Hidden gems in Lightroom Classic

[thommya]

Hi all

I'm very familiar with Lightroom Classic and it's doing what it's supposed to do. But now and then you find hidden gems or not so often mentioned features that can help you in your workflow.
So why not share your latest found feature that made you shout out loud - WOOOW?
Please share with me and others so we can make full use of Lightroom together.

Thommy Andersen

[Manfred M]

I'm not sure what you are asking for here.

I generally do very little in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, but jump over to Photoshop as soon as the raw conversion has been completed. All I use the raw processor for (other than the obvious raw conversion) is to correct chromatic aberration, open up the shadows, and bring down the highlights. That generally takes me about a minute or so.

I then jump over to Photoshop and make any repairs (noise reduction, sensor dust removal, correct perspective, straighten horizon lines). After that I spend some time doing area / zone adjustments.

I then spend 90% - 95% of the time making selections to dodge and burn.

I find all of these operations go much faster in Photoshop, mostly because the selection tools are so much better there.

Lightroom is fine for photographers., but Photoshop is aimed at retouchers.

[thommya]

I'm not sure what you are asking for here.

I'm asking Lightroom Classic users to share lesser-known features or "hidden gems" they’ve discovered, which have significantly improved their workflow in Lightroom Classic.

One example:
Drag and drop import - Did you know that you can drag
and drop files or folders on top of the shortcut to Lightroom Classic
to launch the program and open the import dialog.

[DanK]

Unlike Manfred, I use Lightroom a great deal--much more now than several years ago because it has become a far more powerful program, with vastly improved editing functions. However, offhand, I can't think of anything I do would count as a hidden gem. There are a number of people who do videos explaining new functions, including some hidden tricks. A good example is Anthony Morganti.

As an example of something LR now does well: I do a lot of candids of kids. that means I have a lot of backgrounds I don't want. I used to spend a lot of time making those backgrounds less obtrusive. Now I can often do a fair share of the work with a few mouse clicks: (1) select the subject, invert, darken and maybe blur, and (2) select the subject and start on the real editing of the person.

The functions that interest me are generally those that make editing easier. But I'll be interested if anyone posts new things I can use.

[billtils]

+1 to all that Dan posted.

[thommya]

Maybe this could be of interest - making editing easier?
A lesser/known/used feature is the Auto button in the Basic panel in the Develop module.
Many Lightroom Classic users ignore this Auto and most likely never use it at all.
But it is a button you could try before making any adjustments of your own.
It is a good way to see what changes Lightroom Classic suggests and often it makes for an
improved starting point from which you can commence making your own adjustments,
rather than starting with the defaults.
It uses an algorithm known as Adobe’s “Adobe Sensei,” and is much improved over the older Auto-function in early releases
of Lightroom Classic.
Many of my photographer friends actually use the Auto setting as a preset during import, and the results are so good they often don’t need to make any additional edits afterward.

[Chataignier]

Personally, I'm not a fan of "auto". It produces a well balanced image with moderate contrast - just what you need for a holiday snap.

I prefer to work on the different parts of the histogram according to my intentions for the final image. For example, I would not set the black point using "shift-blacks-click" for a high key image. It depends on what you want and Lightroom "auto" does not know what you want.

My suggestion for a hidden gem is the luminosity range mask. This gives you the means to lighten or darken specific luminosity ranges - just what you need for dodging and burning. The effect is of course on the whole image, but combining it with a gradient or a brush you can localise the effect.

[pnodrog]

I will give auto a try. Usually the first thing I do in develop is to use one of my presets and refine it from there. If auto gives me a suitable starting point I will be happy.

[DanK]

I'm pretty much in agreement with David, although perhaps not quite as far on the continuum.

I very rarely use the "auto" function because I want control over my edits. Ansel Adams once said that 'the most important component of a camera is the 12 inches behind it' (OK, ~30 cm for folks in countries sensible enough to use the metric system). In the case of editing, I want the starting point to be what I want the image to look like, not what some enormous database of photos evaluated by other says is "good". For some of the work I do, I find this relatively easy--e.g., flower and bug macros, night photography (for which auto is useless), and candids of kids--I usually find this manageable, partly because I have been doing them for so long. For other types of photography, however, I do find it hard--e.g., landscapes on overcast days. In those cases, I will often use "auto" to see what it does, just as I might ask another photographer to take a whack at it.

My concern about the auto function is that just like shooting JPEG, it can encourage folks not to do the work of deciding for themselves what they want. If they use it just as a starting point, not as a substitute, that problem wouldn't arise.

[DanK]

Thommy,

I chanced on a video that I think has some of what you are looking for. It has some "tricks" that are widely known but some that aren't. For example, LR has no "midtones" slider in the basic section, but he points out that the luminance slider in the midtones section of the color grading box serves that function.

Dan

https://www.iso1200.com/2024/09/9-cr...know-that.html

[thommya]

Thommy,

I chanced on a video that I think has some of what you are looking for. It has some "tricks" that are widely known but some that aren't. For example, LR has no "midtones" slider in the basic section, but he points out that the luminance slider in the midtones section of the color grading box serves that function.

Dan

https://www.iso1200.com/2024/09/9-cr...know-that.html

Thanks for sharing that trick! I've come across it before, and it's a great one.
One of the reasons I’m on the hunt for more tips and "hacks" is because I’ve just published a book on Amazon called Hidden Secrets in Lightroom Classic.
I’m gathering more tricks not only for a potential second edition but also for my own learning and sharing with forum members here. Your input is really valuable!

[thommya]

I just came across another hidden gem the other day.

Lightroom offers a feature specifically designed to simplify the photo culling process, called Refine Photos. This tool is especially helpful for photographers who need to sort through large batches of images. With Refine Photos, unflagged images are marked as rejects, while photos that are flagged as Picks are reset to unflagged.

How Refine Photos Works in Lightroom:

This tool allows you to gradually refine your photo selection, reducing the number of images to a more manageable set.

To get started, go to Library > Refine Photos. When you activate this option, Lightroom automatically applies the Pick flag filter and hides any rejected photos. You can then repeat this process as needed, progressively narrowing down your selection to the photos you want to keep.