

coloured frame around it to
indicate the colour label.

64

Unselected images have a thick

coloured frame to indicate the
colour label.

Colour label settings

This is a user
created preset. The
tick shows that it is
the active Colour
Label Set.

65

Select Edit to alter,

delete or rename
an existing preset,
or to create a new
preset.

These are the

Colour Label Sets
that come with
Lightroom.

These are the Lightroom default Colour label settings. You can leave them as they
are, but it makes more sense to enter new values to remind you of their purpose.
You can change any of the labels in any of Lightrooms Colour label sets. Enter the
new values, and click Change to finalise them. Alternatively, you can go to the
Preset menu at the top and select Save Current Settings as New Preset to create
a new custom colour label set.

The Bridge Default Colour label set uses the same settings as Adobe Bridge. It
may be useful if you are accustomed to those colour label settings.
The numbers on the right side of each field are keyboard shortcuts. The fifth colour
label (purple) doesnt have a keyboard shortcut; assign it a function that you dont
use as often as the others.

66

The Review Status Colour label set gives you another way to use the colour labels.

If you forget what the Colour labels mean, you can quickly check by going to
Photo > Set Color Label (Library, Develop and Map modules only). You can use
this menu option to apply a colour label to the selected photo as an alternative to
using the shortcut keys.

These are my colour labels. I dont use the red and yellow labels much, but I do
find the green and blue ones useful. You may like to read the section on Smart
Collections before deciding how you will use Colour labels, as you can use both
together to help organise and search your images.

67

The Painter
Activate the Painter by clicking on the spray paint can icon in the Toolbar (or go to
Metadata > Enable Painting). It gives you a quick way of carrying out tasks such
as flagging, adding keywords, rotating images or applying colour labels while you
are in the Grid view of the Library module.
You need to click on the double arrow icon to select which criteria you want to
paint. The options in the Toolbar change according to the function selected (see
right). Heres what each allows you to do:
Keywords:
Label:
Flag:
Rating:
Metadata:
Settings:
Rotation:
Target collection:

Add one or more keywords

Add a colour label
Set to flagged, unflagged or rejected
Apply a star rating
Select a metadata preset to apply
Select a Lightroom preset to apply
Rotate images
Add images to the Target Collection (this function is
covered in more detail in the section about Collections).

Select the setting you want to apply. Lightroom displays the paint can icon when
you hover over an image thumbnail. Click on the thumbnail itself (not the frame) to
apply the change. Keep the mouse button held down to spray over several images.
Use Cmd + Z (PC: Ctrl + Z) to undo if you make a mistake.

68

The Painter icon.

You can think of the Painter is as an alternate way of selecting images. Rather than
using the Ctrl or Shift keys to select multiple images and then make an adjustment
(such as adding a keyword) that affects them all, the Painter lets you modify one
image at a time.

Other buttons
There are five more buttons in the Toolbar in the Library module that you may find
useful:

Here are some practical uses:

Adding keywords to images. Its quicker to use the Painter to add keywords
than it is to access each image individually.
Send images to a Target Collection.
Apply a specific Lightroom Develop preset to certain images.
Scroll left or right
through images.

Apply a colour label. For example, if you have a colour label for photos that you
want to convert to black and white, you can apply it while in Grid view using
the Painter to the appropriate images.
Rotate clockwise (r)
or anti-clockwise (l).

69

Play a slideshow of
selected images.

the lef t hand

panels
Now its time to take a look at the left and right hand panels in the
Library module. Lets start with the left. These five panels are there
to assist you with viewing and organising photos. The Navigator
panel at the top helps you view images, and displays a thumbnail of
the most selected image. The other four assist you in dealing with
groups of images.
One of those four panels, the Publish Services panel, is so useful that Ive given it its
own section. The others, the Catalog, Folders and Collections panels, all help you
view, search and organise your photos. Lets take a look at how you can use them.

70

Working with panels

These tips will help you control the four panels that surround the Content
window. Each one contains useful information or functions, but there are times
when you may want to move them aside to help you see the photos in the middle.
Here are the keyboard shortcuts I showed you earlier. They work in every module:

Tab key:
Shift+Tab keys:

Show or hide the left and right hand panels.

Show or hide all four panels.

You can also click on the white arrows at the edges of the screen to hide or reveal
individual panels. Right-clicking on the same arrows brings up more options:

Auto Hide & Show

Enable this setting to make the panel appear when you move the cursor close to
the edge of the monitor with the mouse, and disappear when you move the cursor
away. If you click on the white arrow when you see the panel, the panel wont
disappear when you move the mouse away. Click on the white arrow again to
make the panel disappear. This is the default setting.

Auto Hide
The panel disappears when you move the cursor from it. You have to click the white
arrow once to make it reappear, and twice to stop the panel disappearing when
you move the mouse away.

71

Manual
The panel is only hidden or revealed
when you click on the white arrow. This
is the setting to use if you find panels
that automatically appear or disappear
annoying.

Sync with Opposite Panel

Enabling this setting has a different effect depending on which of the preceding
three options you have selected:

Auto Hide & Show

The panel opens when you move the cursor to the edge of the screen. Click the
white arrow to make the opposite panel come out as well. Both disappear together
when you click the white arrow again.

Auto Hide
Click on the white arrow once to make the panel appear, and twice to make the
opposite panel appear as well. Both disappear together when you click the white
arrow again.

Manual
The panel and its opposite number open and close together when you click on the
white arrow.

Solo Mode
As you move through the modules you will see that there is anything between four
and nine subpanels in each of the left and right hand side panels. If you have more
than one subpanel open at a time, the screen becomes crowded and it can be
difficult to find the option you are looking for.
You can avoid this by enabling Solo mode. In Solo mode, Lightroom opens just
one subpanel at a time. The only exceptions are the Navigator, Preview and
Histogram subpanels. They sit at the top of their respective side panels and will
stay open when you click on another subpanel.
Right-click on a blank space in any side panel to bring up a contextual menu:
The contextual menu varies depending
on the module. At the top is a list of
available subpanels. You can disable any
of these if you dont use them.
When Solo Mode is enabled, Lightroom
only opens one subpanel (other than
the Navigator, Preview or Histogram
subpanels) at a time.
Use this option to hide or conceal the
flourish underneath the subpanels.

72

With Solo mode enabled,

Lightroom only opens one
subpanel at a time other than
the Navigator (above), making it
easier to find your way through
the subpanels. The screen shot
on the right shows the side panel
with Solo mode disabled.

The Navigator
The Navigator subpanel displays a thumbnail of the most selected photo.

In Loupe view, click on any

of these ratios to magnify
the image. More ratios are
revealed when you click
the double arrow icon. In
Grid view or Survey view,
clicking on any of the zoom
settings takes you straight to
Loupe view with the image
magnified to that setting.

In Grid View or Survey view,

click anywhere on the
thumbnail to go straight to
Loupe view.

73

In Loupe view, click on Fit to show the entire image, or on one of the zoom
ratio settings to magnify the image. Alternatively, click on the thumbnail once
to go to the last used zoom setting. The white square indicates which part of
the image you have magnified. Drag the square around to view different parts
of the image.

The Folders panel

Use the Folders panel to browse through the folders containing the Raw and
photo files that you have imported to the Catalog. It mirrors the physical folder
structure on your hard drive (or drives).

This heading shows your

computers internal hard
drive.

This heading shows an

external hard drive. The
numbers tell you the capacity
of the hard drive and the
amount of spare space in this
format : spare space/capacity
(figures rounded to one
decimal point).

This figure tells you how

many imported images are
contained in each folder. It
includes files contained in
subfolders.

74

Click this icon to create a

new Collection, Collection
Set or Smart Collection.

The Collections panel

Perhaps the most difficult thing to get used to when you make the transition to
Lightroom is using the Catalog to organise your images. It takes a while to see the
advantages, and to learn how it can save you time.
The limitations of organising images by folder are obvious. The date system I
suggested earlier is convenient for the purposes of making back-ups. But its not
so good for organising by subject or place. With Collections, however, you can
organise your images any way you want. They sit at the heart of the Catalog and
give you the freedom you need to arrange your images in a way that works for you.
Collections are virtual folders. You can add any of the photos in your Catalog to any
Collection. When you do so, the physical location of the photo is unchanged. It is
still in its original folder on your hard drive.
There is no limit to the number of photos you can add to a Collection, or to the
number of Collections you can add a single photo to. You can also remove photos
from a Collection. When you do so, the photo remains in the Catalog and isnt
deleted from the hard drive.
Collections take up very little room in the Catalog. You can add or delete them as
you need them. If you decide to change the structure of your Collections, you can
do so easily. You cant do the same with the physical folders where you keep your
photo files, at least not without a great deal of inconvenience. They can also help
you with your workflow I will show you how shortly.

75

These are Collection

Sets. They contain
Collections or more
Collection Sets. You
cannot add photos
to a Collection Set.

These are
Collections. The
only thing you can
put in a Collection is
a photo.

These are Smart

Collections. The
ones pictured
here are present in
Lightroom when
you install it.

There are many ways in which you can utilise Collections. The only limit is your
imagination and ingenuity. Thats the beauty of the system it adapts to your
requirements. Whether they are simple or complex, theres a way that Lightroom
can help you.

Collections, Collection Sets and Smart Collections

When it comes to the physical folders on your hard drive, a folder is just a folder.
Each behaves the same way, according to the restrictions of your operating system.
Collections are different. You can have a regular Collection, a Collection Set or
even a Smart Collection. Each one behaves differently.

Collection

Smart Collection

A Collection is a virtual folder that contains photos. The file stays in its
original physical folder the Collection merely points to it. Collections
differ from physical folders in that you cannot store another Collection
inside a Collection. The only thing you can keep in a Collection is a photo
(or video) file.

A Smart Collection is one that Lightroom fills with photos determined

by rules that you create. You cannot add or remove photos from a Smart
Collection it is populated only by the criteria you put in place.

Collection Set
A Collection Set is a virtual folder that contains Collections or other Smart
Collections. You cant store photos in a Collection Set.

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Smart Collections are an extension of the search functions available in the

Filter bar. A Smart collection enables you to gather the images found by
the search in one convenient place that you can return to in the future.
Note that you cannot change a Collection from one type to another once
it has been created.

If you right-click on any photo in your Catalog, regardless of whether it is in a

Folder or a Collection, you will see a contextual menu similar to the one above.
There are three options of interest:

Show in Finder (PC: Windows Explorer)

Reveals the location of the photo on your hard drive. This is useful if you want to
know where the photo is stored, for example if you want to copy it or open it in
another program.

Go to Folder in Library
Choose this option to open the Folders panel and go to the folder containing the
photo.

Go to Collection
This icon indicates that the photo has been added to at least one Collection.

77

Click here to reveal to which Collections, if any, you have added the photo. Click on
a name to open the Collections panel and go to that Collection.

Putting it together:
Importing Raw files & Collections

1. Import images
The aim is import your Raw files into the appropriate folder on your hard drive,
optimising the Images for speed in Lightroom. For this, you need the DNG format.

Now its time to look at an example of how you can use Collections to simplify the
process of selecting the best images from a shoot to edit. There are lots of ways of
doing things in Lightroom, so dont feel that you have to follow this system exactly.
Follow it if it suits you, or adapt it to your own needs. The main benefit is that it
keeps things simple, something I always like. Simplicity saves time, and thats good
for me.
The approach you take depends as much on the number of photos you take during
a single shoot as much as anything else. If you tend to take a hundred or more
photos, then this system will save you a lot of time. If you only tend to take a few,
then you can create less Collections than I do as you narrow down your photos to
the best.
This example takes you through the entire process from importing images to
sorting them into Collections.

1. Connect the cameras memory card to your computer and click the Import
button at the bottom of the left-hand panels in the Library module. Select the
Copy as DNG option at the top of the Import window.

78

2. Open the File Handling panel

in the Import window and set
Render Previews to 1:1. Tick
the Build Smart Previews box
(Lightroom 5 only) if required.

79

3. Select the Develop and

Metadata presets to apply to the
images upon import.

4. Choose where to save the

imported Raw files. Click the
Import button when youre
ready to start importing.

5. When the import is complete

go to the Folders panel in the
Library module and click on the
folder containing the imported
files. Go to Library > Validate
DNG files to verify that the
imported Raw files are okay. The
import is complete.

2. Create Collections
To get the most out of Lightroom you need to move away from using folders
and start using Collections instead. In this section I will show you how to use
Collections to speed up your workflow.
This is a real example from a recent shoot where I took 304 photos.

1. Click on the New Collection icon to create a new Collection or Collection Set.
Use the Create Collection window (above) to give it a name. Tick the Inside a
Collection Set box to place the new Collection or Collection Set inside it.

2. To start I created a Collection

Set using the name of the model.
Any future Collections featuring
this model will also go into this
Collection Set.

3. I created another Collection Set

and gave it a name that included
the models name, the shoot
location and the month and year
it was shot.

4. I created four new Collections within the Collection set. You can see how I
use them on the next few pages.

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5. Right-click on the Full Selection Collection and choose Set as Target

Collection. Alternatively, you could set it as the Target Collection when you
create it by ticking the Set as Target Collection box.
Setting up a Target Collection gives you a quick way of adding images. All
you have to do is select the photo or photos you want to add and use the B
keyboard shortcut. The first press sends the selected image or images to the
Target Collection. If the image is already in it, pressing B removes it.

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6. Go back to the folder containing your imported Raw images and go to

Edit > Select All. Press the B key to add them to the Collection named Full
Selection. All the images in the folder have been added to the Collection.

82

7. Now its time to take a good look at the photos in Full Selection Collection
to see which ones are worth processing. In this example, I would like to
narrow down the selection from the 304 originals to the best 30 or so Id like
to process in the Develop module.

8. Click on the Full Selection Collection. Lightroom displays the photos in that
Collection in the Content window. Press the F key to go into true full-screen
mode. Youll see the most selected photo enlarged on your monitor without
any distractions (above).

Start by right-clicking on the Picks Collection and choose Set as Target

Collection. Then go to Photo menu and click on the Auto Advance option
to enable it, if it isnt already. Youll see a tick in the menu when its active
(above).

This feature works in Lightroom 5 only. Its a bit more long-winded in

Lightroom 4: press E to go to Loupe view, F to enter full screen (removes
menu bar), Shift-Tab to hide the side panels, and T to hide the Toolbar.

Tip: Right-click anywhere in

full screen mode to change the
background colour (above and
right). The default colour is black.

9. Now, youre ready to go. Press the P key to flag an image as a pick, the X
key to mark it as rejected, the U key to change your mind or the right arrow
key to move onto the next one. With Auto Advance enabled, Lightroom
displays the next image in the Collection whenever you use the P, X or
U keys. You can also click on the image to zoom. This is useful for checking
details. Lightroom zooms in to the last setting used in Loupe view.
With this method you can move quickly through the images in the Collection.
The aim is to select the images that have the most potential, and to reject any
that are out of focus or poorly exposed. It doesnt matter how many photos
you flag as a pick we will narrow them down shortly.

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10. Delete rejected images. This is up to you. Im happy to delete most poorly
exposed or out of focused images. Im never going to use those images
anyway, and they take up valuable hard drive space. Just be careful not to
delete any images that may have documentary or emotional value to you in
the future.
To delete images from your hard drive, go back to the Folders panel and select
the folder containing the image from your shoot. Then go to Photo > Delete
Rejected Photos. Lightroom gives you the option of removing the images
from the Catalog, or deleting from the hard drive as well (above).
You can also go to Photo > Delete Rejected Photos from the Collections panel,
but Lightroom will only remove the photos from the Catalog. It wont delete
them from your hard drive.

11. Back up your Raw files. Now you should back up your Raw files to two
different external hard drives, preferably one of which is kept off-site. If you
perform the back-up after deleting rejected photos, you will save hard drive
space. If you dont want to delete any Raw files, you can perform the backup
after you have completed the import.

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12. Right-click on the Picks Collection and choose Set as Target Collection. Go
back to the Full Selection Collection and enable the Filter bar (press the \ key
if you dont see it). Click on the Attributes heading then on the white flag icon
to group all the picks together. Select the picked images and press B to send
the to the Picks Collection.

13. Right-click on the Selects Collection and choose Set as Target Collection.
Go back to the Picks Collection, select all the images (Edit > Select All) and
press the U key to remove the flag. Now you can narrow down the initial
selection of picks to the images that you really want to process. Lightroom
gives you several tools to help you make the decision. You can use full-screen
(or Loupe view) to look at your images individually, or Compare or Survey
view to see them in pairs or groups (covered in more detail on the next page).
The latter options let you compare similar images to pick the best one.
Finally, when you have made your selection, you can use the Filter bar to
group the picked photos together and select them, and the B shortcut to
send them to the Selects Collection.

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Using Compare view

If, as many photographers do, you have been working the subject you will
probably end up with many similar images. You presumably want to choose and
process the best photo in a sequence, not all of them. Lightrooms Compare and
Survey views let you compare photos so you can select your favourites. They help
you hone your selection so that it contains your highest quality images.
To use Compare view, simply select two images (right) and hit the C keyboard
shortcut. You will see both images together, making it easy to decide which is best
(see next page).
Lightroom has its own terminology for the two images. The one on the left is the
Select. This is the best photo the one you intend to flag as a pick and eventually
process.
The other is the Candidate. This is the photo you are comparing the Select to.
Use the arrow keys to scroll through the images in the Collection the Candidate
changes each time you press one. If you like the Candidate better than the Select,
click the
icon to turn it into a new Select. You can flag or unflag either image at
any time.
You can also click the X icon to deselect an image, assuming that it is selected
in the first place. It may not be, as using the arrow keys to scroll through images
includes both unselected and selected photos.

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Select any two images (they dont

have to be adjacent) and press C
to go to the Compare view.

This image is the Select. This

should be your favourite out
of the sequence.

This image is the Candidate.

The idea is to compare it
with the Select. Use the left
and right arrow keys on the
keyboard to scroll through
the images in the Collection.

Click this icon to make

the Candidate become the
Select.

Click this icon to go to

Compare view.

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If this icon is in the lock

position, both images will
zoom in and pan around
together when you zoom
into one.

If the images are unlocked

you can zoom into one without
zooming into the other. Press
the Sync button to zoom into
the other image too.

Click this icon to

swap the images.

Tip: In Grid view, you can go to the drop down menu in the Filter bar and
select Flagged at any time to show the images you have flagged as a pick in
the Centre window.

Wondering how many photos have made it to your final selection? The
answer lies in the Filmstrip. With Flagged selected in the Filter bar, I can see
that I have picked 65 out of the 205 images in the Collection, and that one is
currently selected.

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Using Survey view

There are times when it may be helpful to compare more than two images at a
time. Thats where Survey view comes in useful. The easiest way to use it is to start
in the Grid view and select the images that you want to compare. Then click the
Survey view icon, or use the N keyboard shortcut to go to the Survey view. The
option to flag or unflag each image, or apply a rating or colour code, is provided at
the bottom.
You can compare as many images as you like in the Survey view.

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Click this icon to go to Survey view. When you hover over an image, an X
appears in the bottom right-hand corner. Click the X to remove the photo
from the display. You can use this technique to reduce the selection to your
favourites. Click on the flag icons underneath the images to flag the selected
photo as a pick, or to remove the flag. Use the Toolbar icons to apply ratings
and colour labels.

Collections and virtual copies

One of the advantages of Lightroom is that it allows you to make a Virtual copy of
any of your images. Virtual copies are identical to the original the idea is that once
you have made a Virtual copy you can then process it any way you like without
affecting the original. This lets you have several versions of the same image (there
is no limit to the number of virtual copies you can make).
The main benefit of Virtual copies is that the copies take up very little space in your
Catalog. Compare this way of working to Photoshop. If you want to make multiple
copies of a TIFF or JPEG file in Photoshop, each copy you make occupies the same
amount of hard drive space as the original. That quickly adds up.
As Virtual copies use so little hard drive space, you are free to experiment with
different ways of processing your images. A good example of this is working in
black and white. Lets say you have processed in image in colour, and you realise
that it would also work well in monochrome. Just make a Virtual copy, and convert
it to black and white. Now lets say that you would like to tone the monochrome
version, but are not sure exactly what colours you would like to use. You can create
as many Virtual copies of the new black and white image as you like, toning each a
different colour. Its easy to compare the results and select your favourite.
You can make things even easier by creating a new Collection specifically for
photos that you want to convert to monochrome, and adding it to the Full
Selection, Picks and Selects Collections. Even better, you can set the new
Collection up so that it just contains Virtual copies, ready to work on. Heres how:

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1. Go to the Selects Collection and mark the photos that you would like to
convert to black and white. My method is to use the Painter to apply a green
Colour label. You can do the same, or use an alternative such as keywords.
2. Click on the Attribute heading in the Filter bar and click the green square
to filter the images. You will only see images with a green Colour label in the
Content window (above).
3. Go to Edit > Select all to select all the images.

4. Click on the New Collection icon in the Collections panel and choose Create
Collection. Call it something like B&W and tick the Inside a Collection Set,
Include selected photos and Make new virtual copies boxes (above).

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5. Your Collections for the shoot should now look something like those above,
if you are using my suggested method for organising your images. The photos
contained in the B&W Collection are Virtual copies. You can change them
in any way you like without affecting the originals. You can also make more
Virtual copies if required.

Smart Collections
A Collection is similar to a folder in that you get to decide what photos should
be included or removed. Its up to you which photos are contained in a specific
Collection.
Smart Collections are different. They work on the basis that you can set rules to
determine which photos should be included. Lightroom populates the Smart
Collection automatically by searching through the Catalog and adding photos
according to the criteria you set.

Lightroom already comes with several Smart Collections. They are listed at the
bottom of the Collections panel (above). They are there as examples of how to
use Smart Collections. They also may be of practical use to you, not only as a way of
seeing which images you have added in the past month or have recently modified,
but as a way of learning how Smart Collections work.

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Right-click on one of the Smart Collections and select Edit Smart Collection. The
Edit Smart Collection window opens. Here you can see the rule (or rules) used to
create the Smart Collection, and amend them if you wish to do so.
From the illustration above you can see that the Recently Modified Smart
Collection is set up to contain all images edited within the last two days. Feel free
to change the value to whatever suits you.

Using Smart Collections: an example

In general, I recommend that you use Collections rather than Smart Collections.
They are easier to manage as they are not automated.
But there are times when Smart Collections come in useful. One potential
application is to use one to gather together images that you wish to upload to your
website, or to photo sharing websites like Flickr and 500px. This lets you see all the
photos that are either online, or that you are considering uploading, together.
Theres an easy way to do this. Start by adding the keyword website to any
images that you would like to add to your website (or photo sharing site). This is
easy to do while you are processing images if you develop an image that you are
particularly keen to share, it only takes a few seconds to add a keyword.
Go to the New Collections icon in the Collections panel and select Create Smart
Collection.
The next thing youll see is the Create Smart Collection window. Give the Smart
Collection a name (something like Website images).
The bottom half of the Create Smart Collection window is where you get to set
the rules that determine which images will be added. You can add as many rules as
you like, but for this example we only need one.

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Go to the left-hand column and select the option Other metadata > Keywords.
Set Match to All, and complete the rule by setting the middle column to Contains
and typing website in the right-hand column (above). Click the Create button
when you are ready to go. Lightroom creates the new Smart Collection.

Smart Collections more uses

Smart Collections have many uses. Another that I can think of, related to the
previous example, is to add the keyword portfolio to any image you think is
worthy of addition to your portfolio. Its then a simple matter to create a Smart
Collection to bring all your portfolio images together.
As you get proficient at searching images, you may think of ways to use Smart
Collections to speed up your workflow. You have probably also noticed that the
search criteria in Smart Collections are similar to those in the Filter bar. This means
that instead of using the Filter bar to search for images, you could create a Smart
Collection instead.
Lets say you have a 50mm prime lens a common addition to many
photographers gear collection. You may be curious, after you have owned such
a lens for a while, to see all the photos you have taken with its maximum aperture
together in one place. Heres how to set up a Smart Collection that does this:
1. Click on the New Collection icon and select Create Smart Collection. Give it an
appropriate name, such as 50mm f1.4.
2. In the first column, select Camera Info > Focal length. Complete the rule by
selecting is and entering 50 in the final column.

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3. Click the + icon to add a new rule. Go to Camera Info > Aperture. Set is and
enter f1.4 (or the maximum aperture of your lens) in the final column. Click the
Create button when you are done.

This brings every photo in your Catalog taken with a 50mm lens and an aperture of
f1.4 together in a single Smart Collection.
The benefit of using a Smart Collection rather than searching with the Filter bar is
that the Smart Collection is permanent. You can return to it at any time. You can
also modify the search criteria if you wish, or delete it when you no longer need it.

Smart Collections and workflow

It is possible to use Smart Collections in a sophisticated way to assist with
your workflow. If you would like to learn more about this, photographer John
Beardsworth outlines an interesting system on his website. You can read the article
by clicking this link:
www.beardsworth.co.uk/lightroom/workflow-smart-collections/

Smart Collections add great flexibility to Lightrooms search functions. For instance,
with the above example, you could:

Limitations of Smart Collections

Widen the search to include all images taken with an aperture of f2.8 or greater.

Before you plunge into creating Smart Collections to handle all sorts of tasks, there
are a couple of things you should bear in mind:

Limit the search to photos taken with a specific camera.

If you use keywords, you could limit the results to those that include the
keyword portraits.
Limit the result by date, so that you only see the photos taken in the last year.
The possibilities are endless. I recommend spending some time playing with Smart
Collections and familiarising yourself with the way the rules work. Im sure you will
find some interesting applications for them.

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Smart Collections work best when you use ratings, colour labels, keywords and
other metadata consistently throughout your entire Catalog.
Smart Collections dont work well with Virtual copies. If you make a Virtual copy
of an image in a Smart Collection, it isnt added to the Smart Collection. Instead,
you will find it in the folder (not the Collection) on your hard drive containing
the original image.

Temporary Collections
The other two are a new type of Collection the Temporary Collection. The
terminology is a little confusing, as these Collections will last until you either clear
or delete them, which is potentially forever. They are called Temporary Collections
because they are not designed to become a permanent part of your Collections
structure. They are located in the Catalog panel so you dont confuse them with
your permanent Collections.

The Catalog panel

The Catalog panel lies underneath the Navigator, but Ive left it until the last part
of this section as it contains a couple of temporary Collections that you may find
useful.
There are four category headings in the Catalog panel. You can think of all of these
as Collections. Click on any one of them to display the photos contained inside in
the Content window.

All Photographs
This Collection is straightforward it contains all the photos (and virtual copies)
in the current Catalog.

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Missing Photographs
If you go to Library > Find All Missing Photos Lightroom creates a Temporary
Collection called Missing Photographs in the Catalog panel (if you havent done
this before, you wont see the Missing Photos Temporary Collection).
Missing photos have been imported into the Catalog but are no longer in the
location where Lightroom expects to find them. There are a number of reasons that
could happen:
The photos are saved on a hard drive that isnt currently connected to your
computer. In this case, the location is accurate, but Lightroom automatically
flags the photos as missing as it cant find them.

Previous Import

The photos (or the folders containing them) have been moved, renamed or
deleted from within Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (PC).

The photos added to the Catalog during the last import. You may find it useful to
come here, rather than go to the Folders panel, when you organise your imported
photos into Collections.

In the latter case, Lightroom no longer knows where those files are stored and
needs your help to find them again.

The way to do it is to select the photo or folder you want to find, go to Photo >
Show in Finder (PC: Show in Windows Explorer) and click the Locate button
in the window that pops up. You can then navigate to the folder where the file is
located, or search for it on your hard drive. Make sure you tick the Find nearby
missing photos box at the bottom of the search window. That way if the new
folder contains other missing photos, Lightroom will update those as well.

Previous Process Photos and Invalid DNGs

then send the images that Lightroom finds to the Quick Collection. The Quick
Collection is permanent until you decide to clear or delete it, which means you can
then go away and do other things, and return to it when you wish.
The benefit of doing this is that it saves you the trouble of creating a Smart
Collection, and then deleting it when youre finished with it. The only disadvantage
is that you cant change the search criteria afterwards you can only begin again
and perform another search.

There are two more Temporary Collections that behave in a similar way to the
Missing Photos Temporary Collection. In both cases, the results are placed in a
Temporary Collection in the Catalog panel.
Go to Library > Find Previous Process Photos to find and group all photos
processed with any Lightroom process older than the current one. Lightroom
searches the entire Catalog.
Go to Library > Validate DNG Files to find and group any DNG files that fail the
validation test. You can search specified folders or the entire Catalog.

Quick Collection
The Quick Collection is a Temporary Collection where you can store photos
you need for a one-off purpose. The idea is that it saves you having to create a
permanent collection, then delete it afterwards if it is no longer needed.
For example, in the previous section I showed how to use Smart Collections
to search your images. There is often more than one way of doing things in
Lightroom, and another way of performing a search is to use the Filter bar and

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You can only have one Quick Collection. The easiest way to use it is to right-click
on the Quick Collection heading in the Catalog panel and select Set as Target
Collection. You can then add photos to it (or remove them) using the keyboard
shortcut B.
You can also clear the Quick Collection by right-clicking and choosing Clear Quick
Collection. If you decide that you want to turn it into a permanent Collection, you
can do so by right-clicking and selecting Save Quick Collection. Lightroom saves
it as a Collection titled Quick Collection. You can then go to the Collections
panel and change the name to something more appropriate.

The R ight Hand

panels
If the left hand panels in the Library module are for organising and
publishing your images, the six panels on the right help you apply
metadata changes (such as adding keywords or contact details) or
get a head start on developing by applying Develop presets.
Theres also a histogram to help you assess the tonal distribution of the active
image without having to move over to the Develop module. One of the benefits
of using the Library module for these tasks is that you can select entire folders or
Collections (or select groups of images in Grid view) and modify all the photos in
the selection in one go. It helps you save time by enabling you to carry out as much
work on a group of images as possible before moving over to the Develop module.

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The Histogram
This panel displays a luminance histogram (grey) in front of three colour
histograms (red, green and blue). The ISO, focal length, aperture and shutter speed
used to create the selected image are displayed underneath. And at the bottom of
the Histogram panel Lightroom tells you whether you are looking at the Original
photo or a Smart Preview, or both.
Unlike in the Develop module, you cannot use the J keyboard shortcut to reveal
shadow or highlight clipping.

The hard drive containing the

selected file is connected, and no
Smart Preview of the image exists.

The hard drive containing the

selected file is connected, and a
Smart Preview of the image exists.

The hard drive containing the

selected file is not connected,
and a Smart Preview of the image
exists.

The hard drive containing the

selected file is not connected, and
no Smart Preview of the image
exists.

If more than one image is selected, Lightroom displays the histogram and
camera settings from the most selected image. Four icons are displayed under
the histogram. From left to right they are: Originals without Smart Previews,
Originals + Smart Previews, Smart Previews, Missing. The numbers tell you
how many of the selected images are in each category.

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Quick Develop panel

Use the Quick Develop panel to apply a Develop preset, or
make global adjustments including white balance, contrast,
exposure and aspect ratio. If you select more than one photo,
the adjustments are applied to every image in the selection.
The Quick Develop panel enables you to process your images
roughly, or view the results of changing settings, without leaving
the Library module.

The arrows next to each setting

let you adjust the values of that
setting by 1/3 stop (single arrow
icon) or 1 stop (double arrow
icon) in either direction. With
settings that arent measured in
stops, such as Temperature, you
can think of the single arrow as a
small increment and the double
arrow as a large one.
Note: The Clarity setting
changes to Sharpening and
Vibrance to Saturation when you
press the Alt key.

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Keywording and Keyword List panels

How much attention you pay to keywords is up to you. I dont use keywords much,
but Im gradually finding uses for them as I get more organised within Lightroom.
In the interests of saving time, I suggest you spend as little time with keywords as
you can. Only use them if you really need to. Here are some situations where they
come in useful:
You supply images to a stock library.
You export images to photo sharing websites like Flickr or 500px using
Lightrooms Publish Services (see next section).
You use Smart Collections to organise images by keyword. A good example of
this is using the keyword website to mark images that you would like to upload
to your website.
Whatever your approach to keywords, try and keep their use as simple as possible.
If you can establish a methodology and stick to it from the outset, that will help
you in years to come as your photo collection grows.
Lightroom recognises keywords embedded into JPEG or TIFF files, or that
have been added to Raw images with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) in Photoshop.
Embedded keywords appear in the Keywording and Keyword List panels.

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If the selected photo is already

tagged with keywords Lightroom
displays them here. You can enter
keywords here.
You can also type new keywords
here.
Click on any of these suggested
keywords to add it to your photo.
Choose one of Lightrooms
keyword sets here. The keywords
in the set appear underneath, and
you can click on them to add them
to the photo.
Tip: Keyword sets are a good way
of ensuring a consistent approach
to using keywords. You can edit a
keyword set or create your own by
selecting the appropriate option
from the drop down menu.

Hierarchical keywords
The more keywords you add to your photos, the more difficult it becomes to keep
your keywords organised. The use of hierarchical keywords is one way around that.
For example, lets you have some photos taken in popular tourist attraction:
Dongtai Road antiques market in Shanghai, China. You could enter hierarchical
keywords like this:

Asia > China > Shanghai > Dongtai Road antiques market
In this hierarchy the keyword Asia is the most important, and Dongtai Road
antiques market the least important.
The benefit of hierarchical keywords becomes apparent when you look at the
Keywords List panel. The more keywords you add, the longer and more confusing
it becomes. Hierarchical keywords help you retain control over that.
Note: This example is relevant for Lightroom 5 only. In earlier versions, you use the
< rather than the > symbol to denote hierarchy. In Lightroom 4 (or earlier) the
keyword sequence would look like this:

Asia < China < Shanghai < Dongtai Road antiques market

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You can enter hierarchical

keywords in either of these
spaces.

The Keyword list panel displays all

the keywords used in the photos in
your Catalog in alphabetical order.
The number to the right of each
keyword tells you how many photos
in the Catalog use it. Cant find a
keyword? Theres a search field at
the top of the panel to help you.

Move the mouse over a keyword

and a white arrow appears. Click
the white arrow to display every
photo in the Catalog with that
keyword. The search is performed
by Lightroom in the Filter bar.

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The Metadata panel

One of the reasons you may come to the Metadata
panel is to look up the technical details of your
images. If you are wondering what settings
you used, or whether the flash fired during the
exposure, then the answers are here.
Another reason is to add your personal details.
The easiest way to do this is to create a Metadata
preset containing your name, contact details and
copyright status and apply it to your images at the
import stage. But, if you forget to apply it, or you
need to change or add something, you can do that
here.

Lightroom displays the metadata for the most

selected photo in the Metadata panel.

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Click on the double arrow icon to

reveal a list of Metadata settings.
It is worth spending some time
going through the options to
see what information each one
contains. The usefulness of
each depends on your needs.
Metadata is of more importance
to photographers who prepare
images for clients than it is for
hobbyists.
The Copyright status of your
image is shown here. Even if you
never intend to sell or even share
your photos, its still a good idea
to include your personal and
copyright details. You just never
know what you might do with
your photos in the future.

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The technical details of your

photo are here. You can refer to
these if you want to know which
settings you used. You can also
use some of these settings as a
basis for a search by clicking on
the white arrows to the right. If
youre in Grid view, Lightroom
will use the Filter bar to search
for other images with the same
setting in the selected folders or
Collections.

THE LIGHTROOM
PUBLISH SERVICEs

Imagine if you could export processed photos to a folder on your

hard drive at the click of a button. Then that Lightroom will know if
the photo has been updated, and tell you so that you can export the
photo again. And what if you could do this with online photo sharing
sites such as Flickr, 500px, Google +, Facebook and Behance?
Well, you dont have to use your imagination because the engineers at Adobe
are way ahead of you. All this and more is made possible by Lightrooms Publish
Services. Its even possible to set up your own cutting edge portfolio website and
upload images to it directly from Lightroom. I will show you how in this chapter.

106

You are probably aware that you export as many photos as you like to your hard
drive (or to any of the other options supported by Lightrooms Publish Services)
by selecting them and going to File > Export. The Export window gives you all
the options you need for choosing destination, image size, sharpening and adding
watermarks.
So, why are the Publish Services here? One reason is that they save you time.
Once you have set up a Publish Service, you can use it any time, without having to
reconfigure the Export window.

The potential for professional photographers to save time is enormous. The Publish
Services make the task of setting up folders for deliverables (i.e. JPEG or TIFF files)
for a client straightforward. It is also easy to see whether the latest version of an
image is indeed the one in the clients folder.

But the main benefit is that the Publish Services use another type of Collection
(Adobe calls them Publishing Collections). These are like Collections except that
they have just one purpose to export the photos they contain to your hard drive
(or another service like Flickr, 500px or Behance).

Hobbyists can make use of this feature too. Lets say you have a folder on your
hard drive where you keep photos to share with your family. Any time you decide
that youd like to share an image, you just add it to the appropriate Publishing
Collection. You can update the folder on your hard drive any time you like.

Publishing Collections are a little like Smart Collections in that they have some
dynamic features. In fact, they are quite clever. Let me explain.
Imagine that you use the Publish Services to export photos to a folder on your
hard drive where you store photos that you wish to upload to a stock photography
website like Alamy. One way of doing this, in Lightroom, is to process the images
and then export them to the appropriate folder. That works well if you never touch
them again. But, in real life, sometimes you want to make changes. You may decide
to process the image in a different way, or realise that you missed some dust spots,
or add some keywords. Then you need to export the photos again, and find a way
of keeping track of which images are modified.

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If you use Publish Services then Lightroom does the hard work for you. If you make
any changes to an image contained within a Publishing Collection, Lightroom lets
you know the next time you go to that Collection. You can see at a glance which
images have been amended, and export them again with a single click.

Hard Drive Publish Service

The Hard Drive Publish Service lets you export photos to a specific hard drive on
your computer. You can set up as many Hard Drive Publish Services as you wish.
Click the New Published Collection icon (below) and select Go to Publishing
Manager to get started. Youll see a window like the one on the right, where you
can set up the Publish Service. Just like the Export window, you can select criteria
such the destination, the file type, image size, sharpening and watermarks.
Get started by clicking the Add button and selecting the Hard Drive service.

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The name of the folder you have

set as the destination appears
under the Hard Drive Publish
Service. This is a Publishing
Collection. Right-click and choose
Set as a Target Collection to
send photos to this Publishing
Collection using the B keyboard
shortcut.

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You can add another Publishing Collection by right-clicking on the Hard Drive
Publishing Service heading and selecting Create Published Folder from the
menu. The name you give the new Publishing Collection is also the name of
the subfolder the Publish Service will export images to. You can add as many
new Published Folders as you like.
You can also create a Published Smart Folder or a Published Folder Set. These
behave in the same way as Smart Collections and Collection Sets.

When you add photos to a Publish Folder,

Lightroom places them under the heading New
Photos to Publish. Click the Publish button to
begin the export.

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Published photos appear under the heading

Published Photos. You can see at a glance which
photos have been exported, and which ones
havent. Click the Publish button to export any
unpublished images.

If you amend a photo that has already been

exported, Lightroom places it under the heading
Modified Photos to Re-Publish. Any change,
however minor (even the addition of a single
keyword), is enough to trigger this action.
Click the Publish button to republish modified
images.

Flickr Publish Service

If you have a Flickr account you can set up a Lightroom Publish Service to export
photos directly to your account. It works the same way as the Hard Drive Publish
Service. Each time you go to the Flickr Publish Collection you can see which photos
have been published, if there are any new images waiting to be exported, or any
modified images.
These are the benefits of using the Flickr Publish Service:
Simplifies the export process. There is no need to store photos destined for Flickr
on your hard drive, or to go to the Flickr website or use the Flickr Uploadr app.
You can set the export size within the Publish Service, and it stays consistent for
all exported images. You can set it to export small photos that are of limited use
if they are stolen.

To set up the Flickr Publish Service start by going to the Lightroom Publishing
Manager and clicking the Add button. Select Flickr in the Create New Publish
Connection window and give the new service a name (above).

You can add a watermark, or change it, at any time and republish all your images
with the new watermark.

Click the Authorize button in the Lightroom Publishing Manager to connect to

Flickr and give Lightroom permission to upload photos to your account.

You can manage multiple Flickr accounts.

You can enter a title, caption and keywords in Lightroom. You can use Keyword
Sets to keep your keywords consistent.

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You can change or deauthorise your Flickr account here.

Tells Flickr where to read the title of the photo from. Leave on IPTC Title to get
it from the title field in the metadata.
If you want to rename the files when you export them to Flickr, you can do so
here.
Tick this box if you want to export video as well as stills. Use the menus
underneath to set video quality.

Set file type and quality here.

Set file size here.
Adjust the sharpening settings if you wish here. Flickr automatically sharpens
uploaded images so it may not be necessary.
Decide which metadata to keep in uploaded images. Tick Remove Location
Info if your photos contain GPS data that you dont want people to see.

Set Privacy settings here.

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Facebook, Behance and 500px

The Facebook and Behance publish services work in a similar way to Flickr.
You can also set up a Publish Service for 500px, but you need to download the
500px Lightroom plug-in first. You can do so from this link:
http://500px.com/lightroom
After you have downloaded the plug-in, you need to go to the Lightroom Plug-in
Manager (File > Plug-in Manager) to configure the plug-in (right).

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Koken
Lightroom comes with Publish Services already set up for Flickr, Behance and
Facebook. All you need to do is enter your account details and set them up.
Weve already seen that the Publish Services can be extended using third-party
plug-ins. This system allows other people to build plug-ins that let you take
advantage of Lightrooms Publish Services. 500px is a good example. Another that
you will find useful if youd like to create your own portfolio website is Koken.
Koken is free content management software (CMS). All you need to set up a Koken
based website is your own domain name, hosting plan and a little technical know
how. The best thing about Koken, from a photographers point of view, is that it
has been designed specifically for photographers, artists, designers and other
professionals who need to display a showcase of their work online. The software
has been designed with the end user in mind and has a lot of features that makes it
more attractive to use than other CMS solutions like WordPress.
If youd like to learn more about Koken and how it works, or to download the
software and the Lightroom plug-in, you can do so at the official Koken website:
http://koken.me/

114

Benefits of Koken
The Koken Lightroom Publish Services plug-in allows you to upload photos directly
from Lightroom (version 3 and higher) to your website. If you use Lightrooms
Publish Services already you have probably begun to see the possibilities. Here are
some of the benefits:
You can tag any photo that you want to upload to your website with a keyword
like website or Koken and create a Smart Collection or Smart Published Folder
to bring them all together.
You can create Published Collections within the Koken Publish Service. Each
automatically becomes an album in Koken (i.e if you create a Published
Collection called Portraits it becomes an album called Portraits on your
Koken website). This lets you organise photos and albums for your website in
Lightroom. As with the other Publish Services, you can see at a glance which
photos are waiting to be exported, or which have been modified.
If you update a photo contained in a Koken Publishing Service Collection
Lightroom lets you know so that you can update it on your website as well.
When you republish it, the latest version is uploaded. It overwrites the earlier
one and the website updates automatically.

 You can enter the title, description and tags in Lightroom, and Koken will
recognise them. This means you can carry out your metadata updates in one
place. It saves you having to type those details in again when you upload
images to your website.
What happens if you want to add a copyright watermark to the images on your
website, or change the watermark you use? With any other system you would
have to add the watermark manually and upload the photos again. With the
Koken Publish Service, you can add (or change) the watermark with a few clicks
of your mouse and upload the new photos automatically.
Are you a professional photographer who needs to upload photos to a private
album on your website for clients to view? If you use Lightroom to process your
images, then Kokens integration with Lightrooms Publish Service makes it easy.
And when youre done with the album, you can just delete it from within Koken.
Koken comes with a number of built-in themes. You can customise them to suit
your needs or even design your own theme if you have the skill.
The illustration on the right is a screen shot from a portfolio I set up on my website
using Koken. You can visit it at this link:
www.andrewsgibson.com/portfolio/

115

Whats new in the

library module?
While this ebook is written for users of both Lightroom 4 and 5,
Lightroom 5 does have some new functions you wont find in earlier
versions.
The most exciting of these are in the Develop module, but there have been some
improvements to the Library module too. This section lists the most important new
features. Some are major, some are minor, and their importance to you will depend
on how you use Lightroom to organise your photos.

116

Press the F key in

Lightroom 5 to get from
this to this.

117

Smart Previews

True full-screen

In earlier versions of Lightroom, the hard drive containing your Raw files has to
be connected to your computer in order to use the Develop module. With Smart
Previews, thats no longer the case. This feature benefits laptop users who store
their Raw files on an external hard drive the most. Now, if you go away from home,
you can take your laptop and leave the external hard drive containing your Raw
files behind, yet still use Lightroom to edit your images.

Press the F key to enter a true full-screen mode. Lightroom displays your photo
along on a plain background. There is nothing else on the screen to distract you.
In older versions of Lightroom the F key cycles through two full-screen modes.
That feature is still available in Lightroom 5, use Shift + F to activate it.

Smart Collections
The Smart Collection criteria are grouped differently in Lightroom 5. There are
also some additional search options. Examples include Smart Preview status, bit
depth, number of colour channels, colour mode, colour profile and file type
(including PNG, a format not supported in earlier versions of Lightroom).

Above: There are more options for

searching by image size in Lightroom 5.

118

Above: There are also more options for

searching by colour. This could be helpful
for organising JPEG or TIFF images.

Above: You can now create a

Smart Collection containing
images that have Smart Previews.

Metadata search
There are two new search options in the Metadata attribute in the Filter bar. You
can now search by Smart Preview status, and PNG recognition has been added to
the File type criteria.

Set as Target Collection box

When you create a new Collection, the option to set it as the Target Collection
has been added to the Create Collection window. As in earlier versions, when a
Target Collection is activated, the B keyboard shortcut sends the selected photo
or photos to the Target Collection.

Lock zoom position

Go to View > Lock Zoom Position to retain the zoom settings when you move
between photos in the Library. Lightroom remembers the zoom ratio and the
position that you have zoomed into. This is useful for checking details like accurate
focus on a set of similar images.

119

Hierarchical keywords

Validate DNG files

Hierarchical keywords are entered differently.

Go to Library > Validate DNG files to let Lightroom check your DNG files. Invalid
DNG files are placed in a Collection. This feature helps you verify that imported files
are not corrupted before you delete the originals from your cameras memory card.

For example, typing Country > New Zealand into the Keyword Tags field adds
both keywords to the photos metadata. In this example, New Zealand is a child
keyword of country. The Hierarchy is repeated in the Keyword List panel, making
it easier to see which keywords you have used.
Older versions of Lightroom the < key instead to denote the hierarchical
relationship between keywords. So, in this example you would enter Country <
New Zealand. This may catch you out in Lightroom 5 if you are accustomed to the
way earlier versions work.

120

Conclusion

If you are new to Lightroom, or you have familiarised yourself with

the Develop module but neglected the Library, then I hope this
ebook has opened your eyes to the possibilities presented by using
Lightroom as the basis of a complete workflow system.
Adobe has handed photographers the ability to work in a way that makes
organising, viewing and searching photos easy. The end result is that you can
spend more time in the Develop module, or taking photos the areas where the
truly creative stuff happens.
If you have any questions about the content of this ebook, then feel free to email
me at andrewsgibsonwriter@gmail.com. I will answer as quickly as I can.
Happy shooting.
Andrew S Gibson

121

Photography ebooks

Mastering LIGHTROOM

The rest of my photography ebooks are listed on the next few pages. Click the links
or the ebook covers to learn more.

Andrew S Gibson
About the author
My interest in photography began when my
parents bought me a Ricoh KR-10m camera
over 20 years ago. Since then Ive taken photos
in over 60 countries, studied for a degree in
photography and worked as Technical Editor for
EOS magazine. Now Im a freelance writer and
I make a living writing about photography. In
recent years Ive lived in the UK, China and New
Zealand, which is now my home.

Mastering Photography
Your digital camera has so many
controls and buttons. How do
you know which ones to use? You
dont have to you just need an
understanding of the fundamentals,
and an eye for a good picture.
Mastering Photography is the
simple guide youve been looking
for that teaches you how to use your
digital camera.

122

Square
In Square, I delve deep into the
mysteries of the square format.
Digital cameras have opened up
the square format to everybody. But
using the square format isnt simply
a matter of cropping. It demands
a new approach to composition
and relies on aspects like shape,
simplicity and balance. This ebook
explores these concepts in detail.

andrewsgibsonwriter@gmail.com
AndrewSGibson.com
Design & layout: Andrew S Gibson
Copyright 2013 Andrew S Gibson
Notice of rights
All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means without the permission of the author.

Understanding EOS
Are you new to photography?
Are you wondering what all
the buttons and dials on your
camera are for? Do you want to
know how to use the potential
of your EOS camera to take
creative photos? Understanding
EOS teaches you how to use
your EOS camera to take
beautiful photos by exploring
the settings that you need to
know how to use to get started.
Youll learn about exposure
modes, Picture Style and white
balance, plus the importance of
composition, lighting and postprocessing.

123

Understanding Lenses: Part II

This ebook is the follow up to
Understanding Lenses: Part I
and explores Canons range of
normal, short telephoto and
super telephoto lenses. The first
section looks at the artistic side
of using normal and telephoto
lenses. Its a guide to using them
to help you create beautiful
portraits, landscape, travel and
close-up images. The second
part is a buying guide. It gives
you an overview of Canons
current lens range, and explains
the differences between the
various models, so you can
choose wisely.

Understanding Lenses: Part I

Buying a new lens can be one
of the most difficult choices you
make as a photographer. How
do you know which lenses are a
good buy if you cant try them
out beforehand? Why do some
Canon lenses cost so much and
others so little? Should you
buy a zoom lens or a prime? Is
that superzoom a good a deal
as it seems? Photography is a
creative endeavour, and lenses
are the eyes of your camera
system. Once you understand
how lenses see you can harness
their creative potential to create
eye-catching images.

Understanding Exposure
Understanding Exposure explains
the principles of exposure so
that you understand why your
camera doesnt always get the
exposure correct. Once you
understand these you will know
why your camera gets exposure
wrong, and what to do to put
it right. This ebook explores
advanced concepts in simple
terms and gives you the tools
you need to get the perfect
exposure every time. Youll be
walked through both basic and
advanced principles of exposure
and shown how to arrive at the
optimum settings every time.

Understanding DPP
Understanding DPP is written
for anybody who uses a Canon
EOS camera and wants to learn
how to get the best out of their
Raw files with DPP (the free
but powerful Raw processing
software that comes with
the camera). It will appeal to
photographers who would like
to use Raw, but are put off by
the complexity or expense of
more advanced software. Its
written for photographers who
want to use the functions within
DPP to make creative images,
and explains why as well as how
to use DPPs functions.

These ebooks are all available at Craft & Vision as downloadable PDF
files for just $5US. Click on the graphics or the links to go straight to
the Craft & Vision website for full details.

Slow
Slow takes you through the creative
possibilities of using slow shutter
speeds, from blurring motion with
a shutter speed of 1/30 second to
long exposure techniques using
shutter speeds of five minutes or
longer. It explores the creative side
of the slow end of your shutter
speed dial including slow-sync
flash, panning, intentional camera
movement and long exposure
photography. Case studies with
Doug Chinnery and Joel Tjintjelaar
complete the work.

124

Up Close
A guidebook for photographers
who want to create fresh and
stunning close-up photographs.
Enthusiasts of every level will
thoroughly enjoy the discussion of
the advantages and disadvantages
of working with the best tools. I
cover crop factor and magnification,
focusing techniques, depth-of-field,
lighting, single/double-element
lenses, reverse lens macro, extension
tubes and more. Included are two
case studies that will inspire you to
explore smaller worlds.

Beyond Thirds
This captivating and inspiring ebook
is about taking composition past
the so-called rules. Its a thoughtful
but practical look at the way we
build our photographs. It explores
important subjects like the creative
use of balance and focal points,
insights into how to shape a subject,
and using aspect ratio to establish
an ideal foundation for making
photographs, and so much more.
The diagrams will provide you with
the insights you need to compose
more engaging photographs.

The Evocative Image

How do you create images that
capture the atmosphere or show
the beauty of something that you
perceived at a particular time and
place? This ebook explores three key
concepts that will help you create
evocative images light, colour and
composition. Another concept that
I tackle is that evocative photos are
created on the edges for example,
twilight is the edge between night
and day. The topics explored in
will help you create truly moody,
captivating images.

The Magic of Black & White: Part

I Vision is written for anyone
who would like to learn to work
in monochrome. The first step
is learning to see in black and
white. The ebook is split into three
sections: composition, lighting and
subject. Youll learn how to compose
a black and white photo, how to
work in different types of light and
about subjects that work well in
black and white. This ebook will
give you an understanding of what
black and white photography is all
about, and why its such a beautiful
medium for creative self-expression.

125

The Magic of Black & White: Part

II Craft
I explain how I process my digital
black & white photos step-by-step
using Photoshop CS and Photoshop
Elements. I guide you through the
transformation process that starts
with a colour photo and ends with
a beautiful, toned monochrome
image. Craft and vision go together
black and white photography
becomes truly magical when
the two meet, and you have the
technical skills to bring your creative
vision alive.

The Magic of Black & White: Part

III Nine Photos
I take you through nine black and
white images with the intention
of explaining the more advanced
Photoshop techniques behind
them. To be anything more than
a technical exercise Photoshop
technique needs to be aligned with
creative vision. The thoughts and
emotions that drive our vision are
just as important as the Photoshop
techniques required to achieve
them. This ebook helps you think
about how you see the world and
how you can express your vision.

Andes
High in the Andes are wonders
such as the worlds highest city,
deserts above the clouds and
remote villages where the local
people hold traditional celebrations
whose origins stretch back to the
years before the Spanish conquest.
This ebook has over forty black
and white photos created during
my travels to the Andes over a six
year period. Part monograph, part
travelogue, it tells of my journeys to
the Andes and my parallel journey
through photography as I made the
transition from film to digital.