Lightroom CC 10 Quick Start

Version 1
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
® ®
LIGHTROOM CC ®
QUICK START
VICTORIA BAMPTON
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC—Quick Start Guide
Publication Date 18 October 2017

File Identifier 2017-10-18-PDF
Copyright © 2017 Victoria Bampton. All rights reserved.

Published by The Lightroom Queen, an imprint of LRQ Publishing Ltd.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of
the publisher, with the exception that a single copy of the eBook may be printed for personal
use and may not be resold. Permissions may be sought by email to mail@lightroomqueen.com
or via the website https://www.lightroomqueen.com/
The publisher/author assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that
may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Flash, Lightroom, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
THIS PRODUCT IS NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY ADOBE SYSTEMS

INCORPORATED, PUBLISHER OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM.
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All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

iii ADOBE LIGHTROOM CC - QUICK START GUIDE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS III SEARCHING FOR PHOTOS 23
INTRODUCTION 1 EDITING PHOTOS 25
The Lightroom Family of Apps 2 Cropping & Straightening 26
Applying Presets 28
INSTALLING LIGHTROOM 4
Editing Using Sliders 30
THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE 6 Selective Edits 34
Example 1 - Sunny Coast 37

ADDING
PHOTOS & VIDEOS 10 Example 2 - Kids Love Boxes! 38
Adding Photos on Windows/Mac 11 Example 3 - Sunset at Steephill

Cove 39
Adding Photos on iOS/Android 13
SHARING PHOTOS 40
SYNCING WITH THE CLOUD 15
Sharing Web Galleries 42
Syncing with Windows/Mac 16
Syncing with iOS/Android 17 YOU'RE OFF TO A GREAT START! 43
VIEWING & ORGANIZING PHOTOS 18
Grouping Photos in Albums 21
Selecting Your Best Photos 22

1 ADOBE LIGHTROOM CC - QUICK START GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
For more than 10 years, Lightroom has been LIGHTROOM BETA 2006
1
the industry standard for photo editing.
Years of development and numerous new
features, however, creates an ever-growing
level of complexity. Many photographers
have found Lightroom increasingly difficult
to learn and understand.
Lightroom has now been redesigned

and rewritten for the needs of today's
photographers. It's cloud-native, which
means that the photos are stored safely
in the cloud and available on all of your LIGHTROOM CLASSIC CC 2018
devices, so you can work on your photos
wherever you are.
The new app retains the best of Lightroom's

heritage, including the world-class non-
destructive editing tools, but also adds
cutting-edge image-analysis artificial
intelligence, allowing you to find your
photos by subject, even if you haven't
manually added that information.
At the time of writing this introduction,

it's only at version 1.0, so its feature set is LIGHTROOM CC 2018
limited, however it already has the majority
of the tools amateur photographers need,
and it will continue to grow over time.
The previous version of Lightroom desktop,

now rebranded as Lightroom Classic, isn't
going away anytime soon. It continues to
be supported and developed by a separate
engineering team, for those who prefer a
local folder-based digital asset manager.
THE LIGHTROOM FAMILY OF APPS

Lightroom CC is a family of apps, so before you edit them on your work laptop. Later,
we get started, let's get an overview of you're out with your tablet, and you stop
how they all work together so you can see to show someone the photos, complete
ways to save time and how different parts with the edits you did earlier. Back home in
of the ecosystem can be useful in your own the evening, you load the day's shoot from
workflow. your DSLR onto your desktop, have dinner
and view them on your Apple TV. It's your
With a cloud-native ecosystem, everything choice.
revolves around “the cloud.” The cloud
is simply an Adobe server which acts as All of your photos are available wherever
a central storage location for all of your you are, and fully editable, without being
photos and edits. The Lightroom apps on tied to a specific operating system or type of
your computer or mobile devices connect to device.
the cloud to access your existing photos and
edits, and send new photos and edits up to Lightroom Classic CC is a distant cousin
the cloud. of the main Lightroom CC ecosystem. Its
communication with the cloud is much more
Imagine you shoot some photos using your limited, so we won’t be discussing it in this
mobile phone, and during your coffee break, book.
Web
Android
macOS
Windows
iOS tvOS
THE LIGHTROOM FAMILY WORKFLOW

Capture Using... Add to...
Sync to the cloud...
View & edit on any device... Share via...

INSTALLING
LIGHTROOM
I'm sure you're excited to get started, but
2
you may also be a little apprehensive if
you're not completely comfortable with
computers. Even if you consider yourself
computer literate, every program is
different, and you won't want to risk losing
any of your photos or creating additional
work for yourself, so we’ll briefly run
through the basics.
INSTALLING ON WINDOWS/MAC
Although Lightroom is cloud-native, the
application itself installs on your computer The desktop app installation and updates
or mobile device. This means that you can are managed using the Adobe Creative
still use Lightroom even if your internet Cloud application, which is a small app
connection goes down. that runs constantly in the system tray
(Windows) or menubar (Mac).
INSTALLING ON MOBILE DEVICES To install the CC app, download the installer

and follow Adobe’s instructions at https://
To install Lightroom on your phone or tablet, www.Lrq.me/ccinstall When the installation
visit the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google completes, sign in with your Adobe ID and
Play Store Android). Here are the direct password.
links:
To install Lightroom, select the Apps tab,
iOS—https://www.Lrq.me/ios find Lightroom CC (not Lightroom Classic
CC) and click the Install button to start the
Android—https://www.Lrq.me/android installation. After installation, Lightroom
opens automatically.
Once the installation completes, return
to your Home screen and tap on the app To open Lightroom on Windows, go to
icon to open Lightroom. You need to be Start > Adobe Lightroom CC. On a Mac, go to
connected to the internet while setting it up. Applications > Adobe Lightroom CC > Adobe
The first time you open Lightroom, you’ll see Lightroom CC.app.
the intro screen. To sync your photos to the
cloud, tap the icon in the top left corner and While Lightroom’s open, you can set up a
log in using your Adobe ID and password. shortcut for easier access. On Windows,
right-click on the icon in the Taskbar and browser and logging in with your Adobe ID
select Pin to Taskbar. On macOS, right-click and password.
on the icon in the Dock and select Options >
Keep in Dock.
LIGHTROOM EVERYWHERE
Lightroom is updated regularly, adding new
camera support, new features and bug fixes. Regardless of which computer or device you
To check for updates within Lightroom, go use to add photos, they'll automatically sync
to Help menu > Updates. This automatically to your other machines via the cloud, so you
opens the CC app, where you can click can view and edit your photos wherever you
the Update button to start the update are.
installation.
SIGN UP
ACCESSING LIGHTROOM ON THE WEB
If you haven't signed up yet, here's the link
If you’re using someone else’s computer you need: https://www.Lrq.me/ccphoto
or mobile device, there’s no need to install
the Lightroom app. You can access your
photos using Lightroom Web, by navigating
to https://lightroom.adobe.com in any web
THE CC DESKTOP APP

Apps tab
Show menu
Check for Updates
Creative Cloud
app Preferences
Install app
Update app
Open app
Show app menu
Uninstall app
THE LIGHTROOM
WORKSPACE
Once the welcome screens are out of IOS/ANDROID WORKSPACE
3
the way, you’re looking at the Lightroom
workspace. You might also hear it called the The iOS and Android apps use a series of
UI, or user interface. screens, due to their smaller screen size.
The Organize view is used for organizing
If you’ve already added some photos to photos into Albums. The Grid and Detail
the cloud using another device, Lightroom views allow you to browse and edit photos.
immediately begins downloading these
photos. There are slight differences between the
iOS and Android apps due to OS-specific
features, and between phones and tablets
WINDOWS/MAC WORKSPACE due to their screen sizes. A few features are
only available on one or the other so far.
In the center is the preview area, where
your photos are displayed as thumbnails or Without further ado, let's take a look round.
larger photos.
Down the left and right sides are panels,

which are opened and closed using the
buttons down the edges. The panels on the
left are used for organizing photos, and the
panels on the right contains the metadata
and editing tools.
WORKSPACE SHORTCUTS
On the following two pages, there’s a
quick reference guide to the workspace, G = Grid view
so you can learn the names of the different D = Detail view
elements. E = Edit view
P = Photos panel
The Windows and Mac versions are I = Info panel
practically identical, so although I've used K = Keywords panel
the Mac version for the screenshots, I've
noted any differences in shortcuts.
THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE (WINDOWS/MAC)
Menubar Progress bar Search Refine View

toolbar
Window buttons (on

the right on Windows,
left on Mac)
Add Photos
My Photos
navigate by date
or album
Open/Close Panels
To open & close panels on
the left or right of the
screen, click the buttons
down the edges. When you
open a panel on one side,
the other side closes. To
change this behavior, go
to Preferences > General
> Panel Tracks > Manual.
Preview Area
Filmstrip
Windows vs. Mac

The screenshots in this book
were captured using a Mac, Left panels Toolbar
but Lightroom works the for organizing photos
same way on Windows.
Show/Hide Refine View Share/Save a Copy Sync Status
Sliders
Crop
Healing Brush
Adjustment Brush
Linear Gradient
Radial Gradient
Keywords
Info/Metadata
Right panels
for editing photos and
adding metadata
THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE (IOS/ANDROID)

1. Lightroom
opens to
Organize view.
2. Tap All Photos

or an album
to open it into
Grid view.
3. Tap a photo
to open it in
Detail view.
3. To switch between Edit, Info, Keywords,

Rate & Review and Activity views, tap the
menu at the top on small devices, or the
buttons down the side on tablet apps.
ADDING
PHOTOS & VIDEOS
Before you can start organizing and editing so they'll be easy to browse.
4
your photos, you need to get them into
Lightroom. You can add them on any device • You'll be able to access them on any
and they'll upload to the cloud. device, so you can share them with others.
• You can improve the photos (not videos)

FIND YOUR EXISTING PHOTOS & VIDEO using industry standard editing tools.
CLIPS
• You can become a better photographer
You likely already have many years of digital by studying your previous photos.
photos and video clips that may be spread
between: So let's get started...
• Cameras/memory cards.
• Mobile devices (phones/tablets).
• Multiple different hard drives.
• Cloud storage services, such as Google

Photos or iCloud.
• Other photo-editing programs. FILE FORMATS
Most camera raw file formats are sup-

ADD THEM ALL ported by Lightroom. You can check
whether your camera’s raw files are
It's worth adding all of your photos to supported by visiting http://www.Lrq.
Lightroom, wherever they're coming from, me/camerasupport If your camera’s
because: newly released, you may need to wait
for an update to support your cam-
• You'll be safe in the knowledge that you era. Lightroom can also import DNGs,
won’t lose any photos, even if your computer JPEGs, TIFFs, PSD files saved with
crashes or your phone is lost or stolen. maximize compatibility, PNG files and
a range of video formats.
• You'll have all of your photos in one place,
ADDING PHOTOS ON WINDOWS/MAC

When you “add photos,” Lightroom copies ¶¶ If you're adding photos from a memory
the selected photos to a folder on your card or mobile device, select the device
computer's hard drive and then uploads from the pop-up.
them to the cloud. If you have plenty of hard
drive space, you can add them all in one go, ¶¶ If you're adding photos from your
but if your hard drive space is limited, you computer's hard drive, click Browse, then
may need to add them in smaller chunks. select the folder of photos you want to
import, or select the individual photos.
STEP-BY-STEP 3. The thumbnails start to appear in a grid.
1. If your photos are not currently stored 4. Select the photos you want to import:
on your computer's hard drive, plug in your
mobile phone, tablet, camera or memory ¶¶ To select or deselect specific photos,
card reader. (Card readers are generally click the checkmark in the top left corner of
more reliable than camera cables.) each thumbnail.
2. To select the source, click the + symbol at ¶¶ To select/deselect all of the photos at
the top of the left panel bar. once, toggle the Select All checkbox.
5. Click Add X Photos to start adding the

photos to Lightroom.
6. The dialog closes and a progress bar

¶¶ If no memory cards/mobile devices appears in the top left corner of Lightroom,
are connected, Lightroom immediately showing the current status.
opens the standard Browse dialog for your
operating system, so you can select a folder
(such as the Pictures folder) or individual
photos.
7. The photos appear in the preview area,
and you can start looking through them
immediately.
THE ADD PHOTOS DIALOG (WINDOWS/MAC)
Show photo
sources to add
new photos
Browse computer
hard drives
Memory cards,
cameras,
phones, tablets
Return to Thumbnails Add the

dialog to of photos Close dialog selected
change in selected Add to Select all without photos to
source source Album thumbnails adding photos Lightroom
Photos without Photo selected Hover cursor Faded thumbnails

previews may be to be added to show tooltip are photos
still import ok to Lightroom containing already in
photo info Lightroom
ADDING PHOTOS ON IOS/ANDROID

There are three ways to add photos to the
mobile apps:
• Lightroom's built-in camera
• automatically add new photos captured

using other camera apps
• manually add new photos using other

camera apps
We'll consider each of these in turn...
THE LIGHTROOM CAMERA
The iOS app and Android phone app include

a built-in camera which has some specific
advantages over other camera apps. The
camera isn’t currently available on Android
tablets.
Unlike the main camera apps, the shoot-

through presets are non-destructive, and if
you zoom in while composing the photo, it’s
stored as a non-destructive crop that can be
changed later.
ADD PHOTOS AUTOMATICALLY
On iOS devices with a 12MP camera
running iOS10 and above, and also on some To automatically add new photos captured
Android phones, the raw data can be saved using other camera apps, tap the Lightroom
as DNG format. icon in the top left corner, select General
and toggle the Auto Add Photos and Auto Add
The photos are automatically added to Videos switches.
Lightroom mobile, and they’re synced back
to your desktop catalog, so you never need On iOS, you must open Lightroom
to worry about losing your photos. occasionally to allow the photos to import,
whereas on Android it happens in the
To open the camera, tap the blue camera background.
icon in Collections/Grid view.
Camera
Android
Tap the blue Add Photos button at the

bottom of the Organize or Grid view.
Add Photos
ADD PHOTOS MANUALLY Lightroom displays the photos stored on

your mobile device. At the top of the grid,
Auto Add only adds new photos select the album of your choice, for example,
automatically, but you can add older photos Time or Device Folders.
using Add Photos. The process varies
slightly by operating system: Tap the photos individually, or tap the ...
button to select all. When you’ve finished
iOS selecting the photos to import, tap the Add
button to confirm your selection.
On iOS, you can open a single photo
directly from the camera roll, start editing it
immediately, then choose to save the edits
in Lightroom, or you can import one or more
photos into Lightroom and start organizing
and editing them.
Tap the blue Add Photos button at the

bottom of the Organize or Grid view.
Add Photos
Lightroom displays the photos stored on

your mobile device. At the top of the grid,
select the album of your choice, for example,
Camera Roll. Photos already imported into
Lightroom have a LR icon in the corner.
To open a photo into the Edit view, simply

tap on it. When you’ve finished editing, tap
the checkmark in the top right corner to
save your edits.
Alternatively, swipe across the photos to

select them, or tap the ... button to select all.
When you’ve finished selecting the photos
to import, tap the Add X Photos button at
the bottom of the screen to confirm your
selection and add them to All Photos.
SYNCING WITH
THE CLOUD
As mentioned in the Introduction, Lightroom
5
CC is cloud-centric, so everything you do
on any device is automatically uploaded to
the cloud. This means you can access your
photos from any of your devices that are
logged into your Adobe account.
As you may not always have a fast enough

internet connection, you can download
photos for offline editing and then the
changes are uploaded when you have a
stable connection. This saves using your
data allowance.
SYNCING WITH WINDOWS/MAC

Once you’ve added photos, Lightroom
automatically uploads them to the cloud
whenever you have an internet connection.
It prioritizes photos that are flagged or LOCAL STORAGE
starred, so your most important photos are
backed up to the cloud as quickly as possible, Lightroom’s smart about minimizing the
and available on your other devices. amount of space it uses on your computer’s
hard drive, so you don’t need to worry too
You can check the progress by clicking the much about file management.
cloud icon in the top right corner. Initially it
tells you how many photos are still syncing, It's worth keeping a local copy of your
and when it’s done, it changes to Synced and photos on one of your desktop computers.
Backed Up. To do so, go to Preferences > Local Storage and
check Store a copy of ALL originals locally. You
may need to select another drive, if you're
running out of hard drive space.
PAUSE/RESUME SYNC
If you’re on a limited bandwidth connection,

for example, on vacation or tethering a
mobile phone, or you have a more urgent
upload underway, you may want to pause
sync.
To do so, click the cloud icon in the top right

corner and float over the Syncing x Photos
line. When it changes to a Pause Syncing
button, click it. Later, click in the same
location to resume syncing.
SYNCING WITH IOS/ANDROID

Tap the cloud icon to view current sync activity
On iOS, in Edit view, tap to view

the type of file stored locally and
in the cloud, and tap to download
the original, where available.
Choose to sync only over wifi, or using cellular data
On Android, app data can be moved

to an SD card, where available.
VIEWING &
ORGANIZING PHOTOS
Having added your photos to Lightroom, ORGANIZING PHOTOS
6
you naturally want to view them, and you
probably want to start organizing them too. Lightroom automatically groups your
photos by the date the photos were
captured, and by the date they were added
VIEWING PHOTOS to Lightroom. To help you organize your
photos, you can also:
On Windows/Mac, click the My Photos
button or press the P key to show the My • Group photos into albums.
Photos panel, then click All Photos to display
your photos in the central preview area. • Group similar photos into stacks.
My Photos panel • View and add metadata.
On iOS/Android, tap the All Photos line at • View and add keywords.
the top of the screen.
• Delete unwanted photos.
The Grid views allow you to view and select
multiple photos at once, so you can see
them in context and quickly scroll through
them looking for specific photos. You can
change the sort order using the pop-up in
the toolbar beneath the photos.
The Detail view displays a much larger view

of a photo, so you can take a closer look and
zoom in to check it's perfectly in focus.
VIEWING PHOTOS (WINDOWS/MAC)
If the left panel is

hidden, click the Click All Photos to display Open the Info (I key) or
My Photos button your photos in the Keyword (K key) panels
or press the P key. central preview area. to view/add metadata.
Click Grid Click on the photo, on

button or G key the zoom ratios, or
to switch back the Spacebar to zoom
to Grid view. in and out again.
Double-click on Click the Click in the Click on the flags or use the
photo in Grid pop-up to filmstrip or Z/U/X keys to increase/
view, click the change the the left/right decrease flags.
Detail button or sort order. arrow keys to
D key to open flip through Click on the star ratings
into Detail view. the photos. or use the 0-5 keys to
change the star ratings.
VIEWING PHOTOS ON IOS/ANDROID
Tap All Photos to display

your photos in Grid view.
Select Review mode to

add flags/stars, or Info
Back to or Keyword views to
Grid view. add other metadata.
Tap on photo in Grid view to

open into Detail view.
Swipe left <> right to flip

through the photos.
Double-tap on the photo to zoom in.
Tap on the flags/stars or swipe up/

down the left side of the screen to
apply star ratings or the right side of
the screen to increase/decrease flags.
GROUPING PHOTOS IN ALBUMS

Albums allow you to group photos for a As your list of albums grows, it can be hard
specific purpose, for example: to find specific albums. Like folders on your
hard drive, you can group the albums into
• Your best photos as a portfolio. folders.
• Photos to share with someone, perhaps To create an album, click the + button,
as an online gallery. select Create Album, then give the album a
name.
• Photos of an event, such as a vacation.
To add photos to an existing album, select
• Photos of specific genre. the photos in Grid view (or in the Filmstrip)
and drag them to the album in the Albums
• Photos you've published on social media. panel.
• Photos for output as a slideshow, prints, To delete an album, right-click on the album
or a photobook. and select Delete Album.
The same photo can appear in lots of To remove photos from an existing album,
different albums, but even if it's not in an without deleting the album itself, select the
album, it's still available in the All Photos and photos in the Grid view, then right-click and
By Date views. choose Remove Photos or press the Delete
key.
ALBUMS
Show only Show names &
album names cover photos
Display Menu
Album Folder Create New

Album
Toggle arrows Create New
to expand/ Folder
collapse folders
Album
Album Cover Album photo

Photo count
SELECTING YOUR BEST PHOTOS

Lightroom offers two different ways of
ranking your photos: MORE INFORMATION
Flags have three different states—flagged There's a lot more information on

(picked), unflagged and rejected. Most rating and all other aspects of using
people use flags to mean: Lightroom CC in my latest book, Edit
Like a Pro. It's written in the same
¶¶ Flagged—photo’s worth keeping format and language as this quick
start guide, we look in much more
¶¶ Unflagged—not sorted yet detail, not just at how Lightroom CC
works, but the approach professional
¶¶ Rejected—to be deleted photographers use to get outstanding
results.
Star Ratings are used by photographers
worldwide. Most use 5 stars for their very The book comes with many additional
best portfolio images and 0 stars unsorted benefits listed on page 43.
photos.
For more details, visit
Everyone has a different system. Some h t t p s : // w w w. L r q . m e /s h o p /
photographers use Grid view and others adobe-lightroom-cc-edit-pro/
prefer Detail view. Some like to rate their
photos in a single pass, and others like
multiple passes. Some like flags and some
prefer stars. Whatever you pick, just be
consistent.
Flexibility is a wonderful thing, but so much

choice can be confusing, so I've included my
tried and tested flagging workflow on the
following page.
RATING SHORTCUTS
Z = Pick flag
U = Unflag
X = Reject flag
0-5 = 0-5 stars
SEARCHING FOR
PHOTOS
One of the main benefits of having all of
7
This image-analysis allows you to find your
your photos in one place is they're easy to photos, even if you never got around to
search. Whether you want to find your best adding keyword tags manually.
photo which you marked with flags or stars,
or whether you want to take advantage This automated tagging is done in Adobe's
of Adobe's artificial intelligence machine cloud, so there is a slight delay after upload
learning, Lightroom makes it easy. before they're searchable, and it does rely
on you being connected to the internet.
The Search field is found at the top of the
Lightroom window on Windows or Mac. To search your photos, simply type the
search terms in the search field. If you
search for "boats dogs," it searches for
photos that it thinks have both boats and
dogs. You can't narrow it down to AND/OR/
Click the magnifying glass icon to show the NOT type searches at this point in time.
search field on iOS or Android.
Search
Lightroom searches the current view, so if
you’re viewing photos from a specific date
or album, it only searches those photos.
To search all of your photos, select All Photos

at the top of the My Photos panel.
SEARCHING FOR PHOTOS BY SUBJECT
If your photos are synced to the cloud,

Adobe's artificial intelligence machine
learning tool, called Adobe Sensei, can
search your photos and take a guess at their
content.
Lightroom searches its own image-analysis whether they're photos or videos.

database, but also searches most of the
metadata you can see in the Info panel. On the desktop, you can also filter based on
keywords, camera models and locations.
You can search for all sorts of terms, for
example:
• Subjects, such as boats, cats, dogs,

trees or water, whether they're identified
automatically or you've added them as
keywords.
• Colors, such as red or blue.
• Locations, such as London or UK.
• Cameras, such as Canon EOS 5D Mark IV,

Sony A6500, or iPhone 8.
• Lenses, such as 75-300mm.

RESET FILTERS
• Dates, such as January 2017, or 18
October 2017. To cancel the text search, click the X at the
end of the search field.
• Filenames, such as IMG_2948.
• Other words in the Title or Caption fields.
It's still early days for this type of search,

so it will continue to improve over time. In
the meantime, some of the suggestions will
provide a few laughs. ☺
To reset the Refine filters to show all photos,
click the Reset button, or click the Refine
REFINE THE VIEW button again to cancel the filtering.
To show the Refine options, click the Refine

button, to the right of the Search bar/
button.
Refine View
The Refine filters allow you to hide photos

based on their flag status, star rating or
EDITING PHOTOS
Most photographers want to get on to the WORKFLOW TOOLS
8
fun bit—editing their photos! Editing photos
is not about making them look fake or As you start to get better at editing,
photoshopped, nor is it a new phenomenon. Lightroom offers tools that can help improve
Photographers were editing their photos efficiency and consistency over groups of
in the darkroom long before computers photos, and allow you to experiment with
existed. Even the Masters, such as Ansel more freedom.
Adams, edited their photos, not to fix
mistakes, but because a print can't match These include Undo/Reset, Before/After
the dynamic range of the human eye. Preview, Copies, Copy/Paste Settings and
Presets.
GLOBAL EDITING SLIDERS
In the Edit view, there's a mass of sliders

which can look overwhelming at first, but
we'll work through them in a logical order.
The main Edit sliders affect the entire

image, and there are multiple ways to get a
similar result.
The global sliders are grouped into panels—

Light, Color, Effects, Detail, Optics and
Geometry.
LOCAL EDITING TOOLS
In addition to the global editing tools, there

are tools that work on smaller areas of the
photo. These include Crop, Selective Editing
(gradients & brushes) and Spot Removal.
CROPPING & STRAIGHTENING

Most photos benefit from cropping, whether To straighten or rotate the photo, float the
to remove distracting objects, straighten cursor outside the bounding box (crop edge)
horizons, for artistic effect, or simply to fit so the cursor turns into a double-headed
your chosen ratio. arrow, then click and drag to rotate the
photo.
To select the Crop tool and show the crop
options, click the icon in the right panel bar As you rotate the crop, the photo remains
(Windows/Mac) or at the bottom of the Edit level, so you don’t have to turn your head
view (iOS/Android). to see how the photo will look once it’s
cropped.
To move the photo under the crop overlay,

To crop a photo, drag the edges or corners click and drag within the crop boundary.
of the bounding box.
To reset the crop, click the Reset Crop
To crop a vertical rectangle out of a button on Windows/Mac, or double tap on
horizontal photo, or vice versa, click the iOS/Android.
Rotate Crop Aspect button or press the X key.
You can also drag the corner of the bounding
box at a 45° angle.
Reset Rotate Crop Constrain
CROP VIEW Aspect Ratio Aspect Aspect Ratio
(WINDOWS/MAC)
To resize the crop,

drag handles on
edges or corners
of bounding box.
To rotate the photo,

drag outside the
bounding box.
To move the crop

overlay, drag inside
the bounding box.
Drag the corner at a

45° angle to switch
orientation or press X
CROP VIEW (IOS/ANDROID)
Tap Crop button

in toolbar to open
Crop mode.
Drag bounding
Tap to switch box edge or
between vertical corner using one
or horizontal crop. finger to resize
crop boundary.
Drag inside the

bounding box to
move the photo
around under the
Drag outside of crop overlay.
bounding box
to rotate the
photo under the
crop overlay.
Tap the checkmark

Double tap to confirm the crop
anywhere to or the X to cancel
reset the crop. the changes.
APPLYING PRESETS
Presets and filters are a very popular main preview area, and the sliders move
way of editing today. They can be a blunt temporarily to their preset positions.
instrument, and it’s worth also learning to
use the sliders, but presets are valuable for: To apply a preset to the selected photo,
click on the preset name. If change your
• Presets can save time. For example, mind, you can undo or reset.
perhaps you find yourself decreasing
highlights, increasing shadows and adding a As you start to find combinations of sliders
little vibrance to most photos. Rather than that you like or use frequently, you can
having to move multiple sliders, you can create your own presets, but only on the
select a single preset. Windows/Mac versions. To create a preset,
click the ... button at the top of the Presets
• Presets (especially those you’ve created panel and select Create Preset, then give the
yourself) can help to ensure consistency preset a name.
over a group of photos, or over your entire
portfolio. To close the Presets panel, click the X in the
corner or the Presets button again.
• Presets can be really helpful in learning
the kind of styles of editing you prefer,
especially when you’re just starting out in INSTALLING DOWNLOADED PRESETS
photography.
A large cottage industry has grown up
• Looking at which sliders are adjusted around Lightroom, with a huge number of
by other people’s presets is a great way of free and paid presets available.
learning how to get a specific look.
Some popular preset websites are listed at
https://www.Lrq.me/links/develop-presets/
PREVIEWING & APPLYING PRESETS
Presets designed for Lightroom 4 or later
Lightroom ships with a set of presets to get work with Lightroom CC. These may be
you started. marked PV2012 or PV3/PV4. This cross-
program compatibility means you can apply
To show the Presets panel on Windows/ settings that don’t have controls/sliders in
Mac, select any editing mode using the version 1.0, including the tone curve, split
buttons at the top of the right panel bar, toning and camera emulation profiles.
then click the Presets button in the bottom
right corner. On iOS/Android, tap the To install presets, click the ... icon at the top
Presets button at the bottom of Edit view. of the Presets panel and select Open Presets
Folder. This opens an Explorer (Windows) /
To show the individual presets, click the Finder (Mac) window at the right location,
arrows to open/close the preset folders. so you can paste or drag the presets into the
User Presets folder. Restart Lightroom, then
To preview a preset on Windows/Mac, the presets appear in the Presets panel.
float the cursor over the preset name. The
effect is previewed on the photo in the
PRESETS (WINDOWS/MAC)
Show menu
Close Presets panel
Create New Preset
Show Presets Folder
Float over preset to preview effect
Click on preset to apply effect
Click to open/close preset folder
PRESETS (IOS/ANDROID)
Tap Presets button Tap arrow to undo

in toolbar to open adjustment. Hold
Presets mode. finger on arrow to
show redo button.
Tap to show sets

of presets.
Tap to apply
preset to photo. Tap the checkmark
to confirm the crop
or the X to cancel
the changes.
EDITING USING SLIDERS

Most image adjustments are performed (Optional) You could try pressing the Auto
using the Light and Color panels in the Edit button in the Light panel. Sometimes it does
panel. Just because there are a lot of sliders a great job and other times it’s wildly wrong.
doesn’t mean you have to adjust every single If you don’t like the result, press Ctrl-Z
one! (Windows) / Cmd-Z (Mac) / curly arrow
(iOS/Android) to undo, or use it as a starting
It’s generally most efficient to work from point for further adjustments.
the top down, and then go back and tweak
earlier sliders again if needed. However Adjust the Exposure slider to set the overall
many times you move a slider, it doesn’t brightness of the photo, moving to the right
degrade the image quality because the to brighten the photo or to the left to darken
adjustments are saved as text instructions it. Get the exposure in the right ballpark, but
and only applied to the on-screen preview. don’t worry about fine tuning yet.
Let’s cover a quick summary of the sliders, The Highlights and Shadows sliders affect
then we’ll illustrate with some examples. the light and dark areas of the photo. If the
light areas are lacking detail, try moving the
Highlights slider to the left to darken them
ANALYZE THE PHOTO slightly. If the dark areas and shadows are
lacking detail, try moving the Shadows slider
It sounds obvious, but look at the photo to the right to lighten them slightly.
carefully first, and decide what you want
to change. Is it too dark? Too light? Perhaps Adjust the Whites and Blacks sliders to
it’s a little too yellow from indoor lighting? control which tones are allowed to clip
Has it lost detail in the highlights? Is it (become areas of solid white or black
a bit flat and lacking contrast? Is there without detail).
lens distortion? Is there noise that needs
attention? Was your sensor dusty? Does Clarity adds ‘punch’ to the photos.
the blue of the sky need enhancing slightly? Architecture and landscapes can benefit
Would it look better cropped? Would it be a from higher values, but avoid using it
stronger photo in black & white? on portraits, as it accentuates lines and
wrinkles.
If you jump straight in without analyzing the
photo, you can spend a lot of time making The Contrast slider is last. Does the photo
adjustments and going in circles. still look a little flat and muddy? Try
increasing the contrast by moving the slider
to the right.
GLOBAL EDITS
If the photo’s the wrong color, adjust the
Roughly fix the biggest problem first. In White Balance sliders in the Color panel.
most cases, this is the exposure or the white This compensates for the color of the light
balance (color) of the photo. This makes it in which the photo was taken. For example,
easier to see what else needs to be done. a photo taken indoors without flash may be
too yellow.
The quickest way to set the white balance

is to select the White Balance Selector tool MORE INFORMATION
(it looks like an eyedropper) and click on
something that should be light gray. You can get the gist of how
Lightroom's sliders work simply
through experimentation. It doesn't
take a rocket scientist to work out
that the Exposure slider brightens or
darkens the photos.
However, many of Lightroom's sliders

do all sorts of clever calculations
behind the scenes. Understanding
how the sliders work—and how they
work together—means you can get the
best result.
You can then go back and fine tune the white In my latest book, Edit Like a Pro,
balance by adjusting the Temperature and written in the same format and
Tint sliders. Move the Temperature slider left language as this quick start guide,
to make the photo cooler or to the right to we look in much more detail, not just
make it warmer. If the photo’s too pink or at how Lightroom CC works, but the
green, adjust the Tint slider too. approach professional photographers
use to get outstanding results. The
If the colors in your photo are a little dull, try book comes with many additional
increasing the Vibrance slider. It adjusts how benefits listed on page 43.
saturated or colorful your photo appear,
and it’s more intelligent than the Saturation For more details, visit
slider. h t t p s : // w w w. L r q . m e /s h o p /
adobe-lightroom-cc-edit-pro/
If you want to try converting the photo to
B&W, click the B&W button at the top of the
Color panel. Lightroom creates a basic black
& white photo, which you can then fine tune
by adjusting the way the colors are mixed
and tweaking the contrast.
EDITING USING SLIDERS ON WINDOWS/MAC

The Light panel sliders Global Sliders
make brightness and
contrast adjustments. Crop Tool
Spot Removal
Brush
Linear Selection
Radial Selection
The Color panel
sliders make color More (menu)
adjustments, such
as white balance,
B&W mix, color mix
and saturation.
The Effects panel

contains the local
contrast and post-crop
vignette controls.
Toggle the arrows to

The Detail panel open/close panels
sliders sharpen, reduce
noise and add grain. Disclosure Triangles
Some sliders break
down into further
advanced sliders by
toggling these arrows.
The Optics panel “Tool Used” Dot

checkboxes correct A small dot appears
for lens distortions. to the right of editing
tools you’ve used on the
selected photo, so you
The Geometry panel can see at a glance
corrects perspective. whether you’ve cropped
or applied selective edits.
Presets
EDITING USING SLIDERS ON IOS/ANDROID

Tap to switch between Edit, Tap arrow Hold finger on photo
Info, Keywords, Rate & to undo to preview without
Review and Activity views. adjustment. recent edits.
Hold finger on
arrow to show
Tap to return redo button. Tap on photo to
to Grid view. hide controls.
Two finger tap

anywhere to switch
between metadata
overlay, histogram Tap to view menu.
or neither. One
finger tap on
metadata cycles
metadata views.
Swipe left <>

right on the photo
with one finger
to view the next/
previous photo.
Double tap
anywhere or
pinch/spread to Swipe row left <>
zoom in and out. right to show all
sets of sliders.
Scroll to show
additional
sliders. Drag top
bar to reduce Tap to copy Reset to
slider height. settings from default
previous photo. settings.
Drag left <> right on slider to Double tap To view clipping

adjust value. To make more precise slider handle warnings, hold
adjustments, hold finger on a slider, to reset slider. two fingers
slide finger away from the slider while dragging
and continue to drag left <> right. slider handle.
SELECTIVE EDITS
Most of Lightroom’s sliders apply to the tap and drag over the mistake to remove the
whole photo, but the selective editing tools brush stroke.
allow you to apply settings to specific areas,
either using a gradient or a brush.
GRADIENTS
• The Brush offers complete flexibility to
correct uneven lighting, and to dodge and To create a new linear gradient, click/tap at
burn to draw the eye and enhance people’s the gradient starting point, and drag to the
faces. gradient end point.
• The Linear Gradient is ideal for darkening To create a new radial gradient, click/tap in
skies and lightening foregrounds. the center of your new circle/oval, and drag
out towards the edge of the photo.
• The Radial Gradient creates off-center
vignettes and can put a “spotlight” on
certain areas of the photo. MULTIPLE SELECTIONS
To open the Brush, Linear or Radial You can create more than one selection on
Gradient tools on Windows/Mac, click the each photo. Each brush selection is marked
buttons in the right panel bar or press the B with a small circle called a pin.
key (Brush), L key (Linear) or R key (Radial).
On iOS/Android, tap the Selective button at
the bottom of Edit view.
In the panel, select the edits you want

to apply selectively. It can help to select Unselected Selected
more extreme settings when creating the
gradient, for example, Exposure +1, so you To hide the pins on Windows/Mac, float the
can easily see the effect. You can go back cursor away from the photo.
and change the settings later.
The red mask overlay is a colored tint that
shows the location and opacity of your
BRUSH TOOL selection. You can temporarily show the
mask overlay by floating the cursor over a
To paint with the brush, select your brush pin on Windows/Mac.
size and feathering in the panel, then hold
down the mouse button and drag the cursor To reselect an existing selection, click/tap
across the photo on Windows/Mac, or drag on its pin.
your finger/pencil/stylus across the screen
on iOS/Android. To delete a selection, select the pin then
press the Delete key or right-click on the pin
If you make a mistake, hold down the Alt key and select Delete on Windows/Mac, or tap
(Windows) / Opt key (Mac) to turn the brush the trashcan icon on iOS/Android.
into an eraser on Windows/Mac, or tap the
Eraser button on iOS/Android, and click/
SELECTIVE EDITING - WINDOWS/MAC
Pins Mask Overlay
Reset All Brush Open Brush tool

Selections
New Brush Selection
Brush tool (add to selection)
Eraser (remove from selection)
Brush Size
Feather (brush softness)
Flow (build up gradually)
Density (maximum stroke strength)
Auto Mask (limit to similar pixels)
Sliders
SELECTIVE EDITING - IOS/ANDROID
Tap Selective
button in toolbar
to open Selective
Editing mode.
Tap + button and

select the brush, Tap arrow to undo
linear or radial adjustment. Hold
gradient, then drag finger on arrow to
finger across photo. show redo button.
Tap to switch
between brush/ To edit an existing
eraser mode. pin, tap on gray
Drag finger (or (unselected) pin
stylus) on image to reselect it
to brush or erase (turns blue).
a selection.
Hold finger on pin

to view menu.
Hold finger on
button and drag
up/down to
change size.
Hold finger on
button and drag
up/down to
change feathering
(softness).
Drag pin to move
Hold finger on selection.
button and drag
up/down to
change flow.
Tap trash can to
Tap the checkmark delete selected pin.
to confirm the
selection or the X to
cancel the changes.
EXAMPLE 1 - SUNNY COAST
It's a little too bright, very hazy

and lacking contrast, but the color's
about right. There's too much sky,
so it needs cropping, and there's
some vignetting from the lens.
Enable Lens Corrections in

the Optics panel to remove
vignetting and distortion.
Dehaze +40 to reduce the

atmospheric haze.
Highlights -60 to bring the

detail back into the waves on
the shoreline. Shadows +40 to
increase detail in the rock face.
Whites +20 and Blacks -56 to

expand the tonal range.
Temp 5750 and Tint +11 to

emphasize the sunny afternoon.
Linear Gradient from the top of

the photo, set to Exposure -0.60,
Highlights -100, Saturation +31
to make the sky more blue.
Brush over breaking waves and

rocks with +100 Clarity for impact.
Crop to 16x9 ratio.

EXAMPLE 2 - KIDS LOVE BOXES!
It's underexposed and lacking contrast,

and the color doesn't really add to
the photo. It's very high ISO so there's
lots of noise, and it's not straight.
Exposure +0.80 as underexposed.
Whites +35 and Blacks -9 to

expand to fill tonal range.
Clarity +10 to add contrast.
Temp 3050 and Tint -1 to improve

white balance to give a cleaner
starting point for the B&W conversion.
Convert to B&W. Auto B&W Mix did

a good job, but change Orange
to +24 to lighten the skin.
Set Contrast +20 to increase

contrast slightly.
Linear Gradient diagonally from bottom

left corner to even up the lighting.
Healing Brush set to Clone and

then Heal mode to remove the
bright line and tear in the box.
Noise Reduction 35 to reduce

high ISO noise. Crop to straighten
lines and remove bright knees.
EXAMPLE 3 - SUNSET AT STEEPHILL COVE
Shadows need brightening while

retaining highlight detail. Needs
warming and clouds enhancing
to feel more like sunset.
Straighten 0.89, using Straighten tool

to draw line down central building.
Highlights -100 to recover and enhance

the detail in the sky. Shadows -80 to
bring out detail in rocks and houses.
Whites +17, so the sun is just short

of clipping. Blacks -40 blocks the
darkest shadows in the rocks.
Clarity +100 is an extreme adjustment,

but using too much Contrast
would lose sky/rocks detail.
Saturation +100 to make it

much more colorful.
Temp 5450 and Tint +18 to warm it up.
Vignette -30 with Feather 70 to

bring down the brightness of the
corners, especially on the left.
It's still a little flat and

dark, so Contrast +40 and
Exposure +0.33 to finish.
SHARING PHOTOS
Lightroom is a non-destructive photo editor,
9
so to apply your changes to the photos, you
must save a copy. These can be used to:
• Send to other people via email, instant

message or social media.
• Upload to photo sharing websites.
• Upload to online labs or take to local

photo labs to be printed as photographic
prints.
• Upload to online printers to create books,

calendars and other products.
• Print through other software.
• Open in other software such as

Photoshop, OnOne, Topaz, Nik Software,
etc. for further editing.
SAVING A PHOTO (WINDOWS/MAC) SAVING A PHOTO (IOS/ANDROID)
To save a photo to the hard drive, go to File To save a photo to the phone/tablet's
menu > Save To or click the Share icon. camera roll, select the menu, then the Share
command.
Tap the menu icon
iOS Android
Tap Save to Tap Save to

Camera Roll Device
When saving an edited photo as a JPEG, you
can set the location and resize the photo.
¶¶ Full Size uses the pixels created by the

camera, without throwing them away (other
than those you've cropped) or creating new
pixels. This is also known as “full resolution”
or “native resolution.”
¶¶ Small is 1024px along the long edge. It's

ideal for emailing or posting on the web.
¶¶ Custom asks for the length of the long

edge in pixels. For example, for a 4" x 6"
print, set the long side to 1800px.
Select 2048px or Maximum Available

SHARING WEB GALLERIES

Entire albums of photos can be shared with To share an album from your phone/tablet,
others by sending a link to a web gallery. By open the album in Grid view, select the
clicking to view the web gallery, they can: Share menu, then tap the Share command.
• View the photos in a Grid or Detail view.

Tap the menu icon
• View the photos as a slide show.
iOS Android
• Like or comment on the photos.
To share an album on Windows/Mac, right-

click on it in the Albums panel and choose
Share Album.
Tap Share Tap Share Album
Web Gallery
Copy the link to the clipboard and send it to

by email, text message, Facebook, etc.
Tap Share Tap Share Album
To access additional controls, for example,

to allow downloading photos, to share
metadata or show the location of the photo,
go to https://lightroom.adobe.com and sign
in to your account.
To stop sharing an album, right-click on it

again and choose Stop Sharing.
Tap Share Link and send.

YOU'RE OFF TO A
GREAT START!
You can get the gist of how Lightroom's
10
With your book purchase, you also get
sliders work simply through a year's access* to my Lightroom CC
experimentation. It doesn't take a rocket Members Area, which includes:
scientist to work out that the Exposure slider
brightens or darkens the photos. • Multiple eBook formats of this book.
However, many of Lightroom's sliders do • New Lessons & Updates in the Members
all sorts of clever calculations behind the Area, as Adobe adds new features to
scenes. Understanding how the sliders Lightroom CC.
work—and how they work together—means
you can get the best result. • Email Support from the author, in case
you get stuck.*
In my latest book, Edit Like a Pro, written in
the same format and language as this quick • Image Analysis Worksheet to help you
start guide, we look in much more detail, not analyze your own photos.
just at how Lightroom CC works, but the
approach professional photographers use to • Additional Image Edit Walkthroughs to
get outstanding results. help you continue to improve your editing
skills.
For more details, visit https://www.Lrq.me/
shop/adobe-lightroom-cc-edit-pro/ • Sample Images so you can follow along
with key editing examples.
• Keyboard Shortcuts to speed up your

workflow.
• Discounts on future purchases on the

Lightroom Queen website.
* Members Area access is valid for 365 days

from date of book purchase. Email support is
valid for 90 days from date of book purchase.
When your Members Area access expires,
you're welcome to extend it at a low cost, so you
always have the most up to date information
about Lightroom CC.

Lightroom CC 10 Quick Start

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Lightroom CC 10 Quick Start

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Version 1

Publication Date 18 October 2017

Copyright © 2017 Victoria Bampton. All rights reserved.

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY ADOBE SYSTEMS

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft

Android and Google Play are trademarks of Google Inc.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

INTRODUCTION 1 EDITING PHOTOS 25

The Lightroom Family of Apps 2 Cropping & Straightening 26

THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE 6 Selective Edits 34

Example 1 - Sunny Coast 37

Adding Photos on Windows/Mac 11 Example 3 - Sunset at Steephill

Syncing with iOS/Android 17 YOU'RE OFF TO A GREAT START! 43

VIEWING & ORGANIZING PHOTOS 18

Grouping Photos in Albums 21

Selecting Your Best Photos 22

Lightroom has now been redesigned

The new app retains the best of Lightroom's

At the time of writing this introduction,

The previous version of Lightroom desktop,

THE LIGHTROOM FAMILY OF APPS

THE LIGHTROOM FAMILY WORKFLOW

Sync to the cloud...

View & edit on any device... Share via...

INSTALLING ON MOBILE DEVICES To install the CC app, download the installer

THE CC DESKTOP APP

Check for Updates

Show app menu

Down the left and right sides are panels,

THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE (WINDOWS/MAC)

Menubar Progress bar Search Refine View

Window buttons (on

Windows vs. Mac

Show/Hide Refine View Share/Save a Copy Sync Status

THE LIGHTROOM WORKSPACE (IOS/ANDROID)

2. Tap All Photos

3. To switch between Edit, Info, Keywords,

• You can improve the photos (not videos)

• Mobile devices (phones/tablets).

• Multiple different hard drives.

• Cloud storage services, such as Google

• Other photo-editing programs. FILE FORMATS

Most camera raw file formats are sup-

ADDING PHOTOS ON WINDOWS/MAC

STEP-BY-STEP 3. The thumbnails start to appear in a grid.

5. Click Add X Photos to start adding the

6. The dialog closes and a progress bar

THE ADD PHOTOS DIALOG (WINDOWS/MAC)

Return to Thumbnails Add the

Photos without Photo selected Hover cursor Faded thumbnails

ADDING PHOTOS ON IOS/ANDROID

• Lightroom's built-in camera

• automatically add new photos captured

• manually add new photos using other

We'll consider each of these in turn...

THE LIGHTROOM CAMERA

The iOS app and Android phone app include

Unlike the main camera apps, the shoot-

Tap the blue Add Photos button at the

ADD PHOTOS MANUALLY Lightroom displays the photos stored on

Tap the blue Add Photos button at the

Lightroom displays the photos stored on

To open a photo into the Edit view, simply