Book description
"I've worked my entire adult life in digital imaging, from managing high-volume production departments to running my own photography and printing businesses. And for many years, I've been teaching photographers how to be self-sufficient when it comes to working with their digital images.
Having used all major image editing software released over the past twenty years, I now choose to use Lightroom because it allows me to work quickly, helps me deal with large numbers of images and lets me get back to enjoying the creative aspects of photography.
From my experience, I know how hard it can be to learn new ways of doing things–especially computer stuff. Unfortunately for a lot of photographers, struggling with digital processing can take the fun out of photography. Trying to figure out the intricacies of file formats, resolution, color management, etc., and even simply where to put all the files can be daunting tasks. Worse yet, sometimes it's hard just to know the right steps to get the best quality from a single photo!
It's my mission to ease your pain; to show you that you really can be in control of your entire imaging process, and help you develop a personalized workflow that fits your style and needs. My students frequently tell me how liberating this is: to comfortably handle all the files coming off the camera and residing on hard disks, to work methodically through a known sequence of steps and to produce finished pictures that you're proud to show other people. This is at the heart of the photographer's experience, and I want you to know this sense of confidence and capability.
I've taught large groups and individual photographers alike. Over the years I've learned where people get stuck. I understand the pitfalls new users face when first starting to use Lightroom as well as the concerns of more experienced users looking for ways to tweak their workflow for better performance. I want to help you overcome these challenges.
My goal for this book is to teach you to effectively use Lightroom 3 as quickly and easily as possible. My writing has been heavily influenced by my experiences working with clients and students, and I've approached the content of this book as I would tutor someone in a one-on-one training session. The order in which concepts are presented and the emphasis I give to certain aspects of the workflow are unique among books of its kind.
We'll start by reviewing some important, basic principles, such as working with Lightroom catalogs, the Lightroom workflow, color management, and an introduction to Lightroom 3's updated tools and screen interface. From there, we jump right in to importing images into Lightroom. This is followed by a step-by-step editing tutorial that will make your work much easier. Then we move on to in-depth explanations of how to perfect each photo for tone, color, contrast, sharpness and much more. After a detailed look at exporting images out of Lightroom, the next three chapters deal with presenting your work to others with prints, Web sites and slideshows. Finally, we'll wrap up with an in-depth look at advanced techniques for integrating Lightroom with other software.
The material presented in this book is appropriate for digital photographers working in all disciplines, at all skill levels. The information and tutorials are applicable to every kind of photography: from weddings and portraits to fine art landscape work, everyone can learn to streamline their digital photography process using Lightroom 3."
Nat Coalson
Conifer, CO
2010
Table of contents
- Copyright
- About the author
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
-
1. GETTING STARTED
- 1.1. Welcome to Lightroom 3
- 1.2. How to use this book
- 1.3. Getting more help
- 1.4. Hardware configuration
- 1.5. Installing Lightroom for the first time
- 1.6. Upgrading Lightroom from a previous version
- 1.7. About Lightroom catalogs
- 1.8. Lightroom previews
- 1.9. Maximizing Lightroom performance
- 1.10. The Lightroom application window
- 1.11. Modules
- 1.12. Main preview area
- 1.13. Panels
- 1.14. Panel input controls
- 1.15. Toolbars
- 1.16. Tooltips
- 1.17. Lightroom menus and commands
- 1.18. Color management in Lightroom
- 1.19. The Lightroom Workflow
-
2. IMPORT
- 2.1. Importing photos into Lightroom
- 2.2. Import photos from your hard disk
-
2.3. Import photos from your camera
-
2.3.1.
- 2.3.1.1. Treat JPG as separate files
- 2.3.1.2. Show import dialog when a memory card is detected
- 2.3.1.3. Collapsing panels and Solo Mode
- 2.3.1.4. Have Lightroom do as much as possible during an import
- 2.3.1.5. After Import, save metadata to files
- 2.3.1.6. Backup right away
- 2.3.1.7. Reformat the card in the camera
- 2.3.1.8. Never modify or delete the files on the card using your computer
-
2.3.1.
- 2.4. Presets and templates used during import
- 2.5. Import presets
- 2.6. The Compact Import window
- 2.7. More import workflows
- 2.8. Asset management for digital photographers
- 2.9. Backups
-
3. LIBRARY
-
3.1. Organizing your photos in Library
-
3.1.1. SIMPLE EDITING WORKFLOW
- 3.1.1.1. Don't use the Previous Import source for editing
- 3.1.1.2. First pass
- 3.1.1.3. Use the arrow keys to move between images
- 3.1.1.4. Save your work frequently
- 3.1.1.5. A quick note about camera raw files and XMP sidecars
- 3.1.1.6. Second pass
- 3.1.1.7. Additional passes
- 3.1.1.8. Refrain from immediately deleting photos during editing
- 3.1.1.9. After the final pass, add selects to a collection
- 3.1.1.10. Repeat
-
3.1.1. SIMPLE EDITING WORKFLOW
-
3.2. Lightroom image sources
- 3.2.1.
- 3.2.2. CATALOG PANEL
- 3.2.3. FOLDERS PANEL SOURCES
- 3.2.4. Control+Click or right-click on the Volume Browser header
- 3.2.5. FOLDERS AND SUBFOLDERS
- 3.2.6. MANAGING FOLDERS
-
3.2.7. MANAGING PHOTOS
- 3.2.7.1. Renaming Photos
- 3.2.7.2. Rename a Batch of Images During Editing
- 3.2.7.3. Finding a photo on your hard drive
- 3.2.7.4. Finding a photo in the Lightroom Folders list
- 3.2.7.5. Removing photos
- 3.2.7.6. Be very careful when deleting folders or photos
- 3.2.7.7. Some thoughts about deleting photos from the master catalog
- 3.2.8. HANDLING MISSING PHOTOS AND FOLDERS
- 3.2.9. SYNCHRONIZING FOLDERS
- 3.2.10. COLLECTIONS AND FILTERED SOURCES
- 3.2.11. KEYWORDS AS SOURCES
- 3.3. Working in Grid view
- 3.4. Selecting and deselecting images
- 3.5. Grouping thumbnails into stacks
- 3.6. Working in Loupe view
- 3.7. Comparing two images
- 3.8. Comparing multiple images
- 3.9. Rotating and flipping photos
- 3.10. The Secondary Display window
-
3.11. Metadata
- 3.11.1.
-
3.11.2. THE METADATA PANEL
- 3.11.2.1. Metadata panel actions
- 3.11.2.2. Title and Caption
- 3.11.2.3. EXIF
- 3.11.2.4. Editing a photo's capture time
- 3.11.2.5. Assigning your name to the Artist field
- 3.11.2.6. Apply and jump to next photo
- 3.11.2.7. GPS and Altitude
- 3.11.2.8. Jump to Google Maps
- 3.11.2.9. Audio Files
- 3.11.2.10. IPTC
- 3.11.2.11. IPTC Extension
- 3.11.2.12. Add copyright metadata to every image
- 3.11.3. METADATA PRESETS
- 3.11.4. SYNC METADATA
- 3.11.5. METADATA STATUS
-
3.12. Keywords
- 3.12.1. KEYWORDING STRATEGIES
- 3.12.2. KEYWORDING PANEL
-
3.12.3. KEYWORD LIST PANEL
- 3.12.3.1. Creating and editing keywords
- 3.12.3.2. Renaming keywords
- 3.12.3.3. Deleting keywords
- 3.12.3.4. Purging unused keywords
- 3.12.3.5. Finding keywords in the list
- 3.12.3.6. Keyword hierarchies
- 3.12.3.7. Entering hierarchies during Import
- 3.12.3.8. Managing your Keyword List
- 3.12.3.9. Import/Export Keywords
- 3.12.3.10. Using keywords to refine image sources
- 3.12.3.11. Don't use keywords as you would a collection
- 3.13. Attributes
- 3.14. Library filters
-
3.15. Lightroom Collections
- 3.15.1. QUICK COLLECTION
-
3.15.2. COLLECTIONS
- 3.15.2.1. Make a new collection and add photos to it
- 3.15.2.2. Multiple instances of a single photo
- 3.15.2.3. Name the vc and find the original
- 3.15.2.4. Removing photos from a collection
- 3.15.2.5. Moving and copying photos between collections
- 3.15.2.6. Control+Click or right-click on a collection
- 3.15.2.7. Control+Click or right-click on a thumbnail, choose Go to Collection
- 3.15.2.8. Collections badge
- 3.15.2.9. Set as Target Collection
- 3.15.3. SMART COLLECTIONS
- 3.15.4. COLLECTION SETS
- 3.16. Processing photos in Library
- 3.17. Converting raw files to DNG in Library
- 3.18. Publish Services and Comments
- 3.19. Backing up and optimizing your catalog
-
3.1. Organizing your photos in Library
-
4. DEVELOP
- 4.1. Perfecting your photos in Develop
- 4.2. Crop and straighten
- 4.4. White balance
-
4.5. Tone adjustments
- 4.5.1. HISTOGRAM
-
4.5.2. OPTIMIZING TONAL VALUES
- 4.5.2.1. Step 1. Set Exposure and Blacks (see Figure 4-35)
- 4.5.2.2. Hold Option or Alt while dragging Exposure and Blacks sliders
- 4.5.2.3. The most important step in successfully processing your photos
- 4.5.2.4. Fixing Over- and Under-Exposure
- 4.5.2.5. Handling highlight and shadow detail
- 4.5.2.6. Don't overdo Recovery or Fill Light
- 4.5.2.7. Keep working the Basic adjustments
- 4.5.3. TONE CURVE
- 4.5.4. TARGETED ADJUSTMENT TOOL
-
4.6. Color adjustments
-
4.6.1. GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS TO SATURATION AND VIBRANCE
- 4.6.1.1. Saturation
- 4.6.1.2. Vibrance
- 4.6.1.3. Vibrance and Saturation are disabled for photos using black and white treatment.
- 4.6.1.4. SELECTIVE COLOR ADJUSTMENTS
- 4.6.1.5. Use targeted adjustments in HSL
- 4.6.1.6. Simulating a polarizing filter
- 4.6.1.7. Watch for noise
- 4.6.1.8. Hiding and showing panel adjustments
- 4.6.1.9. The Detail panel
- 4.6.1.10. Detail previews
- 4.6.1.11. Zoom in and out when processing for small details
- 4.6.2. NOISE REDUCTION
- 4.6.3. SHARPENING
-
4.6.1. GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS TO SATURATION AND VIBRANCE
- 4.7. Lens Corrections
-
4.8. Local adjustments
- 4.8.1. GRADUATED FILTER
- 4.8.2. GRADUATED FILTER AND ADJUSTMENT BRUSH CONTROLS
- 4.8.3. TOOL OVERLAYS
-
4.8.4. ADJUSTMENT BRUSHES
- 4.8.4.1. Usually leave Auto Mask off
- 4.8.4.2. A and B brush settings
- 4.8.4.3. Mouse wheel
- 4.8.4.4. Applying the local adjustment brushes
- 4.8.4.5. Hold Shift while painting
- 4.8.4.6. With the brushes active, press Return or Enter
- 4.8.4.7. Be economical with the number of brush masks
- 4.8.4.8. Erasing from adjustment brush masks
- 4.8.4.9. Hiding and showing local adjustments
- 4.8.4.10. Deleting an adjustment brush
- 4.8.5. RESETTING LOCAL ADJUSTMENTS
- 4.8.6. LOCAL ADJUSTMENT PRESETS
- 4.9. The Effects panel
- 4.10. Spot removal
- 4.11. Converting a photo to black and white
- 4.12. Creative color processing
- 4.13. History
- 4.14. Snapshots
- 4.15. Creating multiple versions of a photo
- 4.16. Resetting adjustments
- 4.17. Comparing before and after
-
4.18. Applying settings to multiple photos
- 4.18.1.
- 4.18.2. COPY/PASTE
- 4.18.3. SYNC SETTINGS
- 4.18.4. MATCH TOTAL EXPOSURES
-
4.18.5. DEVELOP PRESETS
- 4.18.5.1. Preview presets in Navigator
- 4.18.5.2. See the contents of presets
- 4.18.5.3. Making your own presets
- 4.18.5.4. Give your presets meaningful names
- 4.18.5.5. Apply a Develop preset during import
- 4.18.5.6. Using presets made by someone else
- 4.18.5.7. Modifying and Removing Presets
- 4.18.5.8. Save an alias or shortcut to the Lightroom folder on your desktop
- 4.18.6. SETTING YOUR OWN DEFAULT
- 4.19. Before and after examples
-
5. EXPORT
- 5.1. Exporting photos from Lightroom
-
5.2. The Export window
- 5.2.1.
- 5.2.2. Export To:
- 5.2.3. EXPORT LOCATION
- 5.2.4. FILE NAMING
-
5.2.5. FILE SETTINGS
- 5.2.5.1. Format
- 5.2.5.2. Don't use .PSD
- 5.2.5.3. Use 16-bit for the highest quality
- 5.2.5.4. Exporting layered originals produces flattened derivatives
- 5.2.5.5. Color space
- 5.2.5.6. Choosing color space
- 5.2.5.7. Using a custom profile
- 5.2.5.8. Ask vendors for their profiles
- 5.2.5.9. Rendering intent
- 5.2.5.10. Maintaining the most possible data
- 5.2.6. IMAGE SIZING
- 5.2.7. Output Sharpening
- 5.2.8. METADATA
- 5.2.9. WATERMARKING
- 5.2.10. POST-PROCESSING
- 5.3. Export presets
- 5.4. Export plug-ins
- 5.5. Example export scenarios
-
6. PRINT
- 6.1. Printing photos from Lightroom
- 6.2. The Print module panels
- 6.3. Single Image/Contact Sheet
- 6.4. Picture Package
- 6.5. Custom Package
-
6.6. The Print Job panel
-
6.6.1.
- 6.6.1.1. Print To:
- 6.6.1.2. Draft Mode Printing
- 6.6.1.3. Whenever possible, leave the Print Resolution option unchecked
- 6.6.1.4. Print Sharpening
- 6.6.1.5. Don't over-sharpen
- 6.6.1.6. Color management
- 6.6.1.7. Get custom profiles
- 6.6.1.8. Soft proofing in Photoshop
- 6.6.1.9. Save or update your template
-
6.6.1.
- 6.7. Printing the job to your own printer
- 6.8. Preparing print files to send to a lab
- 6.9. Getting the best possible printed output
- 7. WEB
-
8. SLIDESHOW
-
8.1. Making and presenting slideshows
- 8.1.1. ORGANIZE PHOTOS FOR THE SLIDESHOW
-
8.1.2. CUSTOMIZE THE SLIDESHOW
- 8.1.2.1. Options panel
- 8.1.2.2. Layout panel
- 8.1.2.3. Overlays panel
- 8.1.2.4. Design graphical identity plates in Photoshop
- 8.1.2.5. +Option+T (Mac only)
- 8.1.2.6. Backdrop panel
- 8.1.2.7. Keep backgrounds simple
- 8.1.2.8. Titles panel
- 8.1.2.9. Design title screens and backgrounds in Photoshop
- 8.1.2.10. Playback panel
- 8.1.2.11. Save a new template
- 8.1.2.12. Update a template
- 8.1.3. PREVIEW THE SLIDESHOW
- 8.1.4. PRESENTING OR EXPORTING THE SLIDESHOW
-
8.1. Making and presenting slideshows
-
9. ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
- 9.1. Welcome to the next level
- 9.2. Publish services
- 9.3. Lightroom integration with other programs
- 9.4. Export post-processing
- 9.5. Using Lightroom with multiple computers
- 9.6. Working with multiple catalogs
- 9.7. Workflow: On the Road
- A. Appendix
Product information
- Title: Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process
- Author(s):
- Release date: July 2010
- Publisher(s): Wiley
- ISBN: 9780470607053
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