I love using Lightroom. I organize and edit all of my photos using Lightroom 4.
If you’ve struggled with organizing photos and want a quick way to edit, Lightroom can work for you.
Was it easy for me from the moment I installed it? NOT AT ALL. Yes, there’s a learning curve, but you can do it!
Here are my top free resources to get you started with Lightroom.
Make Lightroom Work For You
Import Your Photos
Getting started in Lightroom can be the most difficult part. Learn how to create a catalog and import your photos into Lightroom.
Flag And Keyword
In this video I show you my method to flag and keyword all of my photos so I can find them quickly in the future. See how I pick my photo of the day.
Creating Smart Collections
See how smart collections can help you speed up finding your special photos including your photos of the day.
Diving Into The Develop Module
Daunted by all of the options? Learn how I quickly work through the edit panel to get results I love.
Develop, Crop, Vignette, and Presets
In this video, I share my favorite tools for editing. Learn how to crop, straighten, and add a vignette to your photos. Ready to create a preset? I cover that too.
Presets
Learn how where to find preset on the internet as well as how to install, use, and alter presets.
Love this content? Sign up for updates…it’s FREE!
Great info – thanks – finally got how to start in lightroom…
Thanks Diana,
I’m so glad it helped. Please let me know if you have questions. I plan on recording a few more before the end of the year.
Curious about your reasoning for not using dng files?
I wish I had found your videos a couple months ago, it would have saved me hours of stumbling through youtube. Thanks for the easy to understand resource.
Hi Sarah,
My reasoning is not the most valid, so you may not want to follow my lead. I’m confident Canon will be around a while so their proprietary RAW format is what I stick with. I know. I know. Simply one step I don’t worry about. I do keep a jpeg back up of all of my photos after editing them. Not the recommended practice, but it what is works for me.
Katrina
I just wanted to thank you for these videos. I’ve been wanting to learn more about how to edit in Lightroom and your videos have really helped! Just wondering if you’ve tried out the Rad Lab presets in Lightroom. I’ve heard them talk about it on the Daily Digi. I’d really like to find something that I could use to edit my everyday photos with quickly and easily but that would still give them a bit of a boost. Just wondering if the Rad Lab would be my answer for this dilemma? Any thoughts on this, or would the presets already in Lightroom be better for this?
Thanks!
Hi Corey,
I’m so glad you like the videos. I’ve not used RadLab presets, but know many people love them. They are going to give you a lot of options and can either speed up or slow down your process depending on how fast you can make decisions!
I like to find one or two presets that work for me. Adjust them to my liking and then use them as often as possible for my everyday photos so I’m not spending a lot of time deciding which way to go with them.
Watch for more videos soon!
Katrina, I’ve just started going through these links. You’ve developed a wonderful resource! Here’s my question. I have Photoshop Elements, and am just starting to use it (my spouse uses it, so I got it for free, sort of). What are the main reasons to use Lightroom over Elements? Thanks!
Thank you Lorette. I’m glad you find these useful.
Lightroom is a much more robust program allowing faster searching, the ability to batch edit and tag. I love the develop controls and have just started playing with the Blurb Book feature in 4.0. Some of it is a personal preference and I do still use Photoshop for scrapbooking and some (but not many) of my edits.
Thanks for the quick reply, Katrina. I think I’ll go for it…
So glad I found your 365 project as I just ordered Lightroom 4 from B&H photography and your videos are just what I need! I have bern wanting LR for years and now it is priced where I can afford it! Happy Happy!!!
I’m a Mac user, is there an advantage to using Lightroom over Aperture ??
Hi Jeanne,
I’m a Mac user as well. I’ve never used Aperture, but I can tell you that people love both. I like the amount of support and number of presets available for Lightroom. I’ve never used Aperture so can’t really give you an unbiased answer
.