Lightroom 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Your Editing Workflow

Lightroom is one of the tools I use most often in my business. Many people find it a little confusing in the beginning and it’s hard to know where to start. I’ve used Lightroom for many years now and picked up so many tips and tricks that have significantly improved my editing workflow, confidence, and knowledge.

Editing your photos is a huge part of your journey as a photographer. Your photos will start to stand out once you get comfortable and gain confidence in the program. Learn the ends and outs, how to handle every type of light, skin tones, shadows, colors and tones.

My Journey from Photoshop to Lightroom

I first started with Photoshop in 2008, editing each image one-by-one. After two years I finally listened to the professionals and I switched to Lightroom and never looked back. Lightroom is ever-changing, with frequent updates and new features, making it one of my favorite editing programs and one I couldn’t live without. Though there is another option, Capture One, it seems like Lightroom is more widely used and compatible with other systems.

Organizing Lightroom

There are SO many ways to set up your Lightroom program and it might be confusing at first. You’ll see catalogs, albums, collections, and different modules like develop and library. It will eventually all fit into place, but just know the program will take some time to learn and get used to!

Adding a Catalog

When you first open Lightroom, your catalog will open. Think of this as the biggest or the tip of the pyramid. Your catalog will host the project that you’re working on and have uploaded. There are many ways to set up your catalog in Lightroom, but I recommend starting simply. I typically create one catalog per year to keep things organized. I will name this catalog ‘2024 CATALOG.’

Some prefer a catalog for each session for speed and organization, but I find having all my projects in one catalog more convenient for my workflow. Note that you can only have one catalog open at a time which is another reason why I stick to my workflow.

Albums and Collections

Within Lightroom and each catalog, there are albums or collections where individual sessions are organized. This system allows me to access all my projects in one place, a feature I use when I need to sync with Lightroom Mobile for editing or culling on the go.

Putting my sessions in collections allows me to sync them to my iPad or phone and to separate them out from other sessions.

Culling in Lightroom

Culling in Lightroom, especially on mobile, makes it so quick and easy to select the best images to edit and deliver. I use flags and ratings to organize my selections, with the “P” key to flag an image as a pick and the “U” key to unflag.

Editing in Lightroom

My Editing Process – Starting with a preset

I apply my preset to every photo when I import my photos to make my workflow even faster. Then, I adjust each image individually as needed and depending on what each photo needs. Starting with the preset that I created helps to keep my look and style cohesive and starts me off with the perfect color palate.

Basic Editing Tools

Starting with the basic panel under the develop module, Lightroom has adjustments for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks. After I apply my preset, I will alter these as needed.

Advanced Color Correction

The color mix section allows for detailed adjustments to hue, saturation, and luminance for each color. I love to use this for perfecting skin tones or adjusting specific colors in your image.

Additional Editing Features

• Color Grading: For achieving different effects or a film look.
• Effects Panel: Including texture, clarity, dehaze, and vignetting for further refining your images.
• Detail Panel: For sharpening and noise reduction.
• Optics and Geometry: Useful for lens correction and adjusting tilts or distortions.
• Masking: These tools are getting better and better! I use masking for adjusting certain parts of the images as need if dealing with difficult lighting.
• Healing: No need to edit in Photoshop. I can remove most of the signs or cluttered backgrounds with Lightroom tools.
• Straighten/crop: No photo is complete without perfecting the crop to make the subject pop out more or straightening the horizon to make the image that much better.

Lightroom Tip: Speed up editing

Lightroom Keyword Shortcuts: You can speed up your editing in Lightroom by learning and using keyboard shortcuts. For example, pressing ‘D’ takes you directly to the Develop module, and ‘G’ brings you back to the Grid view in the Library module. Embrace shortcuts to make your editing flow faster and more intuitive.