Lightroom Workflow Lesson Plan

About this course

This course is an extremely comprehensive exploration of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a tool that can manage your image collection and nearly anything you will need to do to it. Lightroom presents a different way to work from Photoshop and most other imaging programmes. 

It can be hard to grasp how Lightroom works at first. In order to help you get this, I have started off with a description of how the programme works and what is different about it. From there I move through a sample workflow that lets you see how all the tools in Lightroom work together. This is followed by some options you might want to put into your workflow. After that, I get down to the nuts and bolts of how the programme works, starting with setup and moving through every major (and most minor) tools that are in the software.

There is an awful lot to digest here, but if you stick with it and learn the programme, you will be producing better-looking work, faster and more efficiently than you probably think is possible.

The movie in Figure 1 shows you Lightroom's most imporant feature - the result you can get with its image adjustment tools.

Figure 1 This movie shows a number of images, before and after Lightroom adjustment.

Lightroom overview

Lightroom is a complete workflow environment for your digital photography. In order to use it efficiently, you will need to understand how it is different from a Photoshop-based workflow. This lesson outlines the structure of the programme and how to use it in a workflow.

Go to the Lightroom Overview lesson

Sample workflow

The best way to understand what Lightroom can do for you is to follow a workflow from start to finish. This lesson shows how to handle a shoot from download through to archive. Once you have finished this lesson, you will be better prepared to set up the programme.

Go to the Sample Workflow lesson

Workflow extras

This lesson outlines some different approaches to the workflow from the previous lesson. Use these if they provide you with workflow that is not supported by the workflow lesson.

Go to the Workflow extras lesson

Lightroom setup

In order to work well with Lightroom, you need to decide where your catalogue and your images will be stored. You will also want to make sure your preferences are set up correctly. This lesson outlines what you need to get started.

Go to the Lightroom Setup lesson

The Import module

If you use Lightroom's Import tool to download your photos from the media card, you can save time, add security, and make your images easy to find - even years later. This lesson outlines the elements in the Import dialogue, and how to set it up properly.

Go to the Import Lesson

The Library module

The Library module is the place to sort, organize and group your images. Learn how the tools work, and strategies you can employ to keep track of your photos.

Go to the Library Module Lesson

The Develop module

The Develop module is really the heart of Lightroom. You have extraordinary access to image manipulation tools here - ones that are fast to use, and amazingly flexible. This lesson shows you what each of the tools does, and outlines when they are useful for particular adjustments.

Go the the Develop Lesson

Export and publish

Once your images have been adjusted to your satisfaction, you can send them out for delivery. The Export tool and the Publish tool offer two flexible ways to do this. This lesson outlines how to use these tools.

Go to the Export and Publish Lesson

Slideshow, print, and web modules

Lightroom has the ability to create slideshows and web galleries, as well as sending images directly to your printer. This page outlines how those functions work.

Go to the Slideshow, Print and Web lesson

Collection management

As time goes by, and as you add images to your collection, you will need to do some basic care and maintenance of your Lightroom catalogue and to the images themselves. This lesson outlines some of those tasks, and how to accomplish them.

Go to the Collections Management Lesson