What is Lightroom? Lightroom is photography cataloguing and editing software by Adobe which may be purchased as part of a photography or full Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
Table of Contents
Versions
I’ve encountered a few versions of Lightroom: Lightroom Classic, which I primarily use, Lightroom CC, and Lightroom mobile which is (of course) for mobile cataloging and editing on a phone or tablet.
What Lightroom Allows You to Do
Lightroom can do much! So this is just a quick list of the primary uses for lightroom.
Cataloging images
Lightroom’s primary use is organizing and cataloging images. You can import photos, organize them into folders, and and edit or add metadata such as keywords, IPTC data, and EXIF information.
Images may be saved in one or more catalog files — which do not store the images but the organizational format along with information about edits.
Hint: ALWAYS make a backup of your catalog(s) and if you’re just starting out figure out an organizational system from the outset. Though there are ways to beat a chaotic Lightroom catalog into submission.
Editing images
You can do “nondestructive” edits of images in Lightroom in which the individual image is preserved.
While not as full-featured for image editing as Adobe Photoshop, you can do much with Lightroom. I’ve likely missed some things in the next paragraph!
In Lightroom, you can crop images, adjust tones and colors, apply various presets to adjust those items, and Lightroom now has improved tools for noise reduction and sharpness. You can stitch images together into a panorama, you can merge bracketed images together into HDR photos. You can do some removal of unwanted items (though I generally go to Photoshop for this one), you can mask parts of the image for individual editing, do red eye reduction or retouch images (though for significant retouching, I’d also go to Photoshop).
Publishing images
You can setup various publish services to export your images to you own website or other photography websites (such as Flickr, Adobe Stock, and many many more). One tool I love is the ability to create “smart collections” so that any image that fits the criteria you set up goes into that published collection or album.
Photo map
If your images have GPS coordinates, you can view them on a map in the “map” tab. Note that if your images do not have GPS coordinates, you can add them later in Lightroom if you know where they were taken. Phones, of course, are GPS tagged but many to most high-end cameras do not have GPS chips. If I’m missing a GPS coordinate, I often either get the data from an image I took at the same location on my phone or use Google Maps to find the location, right click, and then copy the GPS coordinates there.
Print images
You can, of course, set up printing from Lightroom. Interestingly, I’ve rarely used this feature.
Description generated by Gemini
This is an AI-generated description of this term, so please take that into consideration when you are assessing the content
Adobe Lightroom is a creative image organization and manipulation software application developed by Adobe Inc. Available as both a cloud-based service and a traditional desktop program, Lightroom caters to photographers of all skill levels, helping them import, edit, organize, store, and share their photos.
Here's a breakdown of its key features:
Image Organization:
- Importing and Cataloging: Easily import photos from various sources (cameras, memory cards, hard drives). Lightroom uses a catalog system to manage and track your images without needing to physically move them.
- Collections and Keywords: Create custom collections and add keywords to organize photos based on subjects, events, locations, or any other criteria.
- Flags and Ratings: Use flags and star ratings to quickly identify your best shots and filter through large collections.
- Facial Recognition: Automatically recognizes faces in photos, allowing you to organize images based on people.
Image Editing (Non-Destructive):
- Global Adjustments: Modify overall image parameters like exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, clarity, vibrance, and saturation.
- Local Adjustments: Apply targeted adjustments to specific areas of an image using tools like the radial filter, graduated filter, and adjustment brush.
- Lens Corrections: Correct distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting caused by camera lenses.
- Color Grading: Fine-tune colors using tools like the tone curve, HSL panel, and split toning.
- Presets: Save custom editing settings as presets for quick application to other photos.
- Profiles: Utilize pre-built or create custom profiles to achieve specific stylistic looks.
Image Exporting and Sharing:
- Export in Various Formats: Export images in common formats like JPEG, TIFF, and PNG, controlling file size, resolution, and other parameters.
- Sharing to Social Media: Directly share photos to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr.
- Creating Photo Books and Slideshows: Design and create photo books and slideshows directly within Lightroom.
- Cloud Storage and Synchronization (Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (Cloud-based)): Store photos in the cloud for access from anywhere and synchronization across multiple devices.
Differences between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (Cloud-based):
While both versions share the Lightroom name and many features, they have key differences:
- Lightroom Classic: Desktop-focused application