Adobe Lightroom Classic: A Beginner's Guide

Whether you’re an amateur photographer or a seasoned professional, Adobe Lightroom can help you develop a professional workflow to create and organize high volume collections in record time. Designers, social media managers, and other marketing professionals also rely on the power of Lightroom to edit, enhance, and export images for a wide range of content and projects.

In this 5-course Domestika Basics, Mikael Eliasson teaches you how to manage a complete photography workflow in Lightroom Classic. He covers how to organize, rate, and manage keyword images as well as how to process RAW files (and JPEGs) for maximum quality. Discover how to use the software to produce books, slideshows, mini websites, and high quality prints. Learn how to import images into Photoshop and correctly save them so that each layer is maintained.

By the end of this Basics, you’ll understand how to develop a structured and organized workflow, from shooting to final export. See how to work with numerous images quickly and effectively, and make your images look their absolute best.

In course one, start by importing your images into Lightroom without creating any duplicates. Learn how to organize your images and how to create your first collection. See how to add images to a map using geopositioning and how to synchronize your Lightroom CC account. Finish by seeing how to shoot with Lightroom linked directly to your camera.

Course two dives into the Library module. Learn how to rate, flag, and label images, and explore your options for efficiently selecting images. Discover alternative organization options using keywords, metadata, library filters, and by syncing images. Finally, see how to export images and explore the different publishing services available.

Course three is all about image processing. After an overview of the Develop module, it’s time to explore the Basic panel where the most significant image editing happens, especially when working with RAW files. See how to use powerful tools like the tone curve, and discover how to use colors and create striking black and white images. Explore lens correction, transformations, sharpening, and noise reduction before seeing how to apply creative effects like grain or a vignette.

In course four, dive into detailed and local adjustments. Start with the basics of cropping an image and discover a useful feature for creating virtual copies of images. Take a look at Mikael’s process for cloning and learn how to remove the red eye caused by on-camera flash. Explore three key tools used to direct the focal point of an image: radial filter, graduated filter, and the adjustment brush. Finally, learn how to work with batches of images by using presets and creating your own.

In the final course, cover the different output modules in Lightroom. Get an overview of the various modules and take a detailed look at the Book module, which allows you to create a book with your own page templates. Then, see how to create slideshows and PDF presentations, and learn how to soft proof and apply custom color profiles to images for commercial printing. Lastly, look at how to create a mini website—a great resource for presenting work or pitching to a client.