How to Use Lightroom, a Crash Course

Hi! My name is Kristin Ardese and I am a professional Graphic Designer and Marketing Strategist. I hope that by sharing some of my expertise, I can help offer valuable insights and build an engaging community.

Whether you’re a photographer, influencer, or just someone who wants to edit good Instagram photos, Adobe Lightroom is a great place to start. The application is easy to navigate but can get confusing for first-time users. Here, I want to share several tips and tricks that I’ve learned from my experience using Lightroom.

Uploading and Exporting

When it comes to uploading, simply click the navigation bar in the top left corner, and then “add photos.” From here, choose the files that you want to work with. Lightroom does a great job working with RAW images. If you’re editing professional photography, make sure you upload and edit the RAW files to ensure the highest quality. Then once edited, you can export it as a .jpg.

Light

Now it’s time to start editing! To begin adjusting the image click the top “adjust” icon on the right-hand navigation. Your first section of settings to adjust will be “Light.” Here, corrections can be made to exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks. Use the sliding toolbar to adjust the image. For example: Increasing the exposure will add light and brightness while decreasing it will result in a darker ambiance with less light. Now, this is not to say you will never turn down the exposure. Sometimes when a RAW image is overexposed, it might be a good idea to slide that exposure tool to the left. It is important to keep in mind that over-editing can take away from your image, depleting its authenticity.

Color

Editing color in my images is one of my favorite parts of editing. There are so many cool features in the color section, specifically in “Color Mixer.” You can change the hue of every color and adjust each one separately in the image. This means that you can increase the saturation of the grass and only the grass in a photo. This allows you to tailor your colors carefully. Now once again, do not overdo this! With so many options, it can be easy to want intense and bright colors in all of your photos. Editing should enhance your image rather than make it look completely different.

Effects & Detail

Now let’s say you were taking photos in a hazy indoor event space. These are the sections I would use to break through some of that fog. With adjustment tools like texture, clarity, dehaze, and sharpening, details can be resurfaced in your photo. Slight changes to these sections can provide you with clearer, more defined images.

Final Comments

I hope this was helpful in navigating one of Adobe’s best editing software for photos. By following this beginner model, beginners can take their photography to the next level. With a little practice, you can learn to use Lightroom like a pro.