Objectives

By the end of the class, students will be able to:

Navigate Lightroom interface and feel comfortable in Library module
- View options
Import and organize photos in the Library
- RAW file format
- Catalog, Folders, and Collections
- Metadata
- Using filters and rating
Enhance pictures in the Develop module
- Cropping
- Basic & Histogram
- History

Practice files: files.learnsoftware.org/lightroom – Download Day 1

Outline

Introduction (5-10 minutes)

In this class we are going to give you a general foundation so that you can leave this class comfortable to import and edit your own photos.
Use this PowerPoint
- What is Lightroom? – Have any of you used Lightroom before? Or have you used other photo editing software?
- Differences between Lr and Ps – Have any of you used Photoshop before? What are some of the tools on Photoshop?
- Different versions of Lightroom – When might it be best to use each of these different versions?
- RAW images crash course – Does anyone know what a RAW image is?
  - OPTIONAL: Tethering
    - You can hook up your camera and actually control the shutter from Lightroom! Photos go directly into Lightroom. Bring a DSLR from the equipment room to show them this part.
    - File > Tethered Capture > Start Tethered Capture
    - Take a picture of the class
      - To show them the power of RAW, take a very underexposed or overexposed picture, one in RAW and one JPG
      - Edit the exposure of both images and notice how much more tonal range you get with the RAW

Import and Catalog (5 min)

Import Day 1 practice files [Cmd + shift + I] or just click import
- Lightroom does not store the images themselves, just previews of them, linked to where the images are actually located on your computer/hard drive
  - Tip: keep all your pictures in the same place – make folders for all your pictures and name them with date, location, event
  - Put images/folders on a(n) (external) drive if you don’t have space on your computer
- New images you take? Put the SD card in your computer when Lr is open, and import them. Imports them both into Lightroom and to the computer.
- Why is it helpful to just have “previews” of the images instead of editing the image itself? – Allows for non-destructive editing. Your pictures remain untouched, then you export the edited version!
Catalog: Importing photos adds them to your catalog
- Lr stores everything you do to the photos in its catalog… not the photos themselves!
  - Includes edits, image management (including location of image files), captions, keywords, edits, etc.
  - Automatically stores and saves everything!
- This database (the catalog) is a file with the ending < .lrcat> and you can see where it is located by going to >Lightroom >Catalog Settings >General tab.
  - Show how to export a catalog – good info to know if you want to work on the computers in the lab. Just make sure your photos are exported on the same hard drive.

Interface (5 min)

Familiarize: Lightroom has a very different interface, which can be overwhelming. Click on the little arrows to collapse all the panels, then start from the top and go counter-clockwise, expanding the panels and gradually familiarizing ourselves with the interface
- Modules – today we are focusing on the Library and Develop modules
  - Lightroom is workflow-centric. It helps you bring in photographs, organize them, then edit, then publish.
  - Tips (these can always be accessed from Help menu)
  - Briefly touch on the other modules.
- Left-Hand Side
  - Navigator > zooming in and out
  - Catalog > where your photos are in Lightroom
  - Folders > where your photos are on the computer/hard drive
  - Collections > folders within Lightroom
    - Add a new collection
    - Set as target collection – if you press B on any of the photos, it will automatically add it to that collection, making the process quicker
  - Publish Services
- Filmstrip > helps navigate
  - View modes

- Right-Hand Side
  - Histogram > tells you the dark and light values of your photograph (shadows, midtones, highlights)
    - Shows metadata underneath (ISO, focal length, aperture, shutter speed)
  - Quick Develop to edit photos quickly

Keywords, Metadata, & Rating (5 min)

What are some ways that you like to organize your photos?
Keywording is one of those tedious tasks that pays off later…Lightroom makes it super easy!
- Insert Keywords, People
- Use the spray-can called the Painter to apply keywords to multiple images
- Keyword List helps filter keywords faster by searching
Metadata to see details about the in-camera settings, add copyright, etc.
- When would metadata come in handy?
(Comments is dumb. For Flickr users)
Rating
- Click the stars under a photo in your library to rate (Grid view, it looks like this)
- OR my favorite way — use numbers on keyboard to rate your photos from 0-5
- Filter by rating so you can easily select your best photos
Library filters at the top (must be in grid view), keyword/metadata searching
- Good to use for organizing photos once you’ve already sorted everything with keywords/metadata

ACTIVITY: Have the students take some time to organize the photos with keywords, rating, and collections to develop more familiarity in the library module.

Cropping (3 min)

Click on the Develop, then collapse the panels on the left. This is basically the only place in Lightroom where you will find the iconic ambiguous symbols that you click on and use as tools.
Today we’ll just go over cropping…
- Rule of thirds guidelines – Is anyone familiar with the rule of thirds? Why is it important?
- Crop Overlays – click “O” and it cycles through some different overlays (other than rule of thirds) for all your cropping needs
- Lightroom is amazing in that it is always nondestructive. Even if you accept a cropping, you can click on the crop tool later and it will let you see the original image.
- Aspect ratio, hit x to change orientation of crop
Click done or the icon again when you’re done.
ACTIVITY: Play with the cropping tool for a minute or two to familiarize yourself with it.

Basic Edits & History (15 min)

If you are familiar with Photoshop and photo-editing in general, you should recognize these adjustment options.
What, in your opinion, is the right amount of editing? How do you know when a picture looks “good”?
- A good rule of thumb is the moment that it’s noticeable that a filter has been used in Lightroom then, for me, it’s gone too far.
White balance — changes the temperature of the photo
Tone—this is editing the raw file, not the compressed jpeg, so you can push the information around a lot more!
- Exposure
- Contrast
- Highlights
- Shadows
- Whites
- Blacks – it’s sometimes a good idea to decrease the blacks just a bit
Presence
- Texture
- Clarity
- Dehaze
- Vibrance
- Saturation
Histogram
- As mentioned in the library module, histogram shows all these basic edits, but in the develop module, you can move them.
- Check for clipping by clicking the arrows in the corners
- Better to have the graph spread out across the entire axis rather than just bunched on one side or the other
- Gray is the luminance histogram, brightness only
- Other colors correspond to colors in the image
- When might the histogram tool be useful vs. just the sliders?
  - Good for people who are more visual learners!
History
- You don’t have to teach this after teaching all the basic edits, but include it as you use it.
- When are some times that a history or reset button would be useful?
- Ctrl+z – undo; Ctrl+shift+z – redo
- Double click on the name of the edit or the slider of the adjustment options to reset it
- History tab on the left-hand side
  - If you want to undo multiple edits, just find the last one you liked and right click on “Clear history above this step”
ACTIVITY: Let the students play around, editing photos of their choice.

Conclusion (2 min)

What were some challenges that you had today?
What were some tools you learned today that might be useful in future projects?
Next time, we’ll be doing a lot more editing of pictures and working in the develop module! If you want to bring your own pictures to mess with, feel free!