We will outline some ways you can spot a well-exposed image. This will include learning how to read your histogram in Lightroom. We will continue to cover the main basic exposure adjustments in this digital editing software. By the end, you will confidently be able to achieve a correct exposure in Lightroom. 

What is Exposure in Photography? 

Achieving the correct exposure in photography is crucial. The exposure is dictated by the settings you put into the camera. The ISO, shutter speed, and aperture decide this. 

A correct exposure is when you can clearly see the main part of the image. A perfectly exposed image would not have true blacks or true whites. A well-exposed image would replicate how our eyes see the scene we photograph. 

Cameras in auto mode will automatically change the settings to achieve a correct exposure. Getting the correct exposure in manual mode will take practice. But, if you want to take photography seriously, you must learn this method. 

Read our article on the exposure triangle to better understand how to achieve good exposure in the camera. 

Editing For A Correct Exposure in Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions have many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes. 

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud. This allows you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions produce the same results as the algorithms for adjustments are the same. So, it will come down to personal preference or whether you need to use a very specific process. This article will outline differences in the processes we touch on in either Lightroom version. 

How To Assess Exposure in Lightroom 

We can use digital editing software, like Adobe Lightroom, to assess the exposure of our photographs. Of course, we can use our eyes to determine whether a photograph is too light or dark. However, it helps our understanding of photography if we can see how a program reads our exposure. 

The histogram is a visual representation of the exposure data. It shows how many values in the photographs are considered to be shadows, midtones, highlights, and everything in between. 

If we look at a histogram and see that the results are bunched up to the left, we can tell the photo will be on the darker side. If we see the results are toward the right, the photo will be bright. If the values are greatest at either end, we can tell the photo will be overexposed or underexposed. 

Read our dedicated article on the histogram to get a better understanding of this tool. 

How To Correct Exposure in Lightroom 

Correcting exposure in Adobe Lightroom is extremely easy. We will now guide you through overall exposure adjustments. We will also touch on other fine-tuning adjustments to help you perfect your exposure. 

You can find all these sliders in the Light section in the Edit interface in Lightroom. In Lightroom Classic, you can find these in the Edit interface under Basic > Tone. 

Exposure 

Of course, the main method to correct the exposure in Lightroom is to use the Exposure slider. The slider increments mimic how the addition or subtraction of different stops of light will affect our image. 

The slider allows us to adjust our image up to five stops of light in either direction. Lightroom has one of the most accurate exposure compensation sliders on the market. It treats the tones when adjusting the exposure very accurately, like how a camera would act. 

You want to move the slider to the left to remove stops of light and to the right to add more light. If you’re heavily under or overexposed, you will need to move the sliders a fair bit. If you only want to make small adjustments to the exposure, do not overdo it. 

From the example below, we can see how much of a savior the Exposure adjustment can be. It can correct the mistakes we have made in the camera. So, previously unusable images are now salvageable.

Highlights/ Shadows 

You will want to use the other tonal adjustments to fine-tune your exposure. The most effective are the Highlights and Shadows adjustments. 

These adjustments will target the lower and higher sections of the histogram, leaving the midtones and blacks and whites. In fact, you will be able to see the areas each slider effects on the histogram when hovering over the slider in Lightroom Classic. 

The Shadows slider is particularly effective. It can lighten up dark areas, which is extremely common in many facets of photography.

The Highlights slider counters the opposite, areas where light may wash out. This is particularly helpful for photographs taken inside on a bright day where the outside is visible. 

The sliders provide a good amount of compensation. It is best to avoid targeting the shadows and highlights when moving the Exposure slider. Instead, target them after with these sliders. 

Whites/ Blacks 

The Whites and Blacks adjustments are for the extreme tones in your photograph. These sliders will adjust the values closest to being true black or white. 

Overusing these sliders may produce flat results in your photograph. So, it would be best to use them sparingly. 

Increasing the white or decreasing the blacks can easily wash out all information from these areas. So, these adjustments must be used with care. You can check with your histogram if you have pushed them too far. 

Conclusion: Edit Exposure in Lightroom 

This article shows that Adobe Lightroom is an incredible program for adjusting exposure. It treats our images with exposure compensation similar to how a camera would act. It produces convincing results that make it look like we achieved the right exposure in the camera. 

Remember that it is best to use the Exposure adjustment to set the base tone of the image. Do not try to save the shadows or highlights here, as it may compromise other sections of your photograph. Instead, use the Highlights and Shadows adjustments to fine-tune your exposure. 

We will touch on techniques you can use in both versions of Lightroom. So, whatever version you prefer to work on, your photos will look as sharp as possible at the end. We will also mention a few points to help you get sharp results inside your camera.

Why Do We Get Blurry Photos? 

There are many reasons why our images could turn out blurry. There are obvious mistakes like the focus not being correct or having a low-quality or dirty lens,. Also, there are finer details like low-light situations and the different ISO settings. 

The resolution of a camera is measured in megapixels. The higher the resolution, the sharper your images will be. Older DSLRs or smartphones will have fewer megapixels than the quality we are used to nowadays. Even though they may have previously been good cameras, we are now used to very high-quality images. 

It is not always possible to shoot in the best conditions with the best equipment. So, this article will guide you through fixing blurry photos in Lightroom. Once you have taken the image, post-processing is the only option you have to refine your photograph. 

Adobe Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic 

Adobe Lightroom now comes in two different versions: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Both versions possess many of the same functions; what differs are the approaches to editing processes. 

Lightroom favors a post-processing workflow that utilizes the cloud, allowing you to work from the same set of images on any device you want. This version also prioritizes simplicity and ease of use through a stripped-back interface. This may be easier for beginners to work through. 

Lightroom Classic has an interface with which any photographer who has used the past versions of Lightroom would be familiar. It provides a wide range of features, some of which you may never need to use. You will find more in-depth controls and attention to detail in Lightroom Classic. 

Both Lightroom versions produce the same results as the algorithms for adjustments are the same. So, it will come down to personal preference or whether you need to use a very specific process. This article will outline differences in the processes we touch on in either Lightroom version. 

Fix Blurry Photos With Sharpening

The quickest and easiest way to fix blurry photos is with the Sharpening slider. You can find this in the Detail section when editing in Lightroom. 

The Sharpening slider is fairly straightforward. As you increase its strength, it will try to refine the softer edges in your photograph. This can easily make your image look overly pixelated, so you will want to make sure this is balanced convincingly. This is particularly important if you will print out your photographs. 

The Sharpening slider also includes three other sliders that allow you to fine-tune this adjustment. In Lightroom, you can access them with a click on the dropdown menu next to the slider adjustment. In Lightroom Classic, you will see them below the Sharpening slider. 

The first adjustment you will encounter is Radius. This adjustment controls the thickness of the edge where contrast is applied to make the edges look sharper. This is the best slider to use when fine-tuning your adjustment. It is best not to push this slider, though. You will want to see what the adjustment does at a smaller level, so it is best to zoom in while adjusting. 

The Detail slider will increase the sharpness of objects’ edges and other details in your photograph. However, this can easily increase noise and grain in your photograph, so use it sparingly, like the Radius adjustment. 

The Masking slider affects where the sharpening effect is applied. If the Masking slider is low, the sharpening will be applied to the entire image. If you increase the slider, the sharpening will only be applied to the strongest edges of the photograph. 

Other Adjustments to Fix Blurry Photos

Three other sliders may help you fix blurry photos in Lightroom. These three adjustments are Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze. You can find these in the Effects section in Lightroom and the Presence section in Lightroom Classic. 

The Texture adjustment will enhance ‘medium-sized details.’ It detects textures and gives you the opportunity to increase or decrease them. This slider will be helpful if a texture is lost in a blurry photo. You can also use it to soften a texture that may be pixelated from sharpening. 

The Clarity adjustment is very dramatic, so you will only want to use it in small increments. This adjustment increases or decreases mid-tone contrast, which can help sharpen blurry photos. 

Finally, we have the Dehaze slider. This adjustment will increase or decrease atmospheric conditions like haze, fog, mist, or smoke. It can do this by adjusting the contrast in a particular way. This slider is ideal for adjusting a blurry photo due to weather conditions. 

Auto Apply During Export 

Both Lightroom versions allow you to automatically apply sharpening in the exporting process. This means you do not have to apply the sharpening yourself. It also allows you to apply sharpening to many images with the same consistency.  

The downside is that you do not have the same amount of control as fixing blurry photos manually. This could mean that some photos come out looking pixelated. 

Thankfully, Lightroom provides different levels of automatic sharpening. You can choose whether to sharpen for a screen, matte, or glossy paper. Then, you also get three levels of intensity: low, standard, or high. If you don’t want to overdo it, you can choose a low amount of added sharpening.

How To Avoid Blurry Photos In-Camera 

Let’s quickly brush over some points to remember when photographing to avoid blurry photographs. 

Clean Your Equipment 

The best way to avoid blurry photos is to make sure your lens is clean. Always use a lens cap when you are not shooting with any of your lenses, and avoid touching the lens glass with your bare hands. 

Shoot in RAW 

Shooting in RAW will provide more information to your photographic files. This may not save a blurry image, but it will ensure you can get the most out of your file in post-processing. 

Shoot With A Suitable Shutter Speed

Blurry images created by a slow shutter speed are notoriously difficult to edit in post-production. To combat this, try to shoot with a high shutter speed. This may be difficult in low-light situations, so you may want to consider increasing your ISO. This is a balance, though, as a higher ISO will produce less sharp results with added noise. 

Conclusion: Fix Blurry Photos in Lightroom 

Lightroom is the ideal software for fixing blurry photos. It gives you multiple ways to do this, from a hands-off approach with the automatic application in the export processing. To a detailed, extensive process that allows you to fine-tune the detailing amount. 

It is easier and more accurate than the options in Adobe Photoshop. Just keep in mind that pushing the sharpening sliders emphasizes pixelation, so it is about finding a balance.

Grain can be a stylistic choice to add a certain feel to your photographs. The downside is that more grain means less clarity. Luckily, fixing grain has been a common issue throughout digital photography. This means that almost all digital editing software contains some form of grain reduction.

What Is Grain? 

Grain has always been an issue in photography, even with film photography! Film grain comes from the chemistry that makes up photographic film. The larger ISO film that we use to shoot in low-light conditions has a larger grain. 

In digital photography, grain is known as noise. Digital noise is often found in similar low-light conditions. The ‘noise’ is unwanted electrical signals that the camera’s sensor produces. These signals prevent us from obtaining our desired information. 

Grain and noise are emphasized in low-light situations as the information is much harder to process in these environments. If we simplify the scientific understanding, fewer photons hit the desired location due to insufficient light. 

How To Fix Grainy Photos in Lightroom 

The best way to fix grainy photos is to use Adobe Lightroom. Lightroom is a digital editing software that can organize your photos and apply general editing adjustments. 

As Lightroom has progressed with the boom of digital photography, it has managed to fine-tune the shortcomings of digital photography. Let’s now look at a step-by-step guide to fix grainy photos in Lightroom. I will show examples of a film scan with grain and a noisy digital photo. 

In these examples I am using Lightroom classic. You can perform all these same adjustments in the other version of Lightroom provided with your purchase. 

Step 1. Import your images 

Once you have your images in Lightroom, you will want to find the Develop Panel. In the Develop panel, head down to the Detail section. Inside here, you will find how to fix grainy photos. 

Step 2. Editing Detail 

If you have a digital RAW file allowing for Lightroom Denoise, click the Denoise button for Lightroom to automatically provide its excellent noise reduction abilities. This is the best denoise software on the market. 

If you have a grainy film scan, this adjustment will not work. Do not worry; you can adjust the grain through the Manual Noise Reduction panel. 

You want to move the Luminance, Detail, and Contrast sliders to your desired effect. The more Luminance, the less grain. This comes at a price, though, as the image will become much softer.

The Detail slider will combat the softness but also make the grain prominent again. This is a fine balance that you will have to play around with yourself. The Contrast slider will add contrast to similarly emphasized tones while also enhancing the grain. 

Step 3. Editing Basic Adjustments

If the Detail adjustments are not enough, you can go to the Basic adjustment section. Here, you can increase the exposure if it doesn’t ruin the atmosphere of the photograph. 

The most important adjustment is in the Presence subsection. You will want to reduce the Texture slider. Again, this will make the photograph softer, so you will have to find a good balance. 

How To Fix Grainy Photos in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is another great editing software for fixing grainy photos. It is more advanced than Lightroom, so it may not be suitable for photographers who are not computer-literate. 

Regardless, we will walk you through a simple way to fix your grainy photos in Photoshop. 

Step 1. Import Your Image 

First, let’s open our image in Photoshop. We can do this by dragging our image over the application icon or by going into Photoshop, going to File > Open, and finding our image through the browsing method. 

Step 2. Edit Your Image

As we are in Photoshop, you should start by duplicating your background image. This is important for this process as we will have to experiment. We don’t want to damage the original image. 

The first thing to try is to reduce the Noise. You can do this by going into Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise. A new dialog box will open up. Play with the sliders until you have the effect you desire. 

If Reduce Noise doesn’t help fix grainy photos, like my example, more drastic measures must be taken. Go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur and play around with these sliders. This adjustment is dramatic, so be sure to use only the smaller side of these sliders. 

Again, these steps will compromise the quality, and your photo will look much softer. You will have to decide if you would rather your image has more grain or is softer. 

How To Avoid Shooting Grainy Photos 

We will now look at ways to ensure there is no grain or noise in our photographs. You may not want to employ all, or even any, of these options. If not, you will get grain or noise in your images and you will have to settle for the post-processing approaches we outlined in this article. 

Shoot With A Lower ISO 

The main cause of grain and noise is a high ISO. Therefore, shooting with an ISO of 200-600 will ensure as little grain or noise as possible. 

Use A Flash 

Grain and noise are emphasised in dark environments. Using a flash on your camera will ensure a majority of your image is well lit (if shooting in an indoor environment). If you don’t want a harsh flash you can angle your flash to bounce off the walls by aiming it upward. 

Overexpose Your Images 

Again, getting as much light in as possible will combat grain and noise. If you overexpose your images you will find there is a slight amount less of grain and noise. This may not be much, but with the added editing in post-production it may be enough to suit your taste. 

Shoot in RAW

RAW files provide much more information than shooting in JPEG. Ensure you are shooting in RAW as it will allow you much more customisation in the post-processing. This is a crucial bit of information. People who shoot in JPEG will realise that the suggestions above are much harder to perform if you dont have RAW images. 

Built-in Noise Reduction 

Many new cameras have built-in noise reduction inside the camera! Be sure to choose this setting in low-light situations or if you have to shoot at a high ISO. The camera make will have a good idea of how its sensors process light, so the built-in noise reduction should do an okay job. 

Conclusion: How To Fix Grainy Photos 

From this article we can see that there are a number of ways to fix grainy photos in Lightroom or Photoshop. Digital images will be much easier to fix, especially if shot on RAW. Film scans will be harder but you are able to get grain-free images. 

The best software to fix grainy photos is Lightroom. This is thanks to its abilities but mainly its usability. If you don’t have any of these Adobe products, there are many digital software available that are able to reduce noise and grain online. 

This article will guide you on everything you need to know about getting your Lightroom workflow in the right state. We will cover the basics while explaining how the Lightroom cataloging system works. We will also include some essential tips covering adjustments you need to know. 

Each section links to a detailed article on the subject. Click these links for step-by-step instructions on the key points mentioned. 

Why is a Good Workflow Important? 

Your Lightroom workflow is important because this is the digital editing software that houses all your photography. If you make a conscious decision to stay on top of your Lightroom workflow, you will be able to easily transfer between cameras and computers while keeping your archive uniform. 

Ensure you understand each section, as it will be important in the long run. A good workflow makes searching for old photos a breeze. It also means that sorting through large jobs to whittle down to a final selection is as easy as possible. 

What is the Lightroom Catalog?

Adobe Lightroom uses a Catalog system to provide different workspaces for different photographs. If you are a beginner, I suggest using one Catalog to keep all your photographs inside the same space. Experienced photographers may want different Catalogs, one for personal photographs and one for work. 

This next section will dive deeper into the Catalog system so you can use it to its full potential. We will also cover how you can easily transfer these from one computer to another and how to back it up so you never lose your photos! 

Understanding the Catalog

The Lightroom catalog system is a database that stores all your photos and keeps track of the changes you make. It also saves metadata like camera settings, lens info, and GPS location.

Lightroom uses catalogs to organize photos. A single catalog can hold a huge number of images. You can sort photos inside a catalog using collections and smart collections.

The catalog makes it easy to find and edit any photo in your library. Editing is non-destructive, so you never lose the original file. Lightroom’s develop module has simple sliders for adjusting things like exposure, contrast, and color. To dive deeper into Lightroom editing, the lightroom catalog system is a great place to start.

Backup Your Catalog

Lightroom doesn’t actually store your photos. It simply stores information about them in a catalog. Any edits, presets, stars, labels, or metadata you add to an image gets stored with the image file.

Backing up your Lightroom catalog is important. If anything happens to your computer, like theft or hard drive failure, you’d have to start from scratch without a backup. Ideally, have two external backups and one in a cloud-based program.

To find your catalog location, go to Catalog Settings > General > Location > Show. The backup is stored in the same place, in a “Backups” folder. You can also find out how to set how often to backup your Lightroom catalog here. Choosing “Every time Lightroom exits” is the safest option.

Transfer Lightroom Catalog

Transferring your Lightroom catalog to a new computer is a simple process. First, organize your folders in Lightroom on your old computer. Then, back up your photos, catalog, presets, and preferences.

Install Lightroom on your new computer and transfer the backed-up files, making sure to put them in the same paths as the original locations. Open the catalog file and relink any missing photos or folders. Finally, check that your presets, preferences, and plug-ins are all there.

Learning how to transfer a Lightroom catalog to a new computer will ensure a smooth transition and get you back to editing your photos quickly.

Lightroom Basics

If you are a complete beginner, you may be overwhelmed by the Lightroom interface. This next section will guide you to the most crucial parts of Lightroom: the import, organization, and export of your photographs. 

These features are well signposted in the interface, but you may want to know which settings are best for working with. This next section will ensure you get the crucial information that other photography websites often overlook. 

Importing Photos

Importing photos into Lightroom is simple. Connect your camera to your computer using a USB cable and turn it on. Click the Import button to bring up the import dialogue box.

In the center window, select the photos you want to import. Choose Copy or Copy as DNG at the top center of the screen. This copies the photos to your computer’s hard drive so you can reuse your memory card.

The right window shows where your photos will be copied. You can select a folder or create a new one. Apply any desired settings like copyright info or keywords in the Apply During Import panel. Finally, click Import to bring your photos into Lightroom. For a more in-depth look at importing photos into Lightroom, our beginner’s guide covers everything you need to know.

Organize Your Photos

Let’s now take a look at some top tips to organize your photos.You can choose where to store your images, such as on an external hard drive. Also, you should create a folder structure that works for you, like organizing by date or photo shoot.

Use one master catalog in Lightroom instead of multiple catalogs. This makes it easier to search for photos across all your shoots. Adjust your catalog settings and preferences to fit your needs.

Create metadata presets with your copyright info. Add keywords to your photos so you can find them later with Lightroom’s search. Use flags, stars, and color labels to mark your best images.

You should delete rejected photos to save space and reduce clutter. Group your best images into Collections for quick access.

Organizing photos in Lightroom is key to an efficient editing workflow. Taking time to set up these systems will save you hours in the long run.

Exporting Photos

Exporting photos from Lightroom is an important step in sharing your edited images. To export, select the photo and go to File > Export. Choose your export settings like file type, size, and quality.

You can export multiple photos at once by highlighting them before starting the export process. The export settings you choose will apply to all selected images.

To save time, create export presets for common settings like web or print. Lightroom Classic also lets you export to online galleries like Smugmug and Flickr. If you’d like to learn more about exporting photos from Lightroom, this in-depth guide covers the process step by step.

Ideal Export Settings

Exporting photos from Lightroom is not a one-size-fits-all situation. The best export settings depend on where you plan to share your images. For online posting, JPEG is the universal file format. But it’s a compressed file, so you lose some quality when exporting.

To reduce file size in Lightroom, use the slider to reduce JPEG quality to 85% or set a size limit. Most online content is viewed on screens with limited colors, so sRGB is the best color space for posting online. If you’re printing photos, export your file with the original size and change the resolution to 300 ppi.

Lightroom export settings are important to master for sharing your best work. By adjusting settings like file format, color space, and resolution, you can optimize your photos for different uses without losing quality.

Useful Tips

This next section is for photographers who want to learn simple but crucial adjustments you can make in digital photo editing software. These actions range from editing a batch of images simultaneously to importing presets that you may buy online. 

Each section will introduce a new tip or technique. To get a full step-by-step guide to these actions, click the link! 

Resize an Image

Resizing images in Lightroom is an important skill for photographers. It lets you adjust photo dimensions for different uses, like printing or sharing online.

Lightroom offers several ways to resize photos. You can set exact width and height values, resize based on the long or short edge length, or even specify a megapixel size. The export dialog also lets you choose the resolution in pixels per inch.

For web images, 72 PPI is standard. Print photos need higher resolution, usually 300 PPI. Lightroom makes it simple to resize your images to the perfect dimensions. Resizing an image in Lightroom is a key part of any editing workflow.

Batch Edit

Batch editing in Lightroom saves time by applying adjustments to multiple photos at once. This is helpful when editing photos from an event or photoshoot with similar lighting.

There are several ways to batch edit in Lightroom. You can apply presets during import, use the Quick Develop panel in the Library module, or sync adjustments across selected photos. The Auto Sync feature lets you adjust multiple images in real-time.

Creating your own presets is the easiest way to batch edit. Simply apply your favorite adjustments to one photo, then save them as a preset to use on other images. You can also batch edit in Lightroom by copying and pasting metadata across a group of photos.

Import Presets

Lightroom presets are post-processing recipes that can completely change the look and style of your image with just one click. You don’t need to be a post-processing expert to give your photos a professional look. The installation process is simple once you know a few steps, and it’s slightly different depending on whether you’re using Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC.

To get started, download the preset or preset bundle onto your hard drive. If it downloads as a .zip file, unzip it first. In Lightroom Classic, go to the Develop Module and click on the “+” sign next to the Presets heading. Select “Import Presets,” navigate to the preset file, and click “Import.” In Lightroom CC, select File > Import Profiles and Presets, navigate to the preset file, and click “Import.”

Once you’ve imported the presets, you’re ready to start using them. Select an image and click on a preset to instantly update the settings for a new look. If you’d like to learn more about how to import lightroom presets, there are many helpful resources available online.

Adding Watermarks

Adding a watermark to your photos in Lightroom is a simple way to protect them from theft and unauthorized use. It’s also a great tool for marketing your work or identifying the photos as your own.

Lightroom offers two types of watermarks: text and graphic. Text watermarks are perfect for adding your name or copyright, while graphic watermarks allow you to add a logo or any other image to your photo. The best part is that you can apply watermarks to multiple images in batches during the export process, saving you a lot of time.

To create a watermark, go to the Edit Watermarks menu in Lightroom. Here you can choose between text and graphic options, and personalize your watermark using various settings like font, opacity, size, and position. Once you’ve created your watermark preset, simply select it from the drop-down menu during export to add a watermark in lightroom to your chosen photos.

Smart Previews

Lightroom smart previews are a great way to speed up your workflow. They are small, compressed DNG files that Lightroom creates from your original RAW files. This means you can edit your photos without having the RAW files connected to your computer.

Smart previews take up much less space on your hard drive than RAW files. They also allow Lightroom to run faster when you’re editing in the Develop Module. You can even create HDR images and panoramas using smart previews.

To see if an image has a smart preview, look under the histogram in the right-hand panel of the Library or Develop Module. Lightroom smart previews give you the flexibility to edit your photos remotely without needing to bring along all your original files.

Lightroom Shortcuts

Lightroom shortcuts can speed up your editing workflow. Flagging photos with ‘P’ and rejecting with ‘X’ makes culling quicker. Use number keys to apply star ratings from 1-5 and color labels from 6-9.

Press ‘L’ to cycle through Lights Out modes for a clutter-free view. ‘F’ toggles full screen mode. Shift+Tab hides side and top/bottom panels.

In the Develop module, ‘R’ activates crop mode. ‘Q’ accesses the heal/clone brush, with Shift+T to switch between them. ‘M’ opens the graduated filter and Shift+M the radial filter. ‘K’ activates the adjustment brush. ‘V’ converts to black and white.

To save time, copy settings with Command+Shift+C (PC: Control+Shift+C) and paste to other photos with Command+Shift+V (PC: Control+Shift+V). For more lightroom shortcuts, press Command+/ (PC: Control+/).

Adobe Lightroom is the top editing software for fixing issues in photography. It has grown with the evolution of digital photography, consistently pushing the bar of what is possible in digital photo editing. Today, we will explore the multiple ways it can fix common photography details. 

Edit Details in Lightroom

Adobe provides several dedicated ways to fix details in Lightroom. Each major issue usually has its own section, where you will usually find customizable options to make your adjustments as perfect as possible. 

Each section we explore today briefly introduces the adjustments that Lightroom makes. To learn exactly how to perform these adjustments, click the link for a step-by-step guide. 

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration (CA) is a common problem in photography that causes color fringing or purple halos along high-contrast edges. It happens when a lens fails to focus all colors onto the same point, resulting in distracting color shifts.

There are two types of CA: longitudinal (LoCA) and transverse (TCA). LoCA appears as a colored blur in front of or behind the focal plane, while TCA shows up as sharp color fringes near the edges of the frame.

To minimize CA, use high-quality lenses and avoid shooting at extreme apertures or focal lengths. In post-processing, Lightroom offers both automatic and manual tools to correct CA. The “Remove Chromatic Aberration” checkbox in the Lens Corrections panel can often fix the issue with one click. For more stubborn cases, use the Defringe sliders to target specific color fringes. With a few simple steps, you can eliminate the “devil in the details” and achieve clean, chromatic aberration-free images.

Grain

Grainy photos can ruin the quality of your images. To fix this, you can use Photoshop or Lightroom. In Photoshop, go to Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise and adjust the sliders until you get the desired result.

Lightroom also has a dedicated panel for reducing noise. In the Develop module, go to the Detail panel and use the Luminance, Detail, and Contrast sliders to minimize the grain. While you can’t remove the grain completely, these tools can help make it less noticeable.

Fixing grainy photos is an important skill for any photographer. By using the right techniques in Photoshop and Lightroom, you can greatly improve the quality of your images.

Sharpen

Lightroom offers several tools to sharpen and fix blurry photos. The Detail panel has sliders like Amount, Radius, Detail, and Masking that can improve sharpness. Amount controls the intensity of sharpening, while Radius makes edges look thicker.

The Detail slider makes the whole image stand out but can create noise. Masking is a handy tool that automatically detects and masks blurred areas, removing sharpening from those parts for a more natural look.

For selective sharpening, use the Adjustment Brush tool. Brush over the area you want to sharpen and move the Sharpness or Clarity slider to see instant changes. To fix blurry photos even further, try out these additional Lightroom techniques and master the art of sharpening your images.

These creative editing ideas show you how to make the most of photo editing software. We show you how to edit photos in new ways, giving your work a new lease of life. Our article has tutorials on editing techniques that produce truly unique images.

Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you can find something to spark your imagination in our list of creative editing ideas!

Project-Based Video Course and Cheat Sheets

Fantastic Photo Adventures

Unlock your creative potential with this Project-Based Video Course and Cheat Sheets:

• Learn from a world-renowned photographer with 500,000+ followers
• Access 30 unique projects to spark your creativity
• Simple Photoshop techniques to enhance your photos

16 Creative Editing Ideas and Techniques

This compilation of creative editing ideas will kickstart your passion for digital art. We have a wide range of techniques and concepts, from digital collages to 3D modeling. So, there’s something to excite any photographer or digital artist.

All the tutorials are beginner-friendly. So, they’re accessible even if you’re new to photo editing software and editing.

More experienced readers will have no problem following the instructions. You’ll find something completely new to get their creative juices flowing.

Each section has a link to a full article on that topic, so if anything interests you, follow the links to learn more.

Digital Art

Digital art is a vast and exciting field encompassing various creative processes, from digital painting to 3D artwork. You need a computer or tablet, an input device like a digital art tablet and stylus, and digital artwork software.

As a beginner, you can create many fun projects. You can make comic strips, children’s book illustrations, or alternative movie posters. You can also make local postcards, birthday cards, and photo paintings.

You can also build your digital art portfolio on Instagram to track your progress, connect with others, and get feedback. With the right tools and resources, creating digital art can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for anyone.

Our full-length article is the best place to start if you’d like to learn more about digital art for beginners.

Photo Manipulation

Photoshop has opened up a world of creative possibilities for photo manipulation. With the right techniques, you can transform your images into surreal works of art.

There are some easy photo manipulation ideas. They include digital double exposure, multiplying your subject, or using the “Droste effect.” You can also restructure landscapes, create faceless portraits, or overlay images for dual worlds.

Other ideas involve creating hybrids using photography and illustration. Or, there’s adding magic and movement with cinemagraphs. You can also make your own perspective illusions. With a bit of creativity and Photoshop skills, the possibilities are endless.

Click the link if you’d like to learn more about photo manipulation.

Digital Collage

Digital collage is a technique that combines multiple images using editing software to create a new context. It takes the same cut-and-stick approach as a traditional collage but applies it in a digital environment like Adobe Photoshop.

To make a digital collage in Photoshop, start by selecting photos for your collage. Cut out a section of the main subject to reveal an image beneath it. Add a detailed layer underneath your subject and use collage elements to create different layers.

You can also cut and stick more collage elements, erase and reveal layers, and incorporate the cut-and-stick approach in many ways. Balancing all the elements together can make for an exciting image.

Find out more about digital collage by clicking the link.

Digital Collage Ideas

Digital collage is a powerful artistic genre. It combines photography, graphic design, and traditional skills like painting and drawing.

Modern technology has brought new life to the art of collage. Photoshop and other editing software have redefined the limits of what’s possible!

Collage artists are embracing their surrealist spirit. They use retro aesthetics and teleport viewers to other dimensions.

They combine various media and techniques. They also replace heads to challenge viewers and electrify compositions with vibrant colors. Some artists go minimalist for a strong composition, while others tear it down and put it back together.

Pop culture, past and present, is a significant source of inspiration for digital collage artists. They can also use humor to express themselves and add meaning to their work.

If you want to learn more about digital collages, our ideas will help you create unique and inspiring pieces.

3D Model

Photogrammetry is a process for creating a 3D model from photos. You need a camera, 3D modeling software, and a 3D printer (optional).

Use a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a wide-angle lens and a sturdy tripod. Agisoft Metashape, Regard3D, and VisualSfM are popular 3D modeling software options.

Choose a subject that’s not too large and take photos from different angles, ensuring an 80% overlap between each shot.

Import the images into the software and align them. The software will create a 3D model, which you can 3D print or use for various applications.

Learn more about creating a 3D model from photos with our complete article.

Double Exposure

Double-exposure photography is a creative way to make your photos more interesting. It involves merging multiple images to create surreal, emotional, or humorous results. You can create double exposures in-camera or using editing software like Adobe Photoshop.

There are many ways to experiment with double exposures. Try combining a simple portrait with a detailed texture, or convert your results to black and white for added depth. You can also express emotion through self-portraiture or merge two photos of the same person.

Double-exposure photography is a fun way to unleash your creativity. There are endless possibilities for combining images. And you can transform ordinary photographs into powerful masterpieces!

Our article is a must-see if you want to learn more about creating double-exposure photography images with software. 

Photomontage

A photomontage is a series of individual photographs arranged to create a single image. The number of photos, time taken, or locations used to make a photomontage is unlimited.

To create a photomontage, plan out your subject and take more photos than you need, covering every part of the scene. Use imaging software to arrange the photos, following lines in the composition to create an attractive flow.

Experiment with the layout until you’re satisfied with the result.

Printing the photos adds another dimension to the artwork. Stick the prints to a board, using the digital version as a guide. A photomontage lets you explore time and space in ways not possible with a single image.

Get started with a photomontage by reading our full tutorial.

Day-to-Night Photography

Day-to-night photography captures a scene from day to night in a single image. To create one, find a location that works well in daylight and nighttime. Set up your camera on a tripod and use manual focus to keep the focus consistent.

For the daytime shot, shoot during golden hour to avoid harsh shadows. Use a polarizing filter to improve the sky. Increase ISO, widen the aperture, or use a slower shutter speed for the nighttime shot to account for low light.

In post-processing, layer the nighttime image over the daytime one in Photoshop. Add a layer mask to the top layer and blend the two images with the Gradient tool. Paint with a brush to clean up the transition if needed.

Day-to-night photography is a simple yet effective way to create a unique image.

Multiplicity

Multiplicity photography is fun and creative. It’s a way to combine multiple photos of the same person or object into one image using Photoshop.

The key to success is using a tripod to keep your camera in the same position for each shot. This setup ensures consistent lighting and depth of field throughout the photoshoot.

In Photoshop, you’ll layer the images and use the Polygonal Lasso tool to create a selection around the subject in each photo. Then, create a layer mask to reveal or hide parts of the image. Use the Brush tool to refine the edges of the mask for a seamless blend.

Duplicating and rearranging the layers can also create a Warhol-inspired effect. With practice, you’ll master the art of multiplicity photography in no time.

If you’d like to dive deeper into multiplicity photography, read our full tutorial.

Droste Effect

The Droste effect is a creative photography technique. It involves placing a copy of an image inside itself, creating the illusion that the photo repeats infinitely.

To achieve this effect in Photoshop, duplicate the image and scale it down using Free Transform. Place the copy over the area you want to edit and erase the parts you don’t want to show.

Another method is to use an app like PhotoSpiralysis. Import your image and adjust the settings, such as magnification, spirals, and stretch. Then, move the center point to find the perfect combination.

Play around with the settings until you achieve the desired result, then render and save your final image. The Droste effect can produce exciting and unique results, but it may take patience and experimentation to get it right.

Read our full tutorial on the Droste effect if you’d like to learn more.

Harris Shutter Effect

The Harris Shutter effect is a fun way to add movement to your photos. Robert Harris of Kodak created it by re-exposing the same piece of film three times through red, green, and blue filters.

You can recreate this effect digitally using Photoshop or a free program like GIMP. Take three photos of a scene with some movement, then adjust each photo’s red, green, and blue levels.

Merge the three images into one using the “Addition” blending mode in the layers dialogue.

This technique works well with images of smoke, bikers, pedestrians, waves, waterfalls, or rivers. The Harris Shutter effect is a great way to impress your friends and improve your photography and editing skills.

No-Phone Mirror Selfie

Taking a mirror selfie without your phone showing may seem impossible, but it’s quite simple with a little Photoshop magic. All you need is a camera and a large mirror.

First, take three separate photos: one of your left arm, one of your right arm, and one of your face without the camera blocking it. Use manual mode or lock the exposure so all the images appear the same.

In Photoshop, layer the three images on top of each other. Use layer masks to remove half of the top photo, revealing the arm underneath. Add the face photo on top and mask it to fit perfectly.

Touch up any imperfections with the Clone tool, Healing Brush, Patch tool, or Content-Aware Fill.

With some practice, you can take a mirror selfie without the phone showing and create a unique, eye-catching self-portrait.

Sepia Color Photos

Sepia is a warm brown color that can give photos an antique look. Most digital cameras have the option to shoot in sepia tone. You can also create a sepia effect post-processing using Lightroom.

First, convert your image to black and white in Lightroom to create a sepia effect. Then, go to the Split Tones panel and select a golden color for the highlights and a brown color for the shadows.

Use the Balance slider to find the right ratio between shadows and highlights. In the Effect panel, add some grain for an extra vintage touch. You can save your sepia edit as a preset and apply it to other images.

To learn more about creating sepia-colored photos, both in-camera and when editing, check out our detailed guide.

Photos into Paintings

Turning photos into paintings with Photoshop is easy. First, open your photo and a painting you like in Photoshop. Create two new layers and rename them “Pixelate” and “Oil Paint Effect.”

To match the colors from the painting to your photo, select the Pixelate layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Match Colors. Choose the painting as the source and adjust the settings.

Then, add a pixelation effect by going to Filter > Pixelate > Pointillize. Lower the opacity of the Pixelate layer to make the effect more subtle.

Next, select the Oil Paint Effect layer and match the colors again. Go to Filter > Oil Paint and adjust the settings to your liking. Finally, make some final adjustments by going to Image and clicking Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color.

If you want to turn photos into paintings, click the link for the full how-to guide.

Picasso Style Portraits

Creating a Picasso-style portrait in Photoshop is a fun way to add an artistic touch to your images.

The idea is to create a cross-section of yourself by combining two photos, one facing straight ahead and the other turning to the side. When merged, they create an illusion that confuses the eye, like Picasso’s iconic style.

To get started, take two photos of yourself—one facing the camera and the other turned 90 degrees to the side. For the best results, use a plain background and natural light.

Open both images in Photoshop, placing the side-facing photo on top with a 50% opacity to line up the key features.

Add layer masks to each image and paint black on the areas that don’t overlap. Use a soft brush to blend the two images seamlessly for the finer details.

Pay close attention to the nose, making it appear to face both forward and to the side. With some practice and adjustments, you’ll have a unique Picasso-style portrait that’s sure to impress.

Create a Picasso-style portrait using our step-by-step guide!

Tiny Planet

Tiny planet photography is a fun way to capture your surroundings from a new perspective. By stitching together multiple photos, you can create a “tiny planet” effect that’s sure to impress.

To create a tiny planet, look for images with strong vertical elements like trees or buildings. Photos with a clear blue sky and simple ground texture work best. Open your image in Photoshop, straighten the horizon, and prepare the edges by matching the left and right sides.

Next, create a square aspect ratio, flip the image vertically, and apply the polar coordinates filter. With a few finishing touches to clean up the seam and adjust the background, you’ll have an out-of-this-world tiny planet photo.

If you’d like to learn more about tiny planet photography, we have a detailed guide covering everything you need.

We have dissected the photo editing software to provide you with the ultimate guide to Lightroom. So, if you need to learn any processes or want to get the most out of this application, you have come to the right place!

The Ultimate Lightroom Tutorial

Adobe Lightroom has been on the market since 2007 and has grown with the development of digital photography. It was created by the digital editing specialists Adobe, who continue pushing digital image and video editing capabilities.

Our extensive guide covers almost all of the important features that Lightroom has to offer. Here, you can learn the very basics of advanced photo editing processes.

Here is a list of the topics we cover. Click on the highlight to go to your relevant section:

• Navigating the Interface
• Helpful Tips and Techniques
• Master Exposure and Tonal Range
• Working With Color
• Creating Effects in Lightroom
• Brushes and Filters In Lightroom 
• Correcting Problems in Lightroom
• Special Techniques and Processes
• Advanced Techniques
• Lightroom Presets
• Tips for Specific Genres of Photography
• Alternatives to Adobe Lightroom

What is Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is one of the best RAW processing and organizing programs. It covers the whole range of digital editing, except for complex manipulations meant for Photoshop. Lightroom consistently sets the bar for similar software.

Lightroom is popular with amateurs and professionals because it’s easy to use. The program performs well, from organizing to exporting. But these excellent features come at a price, as the latest versions are only available with a subscription.

Adobe keeps improving Lightroom by adding AI features. Users can now do edits that were once only possible in Photoshop. This means advanced adjustments are getting simpler, giving photographers an easier way to edit their images.

Lightroom is a great choice if you want an all-in-one program with advanced tools. It will help you organize and edit your photos from start to finish.

How to Buy Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is a powerful photo editor and management tool used by millions worldwide. It comes in two main versions: Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom CC stores your photos in the creative cloud, allowing you to access your work from anywhere. Lightroom Classic focuses on a single user editing and storing files locally on their desktop machine.

Both versions require a subscription, with options for an annual plan or a monthly fee. You can also get Lightroom as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan, which includes Photoshop. If you want to simplify your purchasing process, read our article on Buying Adobe Lightroom.

Navigating the Interface

One of Lightroom’s biggest strengths is that it provides a space to sort and organize our photographs. This is helpful as we cannot rely on normal computer programs to provide a way to sort our images.

In this section, we will cover the basics of how to import and export your images. We will also cover how the Catalog system works, helping you to understand the software better. There are also some helpful tips to streamline your workflow!

Importing Photos

Importing photos into Lightroom is simple. Connect your camera to your computer using a USB cable and turn it on. Click the Import button to bring up the import dialogue box.

In the left window of the dialogue box, select your camera. The photos will appear as thumbnails in the center window. Choose Copy or Copy as DNG at the top center of the screen.

Select the destination folder for your photos in the right window. You can also choose to rename the files, add copyright information, and apply develop settings during import. Once you’ve adjusted the settings, click the Import button to bring the photos into your Lightroom catalog.

Learning how to import photos into Lightroom is an essential first step in mastering this powerful editing software. With a solid understanding of the import process, you’ll be well on your way to organizing and enhancing your images like a pro.

Undertanding the Lightroom Catalog System

The Lightroom catalog system is a database that stores your photos and tracks the changes you make to them. It makes it easy to find and edit any photo in your library.

The catalog also stores metadata about your photos, like camera make and model, lens information, and camera settings. It can even store GPS location data for photos taken with a GPS-enabled camera.

Lightroom uses catalogs to organize photos. A single catalog can hold a huge number of images. You can sort photos inside a catalog using collections and smart collections.

To learn more about how the lightroom catalog works, check out this in-depth guide that explains it in just 10 minutes.

Exporting Photos

Exporting photos from Lightroom is an important step in sharing your edited images. To export, select the photo and go to File > Export. Choose your export settings like file type, size, and quality.

You can export multiple photos at once by selecting them before starting the export process. The export settings will apply to all selected images.

Save time by creating export presets for common settings like web or print. To learn more about how to export photos from Lightroom, check out this in-depth guide.

Back Up Your Lightroom Catalog

Lightroom doesn’t actually store your photos. It simply stores information about them in a catalog. To avoid losing your edits, you need to regularly backup your Lightroom catalog.

Lightroom catalogs function as a database that references where your images are stored. Any information added to an image, such as edits, presets, stars, labels, or metadata, gets stored with the image file. Lightroom backs up your catalog, but not your photos or previews of them.

Backing up your photos and Lightroom catalogs are two separate processes that you should do regularly. Ideally, have two external backups and a backup in a cloud-based program. If you want to learn more about lightroom backup, there are great resources available to help you develop a solid backup strategy.

Helpful Tips and Techniques

Now, we have a wide range of tips and techniques to speed up your editing. Some features here are even helpful for experienced Lightroom users.

Here, we cover the basics, from cropping your photographs and histograms to flipping an image and changing its aspect ratio.

Learning different approaches to editing is beneficial for different situations. You may need to edit a wide range of photos simultaneously. This is where batch editing comes in handy.

Batch Editing

Batch editing in Lightroom lets you apply adjustments to multiple images at the same time. This can save you hours, especially if you edit photos from an event or photoshoot with similar lighting.

There are several methods for batch editing in Lightroom. You can batch edit during import, in the Library module, using the Sync or Auto Sync tools, with presets, or by editing metadata. The Auto Sync tool is particularly useful as it automatically applies any settings you edit to all selected photos.

The easiest way to batch edit is to create your own preset. Apply your favorite edits to one photo, then save those settings as a preset. You can then apply the preset to any photos in your library. To learn more about how to batch edit in Lightroom, these techniques can help speed up your editing workflow.

Resizing an Image

Resizing images in Lightroom is an important skill for photographers. It lets you adjust photo dimensions for different uses like printing, websites, or photo contests.

Lightroom offers several ways to resize photos. You can set the width and height, long edge, short edge, megapixels, or percentage. The process is simple and gives you full control.

When resizing, consider the best resolution for your needs. Use 72 PPI for digital images and 300 PPI for high-quality prints. Lightroom makes it easy to resize an image in Lightroom for any purpose.

Crop and Straighten Your Images

Cropping and straightening photos in Lightroom is simple. Access the Crop tool by clicking the grid icon or pressing R. Adjust the aspect ratio, angle, and overlay to suit your needs.

To crop, drag the handles at the corners of the grid. Use the lock icon to maintain the aspect ratio while resizing. Recompose your image using the overlay as a guide.

Straighten photos by using the Angle slider or by moving your mouse near a corner until a curved double arrow appears. Drag left or right until the photo looks straight. If you want to learn more about how to straighten photos in Lightroom, there are many helpful tutorials available online.

Master Exposure and Tonal Range

One of the most important aspects of photography is having a well-exposed image. If you cannot achieve this in-camera, Lightroom provides ways to save your image.

Editing the exposure allows you to achieve the perfect exposure and apply your own style. Read on below to learn more about how you can control your photograph’s tone in Lightroom.

Correct Exposure

Exposure is one of the most important aspects of photography. Underexposed images are too dark, while overexposed images are too bright. A well-balanced photo has details in both the shadows and highlights.

Shooting in RAW gives you more flexibility when editing exposure in Lightroom. The Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks sliders in the Basic panel are the main tools for adjusting exposure.

To fix overexposed photos, start by lowering the Exposure slider. Then, recover lost details by pulling the Highlights and Whites sliders to the left. For underexposed photos, increase the Exposure and bring up the Shadows if needed.

You can also make local adjustments using the Brush tool. If you want to learn more about exposure in Lightroom, there are many helpful resources available.

Contrast and Tonal Controls

Contrast and Tone are among the most important aspects of photo editing in Adobe Lightroom. The Develop Module includes several settings to adjust these, which can greatly improve your photos.

The Exposure slider brightens or darkens the image, mainly affecting the mid-tones. The Highlights and Shadows sliders help recover details in very bright or dark areas. Use the Blacks and Whites sliders to set the black and white points, ensuring the image has the maximum dynamic range.

The Contrast slider splits the tonal range and moves each half in opposite directions. Increasing contrast can add more “punch” to an image, while decreasing it can create a softer look.

To quickly adjust all the tone settings at once, click the Auto button. If you’d like to learn more about lightroom contrast, check out our in-depth article.

Working With Color

Lightroom offers several ways to edit color in your photos. The Vibrance and Saturation sliders are the quickest options, letting you boost colors with a single adjustment. You can also use the White Balance tool to fix color casts and make the image look more natural.

For more control, try the Tone Curve, HSL/Color Mixer, and Color Grading tools. The Tone Curve lets you adjust colors in specific tonal ranges. The HSL/Color Mixer allows precise tweaks to individual colors. Color Grading is great for adding creative color tints.

Lightroom also includes a Color Calibration section to fix common color issues. With these tools, you can improve colors and get the look you want in your images. Editing color in Lightroom is a powerful way to take your photos to the next level.

Color Temperature and Presence

Adjusting the color temperature in Lightroom changes the white balance of your photo. This is a great way to remove unwanted color casts and make your photos look more natural.

The Lightroom color temperature tools are simple to use. Click on the eye-dropper icon next to the Temperature and Tint sliders, then sample a neutral grey area in your image. Lightroom will adjust the colors to force the sampled point to be a neutral grey.

If you can’t find a neutral point to sample, try using one of the white balance presets like Daylight or Cloudy. To learn more about lightroom color temperature, check out this in-depth article.

Color Correction

Color correction is an important step in photo editing. Lightroom offers several tools to fix incorrect colors and improve the overall look of your photos. The Basic panel has intuitive options like the Temp and Tint sliders, the Dropper tool, and Brush filters for adjusting specific areas.

The Tone Curve panel lets you modify color channels individually. Small changes can have a big impact, so be subtle with your edits. The Camera Calibration section allows you to change your camera’s default color settings, but use it sparingly.

For precise color adjustments, the HSL panel is your best option. Here you can tweak individual colors without affecting the rest of the image. Move the Hue, Saturation and Luminance sliders to get the exact look you want. With practice, you’ll be able to turn good photos into great ones using Lightroom’s color correction tools.

HSL Sliders

The HSL color sliders in Adobe Lightroom are a powerful tool for improving your photos. HSL stands for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. These sliders allow you to adjust the colors in your image to get the best results.

The Hue slider changes the actual color, shifting it to a neighboring color on the color wheel. The Saturation slider adjusts the strength of the color, making it more or less prominent. The Luminance slider changes the brightness of the color, making it lighter or darker.

With the HSL sliders, you have the power to subtly improve your colors or completely transform them. To learn more about hsl in lightroom, check out this in-depth article.

Vibrance and Saturation

Vibrance and saturation are two important tools in photo editing. Saturation enhances the intensity of all colors in an image, while vibrance targets the dullest colors and makes them pop without affecting already saturated areas.

Using vibrance is great for portraits as it avoids oversaturating skin tones. Landscape photographers may prefer saturation to make all colors in a scene look brighter and more intense.

The key is to use these tools in moderation for the best results. Excessive vibrance or saturation can ruin a photo, but when used carefully, they’ll add the perfect colorful spark to your images. To learn more about vibrance vs saturation, check out this in-depth article.

Creating Effects in Lightroom

The Lightroom Effects panel offers a range of adjustments that replicate effects from different photographic tools and techniques. These include Texture, Clarity, Dehaze, Vignette, and Grain. Each effect can help you achieve a particular style or aesthetic in post-production.

Vignetting is a popular effect that draws attention to the center of the photograph by creating a gradual fade into the edges of the frame. Grain adds a gritty, rough aesthetic to a photograph, particularly effective in black-and-white photography.

The Texture adjustment subtly boosts the texture of specific details, while Clarity makes finer details more visible by affecting the contrast in the mid-tones.Dehaze is another useful tool that reduces atmospheric haze apparent in photos, allowing you to extract more detail.

By mastering these adjustments in the Lightroom Effects panel, you can take your photo editing to the next level. To learn more about the lightroom effects panel, check out our in-depth article.

Vignette

Adding a vignette in Lightroom is a simple way to draw attention to the center of your image. It can create an artistic or dramatic look. Lightroom offers several tools for adding a vignette effect.

The Post-Crop Vignette Tool provides the most dramatic results. Use the sliders to adjust the midpoint, roundness, feather, and highlights. The Lens Corrections panel offers a subtle vignetting option with limited control.

You can also use the Radial Filter. Place the filter over the area where you don’t want the vignette effect. Adjust the exposure slider to darken or lighten the edges. You can also use Lightroom to remove a vignette by sliding the vignette slider to the right.

Clarity

The clarity tool in Lightroom is a powerful way to add extra punch to your photos. It affects the mid-tones, emphasizing the edges to bring out texture and detail. Increasing clarity can make certain elements like buildings, eyes, and lips stand out.

Decreasing clarity can create a dreamy or smooth effect, which works well for things like flowers or skin. The brush and radial filter tools let you selectively apply clarity to specific parts of the image.

Clarity is different from contrast and sharpening. It has a more targeted effect on mid-tones and edges. When using clarity, moderation is key to keep the image looking natural. The clarity tool is a great way to enhance texture, but pushing it too far can make photos appear fake or over-edited.

Brushes and Filters in Lightroom

Lightroom filters and brushes give you more control over your photo edits. Filters like gradients and masks let you adjust specific parts of a photo. Brushes work like those in Photoshop, letting you edit by clicking or painting on certain areas.

The Clone, Heal and Remove brushes are in the Heal section. The Radial and Gradient filters, along with the custom editing brush, are in the Masks section. Learning to use all these tools well can help you make advanced edits without needing Photoshop.

To learn more about lightroom filters, check out our in-depth guide that covers each tool and how to use them effectively.

Adjustment Brush Tool

The Lightroom Brush tool lets you select specific areas of your photo to edit. You can apply a wide range of adjustments to just the selected region without affecting the rest of the image. This gives you complete control over your photo editing.

To use the Brush tool, find it in the Mask section of the Develop or Edit mode. Adjust the brush size, feather, flow, and density to get the perfect brush stroke. Then click and drag over the areas you want to edit.

After making your selection, you can use all of Lightroom’s adjustment tools on just that area. This includes adjusting the tone, color, texture, and more. The lightroom brush tool is a powerful way to make complex, precise edits to your photos.

Clone Tool

The Lightroom clone tool, also known as the Spot Removal tool, is a powerful feature for editing photos. It allows you to remove small or large portions of your image while keeping the original file intact. This non-destructive approach to editing is ideal for photographers who want to experiment without permanently altering their photos.

Tips for using the clone tool include adjusting the opacity and feathering of your brush, changing the brush size, and hiding the marker pins to avoid distractions. You can also custom select the area to copy from by dragging the displayed area to a different location.

With practice and experimentation, you can master the Lightroom clone tool and take your photo editing skills to the next level. To dive deeper into the capabilities of the lightroom clone tool, be sure to explore our comprehensive guide.

Graduated Filters

The Graduated Filter tool in Lightroom is a powerful way to improve your photos. It lets you adjust exposure, contrast, and color in specific areas of an image. This is great for enhancing skies, correcting uneven lighting, or adding creative color effects.

To use the Graduated Filter, select the tool and drag it across the image. You can rotate the filter, change the transition softness, and erase parts of the filter mask. Experiment with the sliders to adjust exposure, contrast, saturation, and more.

You can also use the Graduated Filter to add blur effects or duplicate filters for stronger adjustments. With a little practice, you’ll find many creative ways to use this versatile tool. To learn more about graduated filters in Lightroom, check out this in-depth guide.

Correcting Problems in Lightroom

As Lightroom has progressed with digital technology, it is familiar with all the weaknesses of this medium. Thankfully, Adobe has created smart ways to combat these issues. This section will look at the different tools that can help fix our camera’s mistakes.

One of the most common issues is dust or scratches on our lens. The Spot Removal tools can clear this up in just a few clicks! Noise is another big issue. Thankfully, Adobe provides one of the best denoise programs on the market! Click here to find other ways to correct issues in Lightroom. 

Spot Removal

The Lightroom spot removal tool is a powerful way to remove unwanted spots from your photos.  You can use it to fix skin blemishes, dust spots, imperfections in portraits, or to remove distracting elements like tree branches or people in landscapes.

The spot removal tool has two options: clone or heal. When set to clone, the brush stamps an exact replica of the reference spot. When set to heal, the brush takes the sample area and matches the lighting and texture so that it’s blended more.

To use the spot removal tool, find it in the Develop module of Lightroom. Click on the spot to be touched up, and a white outline will appear. This is the area that will be corrected. You can then adjust the brush size, feathering, and opacity using the sliders. If you’d like to learn more about lightroom spot removal, there are many great resources available.

Correcting Lens Distortion

Lightroom’s lens correction tool is a simple way to fix common lens distortions. Open the Lens Correction panel in the Develop module and check the boxes to remove chromatic aberration and enable profile corrections.

Lightroom uses your image metadata to automatically apply a lens profile and fix distortions like barrel or pincushion distortion. You can also use the manual tab to adjust distortion and vignetting yourself.

Save time by applying lens correction on import. Edit one photo, create a preset with your lens correction settings, then apply the preset when you import new photos. If you want to learn more about using lightroom lens correction, there’s a detailed guide available.

Removing Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration is a common issue in photography that causes unwanted color fringes along high-contrast edges. It occurs when a lens fails to focus all colors onto the same point, resulting in distracting purple, red, blue, or green fringes.

There are two types of chromatic aberration: longitudinal (LoCA) and transverse (TCA). LoCA appears as a blurred fringe in front of or behind the object in focus, while TCA shows up as sharp color fringes along the edges, especially towards the frame’s periphery.

To minimize chromatic aberration, use high-quality lenses, avoid high-contrast scenes, and stop down the aperture. If chromatic aberration still persists, it can be corrected in post-processing using Adobe Lightroom’s automatic or manual tools under the Lens Corrections panel.

For a more in-depth look at chromatic aberration and how to deal with it effectively, be sure to explore our comprehensive guide.

Reduce Noise

Lightroom’s noise reduction tool, Denoise, uses AI to automatically remove noise from images. It’s incredibly effective, allowing photographers to shoot at higher ISOs without worrying about noise ruining their photos.

Comparing Lightroom’s noise reduction to other software like Luminar Neo, DxO PhotoLab 7, ON1 Photo RAW, and others shows that Lightroom is among the best. While some other programs are effective at reducing noise, they may also soften the image or affect sharpness more than Lightroom.

Lightroom’s noise reduction is particularly helpful for event photographers who shoot without a flash or street photographers. If you want to learn more about lightroom noise reduction, there are great resources available that dive deeper into the topic.

Create Smooth Skin

Smoothing skin is an important part of portrait editing in Lightroom. The Brush and Clone tools are the best options for targeting specific areas. Use the Clone tool to remove blemishes, pimples, and small scratches.

The Brush tool softens skin texture with sliders like Clarity, Texture, Sharpness, and Noise. The Texture slider is designed for editing skin and leaves more detail than Clarity.

Combine the sliders and tools for the most natural results. Avoid smoothing eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows, and lips. If your model has very bad acne or scars, Photoshop may be a better choice than Lightroom. To learn more about smooth skin in lightroom, check out this in-depth article.

Sharpen Images

Blurry photos can be frustrating, but Lightroom makes it easy to fix them. Start by shooting in RAW mode to save more image data. This gives you more flexibility when sharpening your photos later.

In Lightroom’s Develop module, use the Amount, Radius, Detail and Masking sliders to improve sharpness. The Masking slider is especially useful because it only sharpens important parts of the image, avoiding noise in blurred areas.

For even more control, use the Adjustment Brush tool to selectively sharpen specific details in your photo. With these simple techniques, you can quickly improve blurry photos in Lightroom. If you want to learn more about how to fix blurry photos, there are many helpful tutorials available.

Special Techniques and Processes

Lightroom allows us to create different ways of presenting or dealing with our photographs inside and outside the application. These special techniques may not be for everyone but may be perfect for particular processes.

Creating a contact sheet isn’t needed much in digital photography, but it’s a great way to showcase a large sum of photos. Techniques like Smart Previews allow Lightroom users to save space and produce a range of edits for a single image.

It is recommended that you become familiar with these processes even if you won’t use them. You never know when one of them may come in handy!

Create a Contact Sheet

Creating a contact sheet in Lightroom Classic is a simple process that lets you view multiple photographs in a single document. To start, select the images you want to include by Shift-clicking or Command-clicking (Ctrl-clicking for Windows) them in the Library module.

Next, go to the Print module and choose a template from the Template Browser that best matches your desired style. You can customize the layout using the options in the Layout and Page panels, such as adjusting the number of rows and columns, cell spacing, and cell size.

Finally, export your contact sheet as a JPEG file or print it directly from Lightroom. You can also save the contact sheet in your Lightroom catalog for future reference. If you’d like to learn more about creating lightroom contact sheets, there are many helpful resources available on our site.

Create a HDR

Sometimes you’ll find yourself in a situation where it’s impossible to get the best exposure. You could be photographing a landscape during sunset and end up with both silhouettes and blown-out skies in the same shot. Thankfully, you can quickly solve this problem by using the HDR technique in Lightroom.

HDR stands for high dynamic range. It allows you to improve your exposure by equalizing the shadows and highlights of any particular image. To use HDR, you need to take multiple shots of the same scene at different exposures using your camera’s bracketing function.

Once you have your shots, load them into Lightroom and select Photo Merge > HDR. Lightroom will then combine the files to create a properly exposed image. You can make further adjustments to perfect the final HDR photo. If you’d like to learn more about lightroom hdr, there are many great resources available.

Advanced Techniques

Lightroom offers advanced editing techniques that go beyond basic adjustments. One of the most useful is the Photo Merge tool, which lets you create HDRs, panoramas, and even HDR panoramas with just a few clicks. Lightroom makes the process simple and saves the merged image right into your library.

Another powerful feature is the ability to create masks. This lets you apply edits to specific areas of your photos using brushes, gradients, or even AI. Lightroom’s AI masking can identify different parts of a portrait, like the subject’s face, body, and hair, making it quick and easy to apply targeted adjustments.

Lightroom also includes tools for blurring backgrounds to draw more attention to your subject. This is great for portraits or product shots where you want to simulate a shallow depth of field. By creating a mask, you have precise control over which parts of the image are sharp or blurred.

To dive deeper into advanced lightroom editing techniques, check out our in-depth guide.

Merge

Lightroom’s Photo Merge tool makes it easy to combine photos right in the app. You can quickly make high-quality HDRs and panoramas with just a few clicks.

The Photo Merge tool has three options: HDR Merge, Panorama Merge, and HDR Panorama Merge. Each one has settings to fine-tune the final image, like Auto Align to line up the photos perfectly and Deghost Amount to fix any ghosting.

Panorama Merge also lets you choose from three projection styles – Spherical, Cylindrical, and Perspective – to get the most natural-looking result. And with extra tools like Boundary Warp and Auto Crop, you can fill the frame and remove empty space. Merging photos in Lightroom is a powerful way to make stunning images with ease.

Masks

Lightroom masking is a powerful tool that lets you select specific areas of your photo to edit. Adobe has made masking simple with AI features like Subject, Sky, and Background masking. These tools automatically identify and mask the main subject, sky, or background in just a few seconds.

For more precise control, Lightroom also offers manual masking options. The Brush tool lets you paint a mask by hand, while the Linear and Radial Gradient tools create gradual fades. You can also mask by color, luminance, or depth range.

The new People mask is a game-changer for portrait editing. It automatically detects people in your photo and provides detailed masks for skin, eyes, lips, teeth, and clothes. With Lightroom’s comprehensive masking tools, both beginners and pros can make complex, targeted edits with ease. Lightroom masking gives you the control to take your photos to the next level.

Lightroom Presets

Presets are a godsend for any photographer working with large numbers of images. They are crucial for photographers who shoot in a stylized fashion sought after for fashion or wedding shoots.

Luckily, Lightroom allows us to create and share presets inside the application. Another great feature is that many content creators use Lightroom, so acquiring a preset is easy. You can find a photographer you love and get their particular style!

How to Use Presets

Lightroom presets are pre-made edits that you can apply to your photos with just one click. They’re a big time saver and help keep your editing style consistent.

To create your own preset, first edit a photo how you like it. Then go to the Presets panel and click the plus icon. Choose which adjustments to include in the preset, give it a name, and click Save.

You can apply presets to multiple photos at once too. In Lightroom Classic, select the photos in Library view and choose the preset from the Quick Develop panel. In Lightroom CC, copy the edit settings from the first photo and paste them onto the others.

Presets are also easy to import and export so you can share your editing style or use presets from your favorite photographers.

Make and Sell Your Own Presets

If you have a knack for editing in Lightroom, you can create and sell your own presets. To make the most marketable presets, focus on creating a unique look that others will want to achieve.

When pricing your presets, research what similar packs are selling for and price competitively. Remember that photographers value quality presets that save them time in their editing workflow. Busy professionals who have many photos to edit are often willing to pay for presets that help them work more efficiently.

To market your presets, share before and after photos on social media platforms like Instagram. This showcases the specific look of your presets and how easy they are to use. If you want to sell lightroom presets successfully, creating a distinct style and effectively promoting their benefits is key.

Tips for Specific Genres of Photography

Now, let’s look at different ways Lightroom allows us to approach different genres of photography. Of course, you can edit your images however you like. But there are a few features that may make your editing much easier.

Read our guides below for tips on approaching different photographic genres in Lightroom.

Portraits

Editing portraits in Lightroom is simple with the right steps. Start by using the Auto edit button for quick improvements. Lightroom presets are another easy way to apply popular portrait styles with one click.

For more control, use Lightroom’s AI masks to accurately select the subject’s face, hair, and clothes. This lets you adjust specific areas without affecting the rest of the image. You can also manually edit using Lightroom’s tools for light, color, and texture.

When editing portraits, watch for harsh shadows or bright highlights on the face. Use the crop tool to frame your subject well and remove any distractions. The heal brush is great for removing blemishes, while AI masks make it easy to editing portraits in lightroom by brightening eyes and teeth or adding color to lips.

Macro

Editing macro photography in Lightroom can take your close-up shots to the next level. Start by cropping tight to your subject or placing it off-center for more impact. Use the sharpening tools to ensure crisp details, and try the texture slider to make your subject stand out even more.

Vignetting can add drama by darkening the edges of your photo. Use the vignetting tool for center subjects, or brushes for more control. Vibrant colors will make your subject pop, so adjust them using the vibrancy slider instead of saturation to retain detail.

To learn more about editing macro photography, check out this in-depth guide that covers everything from basic adjustments to advanced techniques.

Alternatives to Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is a brilliant all-in-one photo editor. If you are not convinced or want to save money, we have reviewed all the best photo editing software on the market today!

In our dedicated reviews, we have dissected each software program to see how it truly benefits the photographer. We have found that different software offers different features, making some more attractive to photographers of different expertise levels or genres.

If you want to learn more about each software, click the link at the end of the short review to access our in-depth article. To see a roundup of our top choices in order, click here.

Today, we guide you through several approaches to resizing images in Adobe Lightroom. We also examine the differences between Lightroom’s two versions to see which offers more control. By the end, you will know how to easily resize an image in Lightroom!

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What Is Resizing an Image?

Resizing an image is a post-production process that changes the dimensions of our photographs. Every picture we take has a set size determined by the amount of megapixels (MP) in our camera. The higher the megapixel count (and the PPI), the larger our photos are.

Resizing an image is crucial to modern photography. Have you ever seen an advertisement with a very pixelated photo? The photographer or designer likely didn’t know how to resize an image properly.

Resizing is crucial for the printing process. Not only that, resizing our images is also crucial for file management. This includes sending high-resolution images to ensure the best web or social media page resolution.

How to Resize an Image in Lightroom Classic vs Lightroom (CC)

Adobe Lightroom comes in two versions—Lightroom (Creative Cloud) and Lightroom Classic. You would think both versions would have similar resizing abilities, but they do not. We will discuss the different approaches each version takes to resizing images.

The main difference is that Lightroom Classic allows much more control in the resizing process. You get a few different ways to resize your image so it turns out exactly how you want it to.

Lightroom CC still allows control over your image, but the avenues to go down are limited compared to Lightroom Classic. The CC version may still be better for you, though! It is a much simpler process, perfect for those not well-rehearsed in photo editing software or computers.

How to Resize an Image in Lightroom

Now, we walk you through how to resize an image in Lightroom. We split up the two newest Lightroom versions so you can find the process that suits you best!

The resizing process occurs while exporting in Lightroom. It is best to always leave the resizing until the end. This is because you always want to make your edits in the highest possible size and quality. We will go into detail for each method, describing its process and what it is best for.

How to Resize an Image in Lightroom Classic

Let’s look at how to resize an image in Lightroom Classic. The first thing you want to do is finish your edits. Check out our article on advanced Lightroom edits if you need help.

You then want to select the image or images you want to resize. Now, you can click Export in the bottom left-hand corner of the Library workspace or right-click an image and go to Export.

All our resizing in this window will be in the Image Sizing section, so scroll down to find it. To start resizing in Lightroom, check the Resize to Fit box. Then, you can use the dropdown menu to pick your resize method.

The Don’t Enlarge box is important because it ensures the photo’s quality is intact. Enlarging an image from its largest RAW size only pixelates it. Some photo editing software allows for AI resizing, letting you enlarge while keeping quality.

The resolution is important for your image size. It dictates the quality of your photographs and changes your desired output. A setting of 300 PPI (pixels per inch) is ideal for high-quality images, and 72 PPI is standard for web or social media images.

Let us now look at all the different methods to control Lightroom resizing.

1. Width & Height

The Width & Height method lets you resize the image to rough dimensions. You get rough dimensions because Lightroom does not skew your image. It always keeps your image in the same size ratio.

Lightroom lets you resize these dimensions in pixels, centimeters, or inches. This is helpful as different situations have different requirements. Photography competitions can be very particular about size dimensions. Lightroom understands this and offers you every option.

If the values for the Width & Height you put in do not match your photo’s ratio, Lightroom will likely follow the longest edge. So, rather than producing the exact results, Lightroom gets as close as possible to your requirements. You then have to crop your image accordingly.

2. Dimensions

The Dimensions method functions extremely similarly to the Width & Height method. The difference is that Lightroom selects which side to use for height or width.

Again, Lightroom does not rotate or skew your image. Thus, it chooses the longest dimension size and adjusts your longest edge to that size.

3. Long Edge

The Long Edge setting is one of the most helpful methods for resizing an image in Lightroom. This method is particularly useful for websites and client and competition requirements. The longest edge dictates the largest size of the image.

For this method, there is only one box to enter your measurement. You can choose between pixels, centimeters, or inches. The longest edge is the vertical measurement for portrait-oriented images. The horizontal measurement is for landscape-oriented images.

4. Short Edge

The Short Edge method is the same as the Long Edge but references the smaller dimension of your photograph. This method ensures that your image has enough detail for prints or websites.

Again, you only need to enter your measurements into one box. After exporting, Lightroom ensures that the shortest edge of your photograph has the same value you entered.

5. Megapixels

Lightroom also lets you resize your photograph in terms of megapixels. This is helpful for clients or competitions that send their requirements in megapixels.

The megapixel value resizes your image to include the set number of megapixels in your photograph. Lightroom lets you put in a decimal point to be accurate with your entry data.

6. Percentage

The last method you can use to resize your image in Lightroom is Percentage. This method increases or decreases your image size by the percentage value you put in.

This method does not produce accurate results like the other resizing methods. Instead, this method works best for those not bothered about getting exact measurements. It’s for those who want to change their image size roughly.

How to Resize an Image in Lightroom (CC)

Let’s now see how Lightroom CC lets us resize our photographs. This version does not allow us as much control as Lightroom Classic. But, it provides the essential features for us to still have complete control over our images.

The advantage of using Lightroom CC is that the interface is much simpler to work through. This is helpful for photographers who are new to photo editing software or easily overwhelmed by too much information.

Like Lightroom Classic, you must be in the export window to resize your image. The quickest way to do this is to right-click your photo and find Export or to go to File > Export.

There are a few settings to the right of the export window. To begin resizing in Lightroom CC, go to dimensions and click Custom in the dropdown menu. Let’s closely examine the two options available in this version of Lightroom.

1. Long Side

Long Side is the same as Long Edge in Lightroom Classic. I’m not too sure why they changed the terminology. Maybe it is because the long side is easier for photography beginners to grasp. Regardless, it is the most useful method for resizing our photos accurately.

You can change this size to pixels, centimeters, or inches. These are the same settings in Classic. Put your desired size into the dialog box, and your photo will be resized upon export.

2. Short Side

Short Side is the equivalent of Short Edge in Lightroom Classic. This ensures that the shortest length of your image’s dimensions is the length you set. Again, you can select between pixel count, centimeters, or inches.

Although Lightroom CC has fewer choices, these two resizing methods give you plenty of control over resizing your image. Even professional photographers will be happy with these resizing options.

How to Resize an Image in Lightroom FAQs

Now that you know your options, here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about resizing an image in Lightroom. These will help you determine the best sizes and resolutions to resize your photos.

What Do Pixels Have to Do With Resizing Photos?

A pixel is the smallest information that makes up a digital image. Your photos are a lot of pixels arranged in a specific order. When you enlarge a photo, you can see the pixels as little squares.

Most cameras today capture images with many pixels (in the millions!). The number of pixels in a photo also depends on the camera model and the number of pixels in the sensor.

Having a lot of pixels is great when you’re working with large prints. It lets you have sharp images. But more pixels also mean more data in the photo, which increases the file size of your photos.

The problem with having big files is that they make websites slow. And social media platforms don’t accept them. But you can solve this problem by resizing your images in Lightroom.

How Do I Check Pixel Dimensions in Lightroom?

After you import your image into Lightroom, you can easily check it. In Lightroom Classic’s Library module, select the image in the Loupe View by clicking on its thumbnail.

If you press the shortcut key “I” on your keyboard, you start a cycle of information overview. The first time you press “I,” the file name, the date, the time you took the photo, and the pixel dimensions appear. Pixel dimensions are shown in width and height format.

Press “I” again. You can then access a few of your image settings, like aperture, shutter speed, focal length, etc. To exit from the information overview, press “I” one last time.

In Lightroom CC, the “I” shortcut brings up the Info panel on the right with pixel dimensions and other information.

How Do I Decide on the Pixel Dimensions Needed?

Websites and social media platforms have particular image sizes. It’s always a good idea to check these and resize your images. It’s also very useful to check online social media cheat sheets. They collect information from the most common social media platforms.

Take into account that you can’t add pixels to an image. Make sure the new dimensions are smaller than those of the original photo.

How Do I Choose the Right Resolution?

Your image resolution depends on how you plan to use the photo—digital or print. Resolution is the number of pixels an image has in a certain space. It is also known as pixel density and is measured in pixels per inch (PPI).

A 72-PPI image will have 72 pixels in each inch. A 300-PPI image will have 300 pixels for each inch, and so on.

Images with higher resolution are sharper. But their files are bigger. For that reason, high-resolution images are meant for printing. They are not the best option for websites and social media platforms.

What’s the Best Resolution for Digital Images?

It is generally agreed that 72 PPI is a good resolution for websites and social media photos. This is the resolution of most screens. It’s still a small enough resolution that websites can load images quickly and smoothly.

But there are screens with 100 PPI and even 150 PPI. If you prefer to use these resolutions instead, your website’s loading speed will be slower. It’s up to you to decide what is more important—higher resolution or higher speed.

What’s the Best Resolution for Prints?

If you’re going to print your image, it needs a higher resolution than for a website. For example, it could be 300 PPI. If you want to print your photo on a canvas, a lower resolution, like 150 PPI, is good enough.

The pixel dimensions of your photo and resolution determine the size in inches or centimeters of your final printed photo.

For instance, if the original photo has 4874 pixels on the long side, you want to print it at a resolution of 300 DPI. You divide the pixels (4874) by the DPI (300), which gives a final print size of 16.25 inches.

Conclusion: Resizing an Image in Lightroom

Now, you know all the best ways to resize an image in Lightroom. Different methods are beneficial for different reasons. Either way, having this feature in Lightroom is important, as we can batch-resize our images for a quicker workflow.

If you need more help, check out our other Lightroom articles. You can always return to this one to find a specific method to resize your images!

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Today, we discuss several methods for batch editing in Adobe Lightroom. These methods can range from editing several images through presets to batch editing your photos’ metadata. By the end of our article, you will have the skills to save hours editing on the computer.

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Effortless Editing with Lightroom

Master the art of photo editing with this comprehensive video course:

• Learn to use every tool for quick, professional edits.
• Discover seamless subject selection with a single click.
• Unlock hidden details in photos with our unique method.

What Is Batch Editing in Lightroom?

Batch editing in Lightroom involves multiple approaches to changing settings across many images. These settings can be visual adjustments that enhance our photos. Or they can be metadata edits to help future picture sorting methods.

Batch editing is most helpful for applying base adjustments across various photographs. It lets you set an editing style for your images and fine-tune them later.

Batch editing in Adobe Lightroom is especially helpful with clients. You can send them a wide range of images before proceeding with more in-depth edits.

Batch Edit in Lightroom (CC) vs Lightroom Classic

Both Adobe Lightroom versions take different approaches to batch editing. Due to how the programs operate, most methods do not work the same on each version. We outline these differences in each section. Here is a list of each method and the version it works in:

Works in Lightroom CC:

• Batch edit from a previous edit

Works in Lightroom Classic:

• Batch edit during import
• Batch edit in the Library module
• Batch edit using the Sync tool
• Batch edit using the Auto Sync tool

Works in both versions of Lightroom:

• Batch editing with presets
• Batch editing metadata

How to Batch Edit Photos in Lightroom

We will now discuss various methods for editing settings in multiple photographs simultaneously.

Batch Edit During Import

Adobe Lightroom lets you apply batch edits to your photographs during import. This option is only available in Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom CC only saves photos to the program through the cloud. This means it operates with a different importing process where you don’t have to import your image to make edits.

In Lightroom Classic, you must import your images directly to your catalog. In this process, Lightroom lets you edit the images you are importing. You can see this in the Apply During Import section in the right-hand panel of the import window.

Next to Develop Settings, there is a dropdown menu. This menu provides the full range of presets inside Lightroom, including your created and adaptive presets. To learn more about presets in Lightroom, read our dedicated article.

It is also worth considering the Lightroom presets toward the bottom of the table, which are easily overlooked. These presets produce color, tonal, and textural adjustments we often do not use in Lightroom.

They make much more sense to add when importing images. They apply a simple adjustment to all your photos in seconds. You can edit these adjustments further after your photos are in the Adobe Lightroom catalog.

Batch Edit in Library Module

Do you want to leave the batch editing until your photos are in Lightroom? Then, you will want to learn how to apply presets to multiple images. This is another process that does not work in Lightroom CC due to how the program functions.

The Quick Develop panel is located at the right in the Library module of Lightroom Classic. This panel lets you apply a wide range of adjustments to your highlighted images. The best part is that the thumbnails change automatically. So you can see your edits in real time.

This Quick Develop panel has three sections to help you find your desired edit. These are Saved Preset, White Balance, and Tone Control. Let’s look at these in more detail.

Saved Preset

All the preset options available in Lightroom are inside the Saved Preset section. This is the same list you will find in the Preset section or the batch edit during the import process.

If you click the arrow to the right of the dropdown menu, there are two new selections—Crop Ratio and Treatment. These two sections drastically change our images. We can crop each photo to the same size or choose whether we want the images in black and white.

The Crop Ratio adjustment applies the crop toward the center of the image. If you want to be more specific about which areas are cropped, you must go into each image individually.

White Balance

The White Balance section gives you a dropdown menu to choose from different color temperature adjustments. These are decided by the lighting conditions you may be shooting in, from daylight to tungsten light.

If you want to adjust the white balance manually, click on the arrow to the right of the dropdown menu. This reveals two more categories—Temperature and Tint.

In the Develop section (Edit in Lightroom CC), we are used to controlling these factors through a slider. Here, four buttons symbolize small or large jumps in increments.

These are incredibly helpful when making small adjustments to a wide range of images. You can also adjust the temperature to make a group of images seem warmer or colder rather than just color-correcting the white balance.

Tone Control

The first button in the Tone Control section is the Auto button. Pressing this button applies automatic tonal adjustments across all your selected images. Lightroom has a great automatic adjustment, so this may be a good starting point for beginners or people looking to save time.

Below this, you get three different sections to control—Exposure, Clarity, and Vibrance. These are again adjusted through four buttons you can click to increase or decrease the adjustment in increments.

You will reveal five more sections if you click the arrow next to the Auto button. These are Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. Again, you can control this through buttons that move in incremental steps.

This wide range of Quick Develop adjustments is a brilliant way to quickly add your unique touch to a wide array of images.

Batch Edit From a Previous Edit

Here is the first batch editing technique unique to Lightroom CC. It uses a copy-and-paste format to quickly share your selected image adjustments.

To batch edit from a previous photo, you can find the Copy Edit Settings button at the bottom of your interface. This button is displayed in any viewing mode that features your images.

Lightroom understands how convenient it is to keep edits uniform. So you find this button right next to the ratings and flag buttons. The Copy Edit Settings button is a simple click-to-copy and click-to-paste format.

Next to the button, a cog icon for the settings is displayed. Clicking the Settings icon brings up a window highlighting which adjustment settings will be copied over. The Copy Edit Settings provide you complete control over which adjustments are copied.

Along with the individual tonal, color, and effects adjustments, you can copy a range of wider edits. These features include Automatic adjustment (if applied), Profile, Crop and Geometry, and Healing!

Including these options is an incredible feature in Lightroom. Copying over a similar crop can save hours. The best feature is the fact that it copies Healing adjustments! This is extremely helpful if you have a speck of dust on a lens or a scratch in the same place for every photo.

Below these first tick boxes is an extended range of adjustment options. Each of these adjustments is compiled in their edit categories.

You can click on and off each category depending on how relevant they are to your edit. For more control, click on the dropdown menu next to each category heading to manually select individual adjustments.

After you have clicked Copy Edit Settings, you can paste them into various photos. If they’re all in a line, you can Shift-click the range of photos or Command-click (Ctrl-click for Windows) each image you want to paste the settings onto.

After selecting your images, click the same button. Note that the button’s name will now be Paste Edit Settings.

A great feature is that you can use shortcuts to perform this action. So, Command-C (Ctrl-C for Windows) copies the edit settings, and Command-V (Ctrl-V for Windows) pastes them! This is a brilliant addition and makes batch editing simple and easy!

Batch Edit Using Sync

The Sync feature is like the Copy Edit Settings in Lightroom CC. And the Sync batch editing abilities are only in Lightroom Classic.

If you select multiple images, the Sync and Synch Settings buttons appear at the bottom right of the Library workspace. Sync copies metadata, which we will look at at the end. Click the Sync Settings buttons to copy the adjustments.

In Develop mode, the Synch button replaces the Previous button at the bottom of your Editing panel. Here, you click Sync. 

The Sync feature lets you quickly copy your settings from your current selected photo to any selection of photos. You can select these photos from the filmstrip bar at the bottom of the interface.

After you click Synch Settings in Library or the Sync button in Develop, a window appears. This window lets you select which adjustments to synchronize with other images. It also displays the full range of adjustments in Lightroom.

After you have selected all the relevant fields, click Synchronize. All selected photos change to match your selected photographs’ settings.

Batch Edit Using Auto Sync

Auto Sync is an extra feature with the Sync button. This feature lets you adjust multiple images as you go! When you move one slider in one image, the same adjustment is applied automatically to all other selected photographs.

You can turn on the Auto Sync function by toggling the switch beside the Sync button. For the Sync button to appear, you must have multiple images selected. You can do this by Shift-clicking or Command-clicking (Ctl-click for Windows) images from the filmstrip along the bottom.

After switching to Auto Sync, you can move the sliders, and the exact increments are copied to each photo. The settings applied are visible through the thumbnails in the filmstrip. At any point, you can make changes to any of these photos and continue your Auto Sync editing.

The Auto Sync does not make your images look the same from the get-go. Rather, it automatically applies any settings you edit from that point on. If you want your images to look similar, sync them before auto-syncing.

Batch Editing With Presets

The easiest way to batch edit in Lightroom is to create your own preset. By creating a preset, you can copy your favorite photo settings and apply them to photographs even when returning to the software in the future.

To create a preset, you first want to set your adjustments to be copied over. If you are doing this for the first time, pick an image that looks the most like your other images in terms of tones and colors. Then, apply all the relevant edits you want.

Next, find the Preset panel. This is on the left-hand panel in Lightroom Classic. In Lightroom CC, you must click the icon of two overlapping circles in the right-hand toolbar.

After locating and opening these panels, you will see a plus (+) sign at the top right of each section. Click this to create your own preset. You then see a window to select all the relevant adjustments you want to copy to the preset.

At the top, you can name your preset. It is easiest to name your preset with the type of mood you are setting in the image or the photoshoot date. Below this, you can add it to a preset group, making it easy for photographers who regularly create presets.

Lightroom Classic gives you a window where all options are laid out. Lightroom CC uses the same option as the Copy Edit Settings, with all adjustments in the dropdown menus of its editing section.

A great feature to be aware of is that Lightroom lets you copy masks! This is available for the AI masks that Lightroom produces.

You can then apply your preset to any photograph inside your Library. You can also send and share presets. Read our article on how to install and import presets in Lightroom.

Batch Edit Metadata

The last batch editing technique we examine is metadata batch editing. The Lightroom Classic version creates a Metadata preset, which you can then paste into any batch of photographs. The Lightroom CC version selects images in grid view.

Batch editing metadata in Lightroom is useful for photographers who want to organize their photo library and image info. It is especially useful for photographers who are sending their images to clients.

To edit metadata in Lightroom CC, select your images in grid view. Then, click the Info icon at the bottom right. Once in this view with multiple images, you can edit the custom fields to apply the information to all images. It is that simple!

To create a metadata preset in Lightroom Classic, you must be in the Library module. Scroll down in the right-hand panel to find the Metadata section. This section shows you all the main Metadata for your currently selected image.

At the top of this is a Preset category with a dropdown menu next to it. Click this dropdown and select Edit Presets.

When you click Edit Presets, a window with a wide range of data entry options opens. Work down this list to set the relevant information you want to include in your preset for your batch of images.

After you have done this, click Done, and you can name your preset. You can then select a wide range of images, go to the Metadata section, and apply your preset to all of them!

This method is extremely helpful to ensure certain information is saved into the image metadata. This is particularly important for copyright information.

Conclusion: How to Batch Edit in Lightroom

Now, you have multiple ways to batch edit in Lightroom for both software versions. These techniques are included in the software to help save you time. So, try out each technique to see how it could speed up your editing workflow.

These techniques are especially useful for event or wedding photography. But any photographer will find them helpful. You could use them to make a sequence of images look uniform or speed up the first editing step before you go into detail in each image! 

Video Course

Effortless Editing with Lightroom

Master the art of photo editing with this comprehensive video course:

• Learn to use every tool for quick, professional edits.
• Discover seamless subject selection with a single click.
• Unlock hidden details in photos with our unique method.

Today, we take you through the photo merge process in Lightroom and explore its flexibility. You will understand the power of Photo Merge in Adobe Lightroom, so you can consider these options when you next shoot on location!

Video Course

Effortless Editing with Lightroom

Master the art of photo editing with this comprehensive video course:

• Learn to use every tool for quick, professional edits.
• Discover seamless subject selection with a single click.
• Unlock hidden details in photos with our unique method.

What Tool Is Used to Merge Photos in Lightroom?

The Photo Merge tool in Lightroom performs the automatic photo stitching to merge photos. You can produce a panorama or even an HDR (High Dynamic Range) panorama. Adobe Lightroom lets you perform these photo merge abilities easily inside the app.

A separate dialog box gives you various customization options. These options let you fine-tune your photo merge action and produce the best image possible. Your new image is then saved directly into your Lightroom library.

Photo merging was initially only possible in Adobe Photoshop or specialized software. But photo merging tools are now available in all good photo editing software.

Photo Merge in Lightroom (CC) vs Lightroom Classic

Both Lightroom versions have the same photo merge abilities but different customization interfaces. Lightroom CC provides a slightly more user-friendly interface. It uses helpful thumbnails to visualize the type or merging approach in creating panoramas.

The interface is much larger in Lightroom CC. We can preview our merged photograph in a much larger format than Lightroom Classic.

Both Lightroom versions are extremely easy to work through while producing great results. So you can be confident that either Lightroom version will achieve the highest quality merge.

How to Find Photo Merge in Lightroom

To find the Photo Merge options, highlight all the images you want to merge and right-click. Then, find the Photo Merge tool. This opens up to HDR, Panorama, or HDR Panorama.

You can also go to Photo > Photo Merge along the top toolbar in both Lightroom versions.

Photo Merge in Lightroom

We now explore Lightroom’s three Photo Merge options and all its customization options. Read on to learn more about each photo merge technique.

1. HDR Merge

HDR is a photographic technique that joins photos with the same composition but different exposures. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography lets you get an even exposure across your photo when the tonal range is far too wide for one exposure.

After you have opened your images to be blended into an HDR, open up the Photo Merge HDR page. You will see a range of customization options.

Auto Align

Auto Align ensures your images of the same composition match perfectly. This is helpful if you cannot or didn’t use a tripod. But you get much better results using a tripod when creating HDRs.

Auto Settings

Auto Settings helps provide a good starting point for the tones in your HDR. After the merge, you can edit this further in the Develop section (or Edit section in Lightroom CC). This feature is helpful if you have bad exposure settings for your HDR.

Deghost Amount

The Deghost Amount tool comes in four different options. In Lightroom Classic, they are presented as buttons. In Lightroom CC, they take the form of a slider with four-stop options.

When creating HDR, the software may create semi-transparent areas that seem unnatural. This can occur when shooting in busy places with people moving or natural phenomena like mist from waterfalls.

The Deghost Amount option lets you choose how much the software impacts these unnatural occurrences. It is best to use None or Low deghost as you want as little intervention as possible to create a clean image. If the image still looks strange, try the Medium or High options.

Show Deghost Overlay

You can click the Show Deghost Overlay box to see the areas where the software makes changes. This highlights the areas that change through these different options in red. This is a good indicator of where the unnatural occurrences are.

Create Stack

The Create Stack button lets us clean up our library with a single click. Clicking this tick box puts all our selected images into a stack after Lightroom creates the HDR. It is useful for decluttering our Lightroom catalog.

2. Panorama Merge

Panoramas are great for capturing a wide view of a landscape or cityscape when our camera or lens doesn’t have the field of view we want. A panorama is an image with a wide, unbroken view of multiple images.

Previously, you would have to stitch together the images with Photoshop’s painfully slow process. It is now common to find photo editing software that matches up your photos automatically.

After your set of panorama images is open in Lightroom, right-click the selection and choose Panorama under Photo Merge. You will notice a few customization options, starting with the Projection style.

Select A Projection

Your panorama can be shaped in three styles—Spherical, Cylinder, and Perspective. Each approach deals with your images differently. Let’s see how each of these options affects our photo.

When you open the Panorama page, try out each of these approaches. Each projection renders in only a few seconds, and you get different results from each one.

Spherical Projection

The spherical projection stitches the images together as if inside a sphere. This projection mode usually produces the most natural results for all panoramas. It has minimal stretching compared to other results.

Cylindrical Projection

The cylindrical projection treats our images as if they were stitched inside a cone shape. This provides minimal distortion at the top of the image but much more toward the bottom.

The cylindrical projection is best for wide panoramas. But it can deform your images, trying to keep lines straight throughout the image.

My example features a panorama made of portrait images. You can see that this mode isn’t great for this approach as it takes too much of the foreground into account.

Perspective Projection

The perspective projection maps our images onto a flat surface. This attempt to produce straight lines is ideal for architectural photography. But this approach can distort our images near the edge of the panorama in certain situations.

Boundary Warp

The Boundary Warp slider is a great tool for fine-tuning your panorama. This slider warps your image to fill the canvas. As the panoramas do not produce a rectangular image, this tool can warp your full panorama to use the full frame.

If you do not like the results of the Boundary Warp, you can always crop the panorama you have created. The downside is that you have to crop out part of the photograph. Boundary warp helps you preserve these details.

Fill Edges

If you don’t want to crop the areas outside your panorama, consider ticking the Fill Edges box. This applies Lightroom’s “Fill” technology to the empty spaces inside your image.

The results are not brilliant for large open spaces. I would only recommend using Fill Edges if you have not pushed the Boundary warp to the edge of the frame.

Auto Crop

The Auto Crop tick box performs a crop on images with extra space around the panorama. Lightroom chooses the widest crop possible without including empty spaces.

Auto Settings

The Auto Settings tick box adds automatic tonal and color adjustments to your panorama. This is helpful as it produces a great starting point for further editing. It is also helpful if your images are not correctly exposed. A well-exposed image helps you spot inconsistencies more easily.

Create Stack

The Create Stack button operates like in the HDR Photo Merge section. Clicking this tick box puts all our selected images into a stack after Lightroom creates the panorama. This is useful as it helps declutter our Lightroom catalog.

3. HDR Panorama Merge

The HDR Panorama Merge combines both Photo Merge options into one. This produces a complex stitch that would be lengthy without the aid of this type of software. Our options are the same as those in the Panorama section.

There are requirements for producing the HDR Panorama. You must ensure you have the same number of images for each bracketed exposure and that this bracket has the same exposure offset amount.

This should be obvious to those who have created HDR Panoramas before. If you want to learn more about bracketing and proper exposure settings, read our article about HDR bracketing.

Conclusion: How to Merge Photos in Lightroom

After looking at how to merge photos in Lightroom, we see it is worth buying Adobe Lightroom if you shoot in these styles. The freedom and customization that Lightroom gives you are brilliant, and this is only a small fraction of what Adobe Lightroom has to offer.

HDRs and Panoramas are great tools for sharpening your Lightroom editing skills. Test these techniques and editing styles to see how they can improve your photography. These techniques are particularly useful for landscape and architectural photography.

Check out our Effortless Editing with Lightroom course to master post-processing!

Video Course

Effortless Editing with Lightroom

Master the art of photo editing with this comprehensive video course:

• Learn to use every tool for quick, professional edits.
• Discover seamless subject selection with a single click.
• Unlock hidden details in photos with our unique method.