Getting familiar with the Lightroom interface
Lightroom consists of seven main modules, additional sub-modules for importing/exporting images, and different popups for preferences and syncing photos with Adobe cloud storage (included with Lightroom Classic).
The UI of Lightroom revolves around an idea of a workspace surrounded by tools. That workspace is where we will see the effect of any actions taken with the said tools. Each module contains side panels, and these panels are split further—into tabs.
The left-side panel is used to move around our collections and folders or to apply module-specific presets; the right-side panel contains all module-specific tools. The bottom part of each panel is always occupied by a filmstrip with our photographs. This filmstrip remains in the same spot between modules and is always accessible. You can see a representation of this in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.7 – Filmstrip along the bottom of Lightroom is always accessible from within all modules
Even if you haven't imported any photographs into Lightroom so far and it's the first time you are turning it on, I encourage you to look at the different modules as you progress through this chapter to get more familiar with their layout.
Access to all of the modules is always located on the top-right side of the screen as a Module Picker, as illustrated in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.8 – Module Picker in the top-right corner
It's possible to change the appearance of this menu and even hide modules we don't use or don't need; they will always be accessible in other ways. I will describe how to do this toward the end of this chapter. For the moment, let's go through each panel and look briefly at their functions in Lightroom Classic.
First, take a look at the following screenshot:
Figure 1.9 – Develop module with all panels opened and all tools and tabs within panels closed
The preceding screenshot illustrates all panels opened, as follows:
- Module Picker (top panel)
- Right Modules panel
- Filmstrip (bottom panel)
- Left Modules panel
- Toolbar (above the filmstrip)
All of the tabs and panels within Lightroom Classic can be opened and closed to simplify the layout and make it better suited to our needs. The first important part of the UI—to help us with it—is the small arrows located in the middle of the external edge of each panel, as illustrated in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.10 – Small arrows on the side of each panel, for opening and closing panels
When the little arrow is gray, this means that the panel is currently open, and you can click on it to close the panel. You can also click on the narrow frame where the arrow is located to do the same. When the little arrow is made of white dots, the panel is closed, and you can open it up. Instead of opening it back up, you can also just hover on the narrow frame where the arrow is. This will temporarily preview the panel and keep it in Preview mode as long as the cursor is hovering over it. As long as this preview is initiated, we can access all of the functionality of the panel. The same rule applies to each of the four panels located around the central area of Lightroom. It's a handy thing to remember later when you want, for example, a photograph that you are working on to occupy a larger part of the screen.
Handy Keyboard Shortcuts to Remember
"Tab": Show/hide both side panels
"Shift + Tab": Show/hide all panels
"F5": Show/hide Module Picker (top panel)
"F6": Show/hide Filmstrip (bottom panel)
"F7": Show/hide Left Modules panel
"F8": Show/hide Right Modules panel
The second type of small arrow you will notice within each module's panels is the one responsible for opening and closing tabs. You can open and close these at will by clicking on the arrow, tab title, or the narrow frame where it is located. The same principle applies to opening tools within tabs and folders/collections, except that to expand the tools within tabs, we need to click directly on the small arrows. There are keyboard shortcuts for many of these functions, and they will be mentioned throughout the book and available as a "cheat sheet". Try opening and closing everything you see to feel more comfortable with this functionality, and take a look at the following screenshot to guide you further:
Figure 1.11 – Left: click these to open tabs; Right: click these to open tools within each tab
As we look through all the modules in this chapter, I encourage you to open and close each of the tabs to get a better sense of moving around Lightroom's workspace.
Without further ado, let's have a quick look through all the available modules.
Library module
This is our HQ within Lightroom. From here, we are managing our whole photography collection imported into Lightroom (importing is covered in Chapter 2, Bring It All In – Importing Photographs into Lightroom).
The left panel starts with the Navigator, but beyond that, it's essentially a list of all our imported folders and collections. The left panel also contains a few handy publishing tools for services such as Adobe Stock (yes—there is an option to earn some money through it as well), Facebook, or Flickr (the Library module is covered in Chapter 3, Tools Available Within the Library Module).
You can see an overview of the Library module in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.12 – Library module with all panels and tabs enabled: grid view
The Library module's right panel includes Histogram, Quick Develop tools that allow simple adjustments to be made to reviewed photographs, and tools for editing a picture's metadata. These right-side panel tabs are where we can add and manage keywords, captions, and copyright notices, change the time when photos were made, or add and amend Global Positioning System (GPS) data. All available information about each photograph can be accessed and changed through this panel, including mass changes applied to groups of photos.
The Library module's top part contains a panel with a powerful search tool to make queries based on fields available within photographs' metadata. The same top panel also includes a search engine based on the text and rating we applied to our photographs. You can see a metadata filter example in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.13 – Metadata filter example of query columns
On the bottom part of the screen, we can always find the filmstrip (also see Figure 1.7), as illustrated in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.14 – Right-clicked toolbar reveals access to folders, collections, and so on
Directly above the ever-present filmstrip is a toolbar with access to a personal selection of folders, collections, and customizable filters to see only the images we choose. Again, the filmstrip is the only panel that remains unchanged throughout Lightroom and is accessible within every single module. The Library module offers us also an ad hoc slideshow functionality and control over the potential second screen.
Folders are a mirror image of a file-and-folder structure on the hard drive. When we import into Lightroom, we can choose how and where photographs import to keep everything structured. Suppose we already have an extensive library of images in perfect order. In that case, we can add them to Lightroom without changing their position on the hard drive. From that moment, Lightroom folders will reflect the folder structure of our hard drive. We can naturally choose different approaches for different files and folders. We can even edit the folders' content when external drives are not connected—that is a whole other topic, though described in detail later in this book.
Collections, on the other hand, do not have any significant physical presence on the hard drive. They are simply a visually presented database containing references to actual files. Collections can be made up of photographs present in folders located on various hard drives, and we will still be able to browse, reorder, and edit collections, even when our external hard drives are not connected.
This is an example of the Compare view, available in the Library module:
Figure 1.15 – Compare view with the developed photograph on the left and the original photo on the right
Develop module
This is the heart of Lightroom's workshop where most of the magic happens (we will be learning all about the Develop module in Chapter 5, An Introduction to the Develop Module and Chapter 6, A Detailed View of the Develop Module's Functions). You can see an overview of it here:
Figure 1.16 – Develop module with all panels enabled
The top-left corner starts again with the familiar Navigator. The three following tabs are exclusive to the Develop module and are outlined in more detail here:
- Presets is where you will store all different "looks and recipes" that can be later applied to any photographs.
- Snapshots will keep various versions and different looks of the same picture that we can choose from later when we cannot decide which definitive version to go for.
- The History tab is a time-machine type of tool. Lightroom keeps every single change we ever made to our photographs, and all this history is always accessible to us. We have unlimited undos always available to us. We can revisit each photograph to see how it looked at any stage of being developed.
We also have a tab called Collection. It is a familiar tab that we can access without leaving the Develop module.
The right-side panel starts with the familiar sight of the Histogram, which is by default in the same position as within the Library module. In the default view, the Histogram is followed by a collection of all available tools that we will use to adjust our photographs and give them the desired look.
The first tab contains all basic tone-correction tools, from exposure and contrast through more nuanced controls over shadows and highlights to photo enhancers such as clarity or vibrance. This is just a peek at all available tools; going further into menus and opening subsequent tabs, we will be able to do the following:
- Correct an image's tonality with the Curves tool.
- Adjust the colors of a photograph with Hue, Saturation, and Luminance (HSL).
- Colorize highlights and shadows of a picture with Color Grading.
- Work on sharpness, reduce noise, and apply lens-specific corrections.
- Transform the geometry of our photographs.
- Add vignetting or grain.
- Apply camera-specific color calibration.
Note
Let's not forget about the Crop overlay, Spot removal, Red eye correction, and Masking tools just below the Histogram at the top of this panel. We will be using adjustment brushes for dodging, burning, and other localized work, from darkening a sky that is too bright to removing blemishes and softening the skin on portraits. That is an extensive list of capabilities, and all of them are provided in a package that is easy to use and instantly gratifying. All adjustments and effects are visible straight away and easily changed, adjusted, or completely reversed. All changes can be immediately applied to all the photographs we choose in just one click, which is an incredibly powerful feature, saving hours of work. We will look in detail at each of these functions in Chapter 5, An Introduction to the Develop Module, and Chapter 6, A Detailed View of the Develop Module's Functions.
Tip: The fastest way to enter the Develop module is to press the "D" key on the keyboard.
Map module
This one is quite self-explanatory—all photographs in your library containing geographical coordinates will be distributed on a map to help us find photographs that we might be looking for. The task of pinpointing "that one" photograph might sound easy when our library is still small, but after years of photographing, the library builds up and makes things harder to find.
You can see an overview of the Map module in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.17 – Map module with all panels enabled: synced smartphone folder view
The Map module can help us to locate folders we are searching for. The familiar tab with all collections is at our disposal on the screen's right side—more about the Map module in Chapter 9, Slideshow, Map, and Web Modules.
Book module
This is the best tool for creating book layouts without the need to learn any additional graphic software.
You can see an overview of the Book module here:
Figure 1.18 – Book module with all panels enabled with sample layout
It is as easy as "choose-place-print", with all adjustments to the layout that you might think of in-between. Once the design is finalized, it can be saved as print optimized files or sent directly to Blurb for printing as a book or magazine in multiple sizes and aspect ratios. More about the Book module can be found in Chapter 9, Slideshow, Map, and Web Modules.
Slideshow module
Forget PowerPoint or Keynote. The process of creating visually striking slideshows within Lightroom is as simple as choosing the right collection and pressing GO.
You can see an overview of the Slideshow module in the following screenshot:
Figure 1.19 – Slideshow module with all panels enabled
As with most other modules, we are greeted with a large view of selected work accompanied by the Collections tab on the left and current panel-specific adjustments on the right. We can use the slideshow module to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files or videos, and we can run a slideshow on a secondary screen while we work on our photographs. We'll learn all about this module in Chapter 9, Slideshow, Map, and Web Modules, of this book.
Print module
Just as with all other modules, Print also has the Collections module available on the right-side panel, and a template browser accompanies it to save our print-specific layout designs.
You can see an overview of the Print module here:
Figure 1.20 – Print module with all panels enabled
As with each module, it also offers the ever-present filmstrip on the bottom of the panel. The right-side panel has all the necessary tools to adjust the size, placement, and appearance of images we print. Adjustments include everything from margin sizes, multiple-copies picture packages, borders, watermarking, and color management, down to the use of International Color Consortium (ICC) profiles. It is a precise and very flexible module to work with. We can prepare print files in any chosen specification for printing with an outside service as much as we can do it ourselves. We'll learn about this module in Chapter 8, Get them All Out - Using the Print and Book Modules.
Web module
If you do not have a website, this module has everything you need to build one. Simple customization and the ability to create templates mean that you can build a website in no time at all, including direct upload via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
You can see an overview of the Web module here:
Figure 1.21 – Web module with all panels enabled
We can access all Lightroom modules from the menu in the top-right corner through the File menu and multiple keyboard shortcuts. Please see a handy reference sheet with all keyboard shortcuts at the end of this book.
