Adobe Lightroom CC Tutorial

G ETT I NG S T A RT ED
Adobe Lightroom CC is a photo editing program which can be used to manipulate and edit large
quantities of photos at once. It has great exporting and metadata features and is an industry
standard in professional photography editing.

TABLE O F C O NT ENTS
In this tutorial, you will learn the following:

1. Getting Started Pg. 3

2. Creating a New Catalog Pg. 3

3. Library Pg. 4

4. Importing Pg. 4

5. Metadata Pg. 5

6. Develop Pg. 6

7. Develop Tools Pg. 8

8. Developing Panels Pg. 11

9. Basic Correction Pg. 11

10. Tone Curve Pg. 13

11. Hue Saturation Luminance (HSL) Pg. 14

12. Detail Pg. 15

13. Effects Pg. 16

14. Presets Pg. 17

15. Watermarks Pg. 18

16. Exporting Pg. 19

 1 . G E T T I NG S T A RT ED
1. Begin by opening Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.
On a PC, click Start > Programs > Adobe > Lightroom Classic CC, or click on the
Lightroom short cut on the desktop.

On a Mac, click Macintosh HD > Applications > Adobe Lightroom Classic CC , or click
the Lightroom icon in the Dock. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. Navigation to Lightroom Classic CC on a Mac.

2 . CRE ATIN G A NEW C A T A LO G

Every time you start a new project, you can create a new catalog which will hold all of your photos and
files for that project.You can later optimize each catalog so that it runs smoother if you so choose.You
can come back and edit in each catalog, and import more photos in each time.You could use one catalog
for everything, but it might cause organizational and file management problems.

Figures 2 & 3. Creating a new catalogue in Lightroom

 3 . L I B RA RY
The Library is where all of your photos within the catalog are stored, old or new. When you import new
photos into the catalog, they go to the Library. Within the library you can organize and pick photos to
develop, and you can view various aspects of the images like metadata.

Figure 4. The Library Panel

4 . I M P O RTI NG
Importing is the process of bringing your photos into the Lightroom catalog so that they can be edited.
1. To begin the process, click the “Import” button in the lower left of the screen or File>Import.
2. Navigate to wherever your photos are within the menu, or drag and drop on Mac.
3. When Importing, “Add” the files, do not “Copy” or “Move” (Figure 7).

Figure 5. The Import Button

Figure 6. The Import Panel

 4 . I M P O RTI NG C O NT .
After you have brought all of your photos into the Import window by “adding” them, make sure the
check marks of the photos you would like to import are checked. If there are any you don’t want, unclick
the check marks. Click “Import” on the lower right one final time to bring all of the photos into your
Library.

Figure 7. Make sure the “Add” option is selected

Figure 8. The Library with photos.

5 . M ETA DA T A
To the right of the main window in the Library workspace, there is a window where you can open
Metadata (Figure 9). This can be used to change the name of the file, the title of the file, the caption, and
other aspects of Metadata which could be important when publishing a file or photo online. Metadata
can be used to determine original ownership of an image. If you choose to get more advanced, there is
the option to use the Maps workspace to geotag your images (Figure 10).

Figure 9. The Metadata panel

Figure 10. The Maps workspace
 6 . DEVELO P
The main power of Lightroom comes in the Developing Workspace. This tutorial will not cover every
aspect in great detail, but it will cover the main points necessary for photo editing/retouching within
Lightroom. The first part of this workspace is the Navigator panel in the upper left. This is used to zoom
into various parts of the image, and also acts as a preview for presets before they are applied.

Figure 11. The Develop workspace

Below the Navigator panel is the Preset panel. In here you can add or edit presets and apply them to
your images.
Under the Preset panel is the film strip at the bottom of the window (Figure 12). This is a small preview
of each photo in your catalog. This film strip can be used to organize and filter the photos within the
catalog and rate or flag the photos for further editing or analysis (Figure 13).

Figure 12. The Film Strip

Figure 13. Organization Filters

 6 . DE VEL O P C O NT .
The middle of the Develop Workspace is the image preview window itself. This is where you see all of
your changes happen in real time. There are several different views for this window (Figure 14). These
include “Loupe View” which is the default and the left most option. The middle option is for using a
reference image to work off of next to your image. The final option is “Before and After” (Figure 15).

Figure 14. The various view options

Figure 15. Before and After View

To the right of the main preview window are all of the main tools for developing. In the upper right is
the Histogram. This displays the tonal range throughout the image from high to low values. This also
displays the technical info for the photo below the graph. The exposure, shadows, and highlights can be
adjusted by pushing and pulling various parts of the Histogram. Typically, the values should be spread
evenly throughout the whole graph, if not, parts can be stretched out to fill in the values.

Figure 16. Histogram

Under the Histogram are all of the Developing tools and panels. These will be covered in the next
section.
 7 . DEVEL O P T O O L S
The Develop Tools are powerful and can be used in many editing contexts. The tool bar is found under
the Histogram on the right side of the screen (Figure 17).

Figure 17. Develop Tools and Brushes

Crop & Straighten (Shortcut “R”)

This tool will resize your image and what is within the
borders. This can also change the angle of your image and the
orientation of it.

Figure 18. Crop & Straighten Tool

Clone / Heal (Shortcut “Q”)

This tool will help to remove blemishes in the image. Simple use
the tool to “paint” what you want to remove and pick a “target”
spot as a reference. This will remove the blemish and replace it
with something similar to the reference area (Figure 19 & 20).
You can adjust the size of the brush as well as the feathering
and the opacity of the brush to adjust how strong the change is.
Figure 19. Clone / Heal Tool

Figure 20. Removing something with the Clone / Heal Tool

 7 . DE VELO P T O O L S C O NT .
Red Eye Correction
This tool removes red eye from photos. Just drag the cursor
around the pupil to darken the pupil and remove the red eye.
This also works to remove bright pet eyes (Figure 21).

Figure 21. Red Eye Correction Tool

Graduated Filter (Shortcut “M”)

The Graduated Filter tool can make large, sweeping gradations
of edits across an image.

1. Either select an effect for a new graduated effect, or adjust

the parameters for a custom effect (Figure 23).
2. Drag the tool to where you want the gradient edit to begin.

Figure 22. The Graduated Filter tool in action

3. Push or pull the lines of the tool closer together or further

apart to make the edit more or less gradual. Figure 23. Parameters for a custom effect
4. Click “Done” to finish the action.

Figure 24. Before and After Graduated Filter

 7 . DE VELO P T O O L S C O NT .
Radial Filter (Shortcut “Shift +M”)
The Radial Filter tool is the same concept of the Graduated Filter tool, except that it is in a circular
fashion, as opposed to linear. The filter can be inverted in the parameters to edit everything inside the
circle, or everything outside of the circle. All of the parameters, options, and steps for this filter are the
same as or similar to the Graduated Filter.

Figure 25. Using the Radial Filter

Adjustment Brush (Shortcut “K”)

The Adjustment brush can make more specific and controlled edits to images. The parameters are the
same as the other developing tools, except the size, feather, flow, and density controls (Figure 26). The
brush can be used to edit big or small areas more precisely than the other tools (Figure 27).

Figure 26. Adjustment Brush controls

Figure 27. Adjustment Brush Example

 8 . DEVELO P I NG P A NEL S
The Develop Workspace has many different panels for photo
editing on the right hand side of the page (Figure 28). These are
very powerful and intricate adjustment controls, and a lot of them
can be used to achieve the same effects. This tutorial will not
discuss every section within these panels, nor every control. This
tutorial will cover Basic Correction, Tone Curve, HSL, Detail, and
Effects.

Figure 28. Develop Adjustment Panels

9 . BASI C C O RREC T I O N
The Basic Correction panel is a very powerful section of tools where
you can do most of your corrections and editing on a photo. Most
problems or looks can be fixed or attained within this panel. The main
adjustments that can be made within this panel are White Balance, Tones
and Values, and Presence.

White Balance
The idea behind white balance is to get the most accurate color cast, of the
image, by making sure that your whites are as close to accurate white. This
can be manually adjusted with the sliders shown in Figure 29, or with the
presets right above them, or with the eyedropper tool (Figure 30).
To use the eyedropper tool, simply Figure 29. Basic Correction Parameters
1. Select the eyedropper and drag it to the image.
2. Hover over various parts of the image to see them in detail.
3. Click a spot that has a neutral gray tone.
4. Adjust the sliders accordingly after it automatically adjusts, if necessary.

Figure 30. White Balance Eyedropper

 9 . BAS I C C O RREC T I O N C O NT .
Within the Tones section, you can control the
exposure or overall brightness of the image,
and the contrast. Contrast makes the darks of
the image darker and the highlights of the image
brighter, creating more visual interest (Figure 31). A
common mistake is to add too much contrast since
it can enhance a photo by a lot.

The Highlights, Whites, Shadows, and Blacks, sliders

(Figure 29) can brighten or darken a certain range
of tones within the image. If the white parts of
the image are bright enough but the darker parts
are not bright enough, then you could raise the
shadows. Lowering the blacks of the image and Figure 31. Before and After use of Contrast
raising the whites is a common technique to add
interest.

The presence section can be used to bring the image to life. The clarity slider controls the texture of the
image, whether it is hazier or grittier. Putting the slider to the left will make it hazy, and putting it to the
right will make it gritty and rough (Figure 33). Using these effects in small amounts can do a lot for the
image.

Vibrance controls how much each hue will be saturated

in comparison to each other. The higher the vibrance
slider, the more saturated each color will be with
comparatively, making a more even saturation. The
Saturation slider will add color to every hue in the
Figure 32. Presence Controls
image, raising each color up regardless of the other
hues in the image (Figure 34). These sliders can also go
negative to remove color from the image.

Figure 33. Negative Clarity (left) VS. Positive Clarity (right)

Figure 34. High Vibrance (left) VS. High Saturation (right)

 1 0 . T O NE C U RVE
The Tone Curve is an advanced and powerful tool to help add
contrast and color in specific tonal ranges of the image. It lets
you control contrast a lot more deliberately and intricately. To
switch from the default to Point Curve Editing, click the button
in the lower right corner of the panel.

The Tone Curve starts out at a straight diagonal line, with a light
histogram displayed in the background. The lower left of the
line controls the darks, and the upper right controls the lights.
Moving a part of the line above the dotted line brings that tone
up, or makes it brighter. Lowering below the dotted line does
the opposite.

The channel can be changed from RGB to each individual Color

of Red, Green, or Blue, each with their own Tone Curve. This
controls the lights and darks of each individual color. Figure 35. Tone Curve

A general rule if you don’t have something specific in mind, is to

create a sort of “S-Curve” by bringing the darks down and the
lights up, to create contrast.

Figure 36. Channel Selector

Figure 37. Example of Before and After Curves

 11. HUE S ATURA TI O N L U M I NA NC E ( HS L )
The Hue Saturation and Luminance adjuster or HSL is a tool designed
to have precise control over specific tones and values of color within
an image.

Hue changes the color cast of a specific tonal range of colors, such as
changing what type of orange is displayed within the image. The sliders
can be used to adjust colors, or the dragging tool in the upper left of
the panel can be used (Figure 39).
1. Click on the circle within a circle in the upper left of the panel
2. Move the tool over the image to the color or tone you would like
to edit.
3. Drag up or down depending on how you would like to change the Figure 38. HSL Panel with Hue Sliders
hue. See Figure 40 for an example of changing the hue of the orange
to stand out more.

Figure 39. Dragging Tool

Figure 40. Before and After adjusting the Hue of the orange
Figure 41. Saturation Sliders

Saturation changes how much of a tone or color comes through in the image. In a way, it changes the power
of each color specifically. This is very similar to Saturation and Vibrance discussed in Basic Correction.

The Saturation adjustment works exactly like the Hue adjustment described above. When moving the
sliders to the left or dragging the tool down, it will de-saturate a color or tone, this can be used to cut out
distractions or highlight a certain color (Figure 41).

Figure 42. Selectively de-saturating a blue color

 1 1 . HS L C O NT .
Luminance is the lightness or darkness of a certain color or
tone within an image. It is like adjusting the Shade of an image.

The Luminance Adjustor works exactly like the Hue and

Saturation adjusters, with the sliders and the dragging tool.
Moving the slider to the right makes it brighter, and to the
left makes it darker,. Dragging up makes the tone brighter, and
dragging down makes it darker.

Figure 42. Luminance Sliders

1 2 . DET A I L
The Detail Panel is used to increase sharpness and texture in the detail of
the image. The sharpening section is used to make the image more crisp
and sharp (Figure 44). The noise reduction section is used to remove noise
from an image that is too grainy, possibly due to improper exposure.

All of the sliders within each section are codependent upon each other,
play around with different combinations of the sliders to achieve various
effects.

Figure 43. Detail Panel

Figure 44. Before and After Sharpening

 1 3. EF F EC T S
The Effects panel can be the final touches that you put on your image.
Within these effects, you can create Vignettes, add Grain, and Dehaze the
image.

Vignette’s can be used to draw the viewer’s attention to the center of the
image, or block out the edges of a frame. Subtle vignette’s are used all of
the time, especially in portraits and head shots.
There are several different parameters that can be adjusted within
Vignetting, but the important parts are Amount, Roundness, and Feather.

The Amount slider can create a dark vignette around the image, or a light
one, depending on if you move it left or right, respectively. It also controls
how strong and large the vignette is. The roundness of the vignette Figure 45. Effects Panel
adjusts the shape of it, and therefore what parts are included or excluded.
Feathering adjusts how gradual the vignette is and how soft it is.

Figure 46. Before and After Vignetting with dark and light amounts

Grain can add texture to an image when used in small

amounts, or can be used to make an image look like film.
Figure 47. Example of subtle grain
This effect is often used to make an image look older or
“vintage.”
The Amount changes how much grain is in the image,
and size changes each individual speck of grain, and
roughness changes the fineness of the grain. Subtle
grain usually uses a decent amount, but little size and
roughness. Bigger size grain will make the image less
sharp.

Figure 48. Example of grain in an image

 1 3 . E F F EC TS C O NT .
The final section within the Effects Panel is Dehaze. Dehaze can be used within a hazy or out of focus
image to help fix it, but it can also create some cool effects. Dehaze is like Contrast and Clarity in one,
but is slightly different. It can be used to make an image look like it is glowing when the slider is moved to
the left, or can add significant contrast when moved to the right.

Figure 49. Negative Dehaze (left) VS Positive Dehaze (right)

1 4. P RES ET S
One of Lightroom’s most powerful features is the ability to import, create, and apply presets to your
image. This can help you work through large batches of pictures much quicker, and can help you explore
techniques and styles used by other photographers and editors.
Lightroom already comes prepackaged with several Presets.
To use a preset:
1. Open the folder it is held in within the Preset Panel
2. Hover over each preset to see a preview in the upper left
navigator panel (Figure 51).
3. Click on the preset you would like to apply to your image
4. Adjust various develop settings as addressed earlier, if
necessary Figure 50. Preset Panel

If you have edited a photo and would like to save all of your develop settings
for similar photos, or to replicate the effect elsewhere, you can make your
own preset.
1. Click the small “+” in the upper right corner
2. A dialog box will appear, click what develop settings
you would like to apply to the preset
3. Name your preset, and decide where it will be kept
4. Click “Create” (Figure 52)

Figure 51. Preset Preview

Figure 52. New Preset

Dialog Box
 1 4 . P RES ETS C O NT .
Importing Presets
There is no dedicated function within Lightroom to import presets from an outside
source.You must bring them into the source folder where Lightroom stores all of the
presets. This is simple to do.
1. Go to Lightroom>Preferences, the dialog box will pop up
2. Within the dialog box, go to Presets

Figure 53. Lightroom>Preferences...

Figure 55. Show Lightroom Presets Folder

Figure 54. Preferences Dialog Box

3. Click on “Show Lightroom Presets Folder...”

4. Open the “Develop Presets” folder
5. Place your new downloaded presets in this folder.
6. Restart Lightroom if it is open

Figure 56. Develop Presets folder within Lightroom

1 5 . WA T ERM A RK S
Within Lightroom, you can export your photos with
Watermarks to give to post online to mark your
ownership. These can be simple text, or you can import
pictures/logos that you create in other programs.
To create a watermark:
1. Go to Lightroom>Edit Watermarks in the upper
tool bar
2. Type your text in the lower left box and it will appear
on the picture OR
3. Import your image through
Figure 57. Image Options
the Image Options
4. Edit the opacity, size, and location for the watermark
with all of the adjustment tools and effects
5. Click Save Figure 58. Edit Watermarks workspace
 1 6 . EXP O RT I NG
The exporting process is how you get your images out of Lightroom and into usable
files to put on the internet or send to people. There are many parameters and
adjustments that you can make within the exporting process, and many are up to your
preference.

To Begin the Export Process:

1. Select your photos within the film strip
at the bottom of the window Figure 57. Selected photos in filmstrip
2. Go to File>Export, a dialog box will appear
3. Select your Export Location within your
computer.
4. If you would like to put them in a subfolder,
name the subfolder
5. Pick your file naming conventions, and name your
files appropriately.
6. File settings can vary depending on your
preference, but JPEG, sRGB color space, and
limiting your file size to 5,000 K are good settings
to use if you aren’t sure. Limiting the file size to
5,000 K ensures that it can be sent digitally and
through email.
7. Within Image Sizing, you can resize to fit
dimensions like 6x9 or 8x10, but you don’t have to.
Just make sure that your resolution is at least 300
pixels per inch.
8. Make sure that your Metadata is included.
9. If you would like to include a watermark then
make sure that it is checked. Figure 58. Export Window
10. When finished click “Export”