Lightroom (v5.7) - Help with the basics

Discuss equipment and methods or ask for advice
Post Reply
austinp
Posts: 297
Joined: Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:44 pm

Lightroom (v5.7) - Help with the basics

Post by austinp »

Hi :-)

I've finally picked up a copy of Lightroom, and basically don't know where to start :-S

Does anybody have any quick tips to quickly help me get the best out of my photos?

Regards in advance.

Phil

User avatar
Jakub.Zurek
UKAR Staff
Posts: 800
Joined: Wed 13 Jul 2016, 10:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Lightroom (v5.7) - Help with the basics

Post by Jakub.Zurek »

austinp wrote:Hi :-)

I've finally picked up a copy of Lightroom, and basically don't know where to start :-S

Does anybody have any quick tips to quickly help me get the best out of my photos?

Regards in advance.

Phil


Lightroom is very user-friendly after you get used to the layout. Youtube videos and free online guides can explain every aspect of it much better than I can, but I'll try to give you a very brief overview.

Initially you will want to create a catalogue: "A catalog is a database that tracks the location of your photos and information about them. When you edit photos, rate them, add keywords to them, or do other things to photos in Lightroom, all those changes are stored in the catalog. The photo files themselves are not touched."

Then you can import your images, and after you click the develop button in the top right, you'll be able to edit them. Everything is simple as it is just a slider - so you can play around.
You can boost the shadows, decrease the highlights, and move the slider for the blacks and whites to get a nice dynamic range in the image. I prefer increasing colour vibrance to colour saturation but it's up to you. The clarity tool can be fun to use as well.

When using the sharpening tool, if you hold ALT (on a Windows) whilst moving the masking slider, it'll show you which bits you are sharpening. Very useful for aviation as it means you will only sharpen the aircraft and not the sky. The noise reduction tool is not bad either. And by trial and error you'll be able to get the most out of your images. Again there's many useful videos and guides about how to make the most of Lightroom using the different features. It is a never ending learning experience. I've had Lightroom for many years but always find new and useful features/techniques.

If you have any more questions then I'm happy to help. Lightroom is so popular that you will always find the answer on Google too.

Post Reply