Get started with photography in Adobe Lightroom Classic using this free 2-hour video course. You’ll learn all the tools and techniques you need to edit photos with confidence.
Watch Lightroom Classic for Beginners for Free Here
Table of Contents
This course contains 38 lessons organised into eight chapters. In total, the video runs two hours and ten minutes.
Chapters
What You’ll Learn
Adobe Lightroom Classic is an industry-standard photography file management and image processing suite. In this course you’ll learn how to use Lightroom to organize, correct, enhance, and share your photos, with lessons on all the Lightroom skills you need to get started editing photos. We outline the most efficient workflows, unpack how to manage a photo archive, ask creative photography questions, and touch on a few of the best ways to use Lightroom in your photographic art practice or business.
About the Instructor
I believe that life is too short to do just one thing. In college, I studied accounting and finance, and by day I enjoy my career in corporate finance, using data and analysis to make decisions. By night, I do creative work for Envato Tuts+ (and other clients), where I teach a variety of topics including Lightroom, PowerPoint, Keynote, and more.
I started writing about Lightroom on this website way back in 2012, so you might say this course was a decade in the making! What I enjoy most is helping people to use software to solve everyday problems, excel in their career, and complete their work efficiently.
Lesson Notes
1. Why Pick Lightroom Classic for Your Photos?
We start this course with a look at what Lightroom can do, the different versions, and do a quick introduction with some of my favorite tips. If you’ve already decided that Lightroom is for you go ahead and skip to Chapter 2, which is about how to set up Adobe Lightroom Classic.
1.1 Why Lightroom Exists and How It Works
You need a way to manage and develop your photos; Lightroom Classic is one of the leading choices. Our opening lesson looks at why you might choose Lightroom over other options, and introduces a few key concepts in photo management and post-production.
1.2 Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC?
There are two main versions of Lightroom, “Classic” and the newer “CC.” This lesson will help you choose between them.
1.3 10 Quick and Easy Tips for Every Lightroom User
To get things rolling in Lightroom Classic we start with ten top tips; Check these out to get a taste of what Lightroom can do.
2. How to Set Up Adobe Lightroom Classic
In this chapter you’ll learn how to configure Lightroom Classic for your needs.
2.1 How to Store Your Photos Safely: Physical Storage Suggestions for Lightroom Users
How can you be sure you are storing your images safely? It’s as easy as 3-2-1.
2.2 How to Use Lightroom Classic Catalogs
Whether you’re starting a new image library or cleaning up your existing one, use this tutorial to set up your photo archive in Lightroom.
2.3 How to Move Photo Files and Organize Folders From Lightroom Classic
What if you already have photos in a few different folders? In this lesson you’ll learn how to consolidate your pictures into Lightroom catalogs.
2.4 Rules-Based Renaming for Photos With Lightroom Classic
Lightroom can rename your photo files according to rules you set. You can use this small but powerful archival feature to add a few key details to all your photos.
2.5 How to Build Smart Previews in Lightroom Classic
Smart Previews add useful offline work features to Lightroom, and they can help speed up the program, too.
3. How to Review and Sort Photos in Lightroom
Learn how to structure and navigate your growing library of photo files with the digital asset management techniques in this chapter.
3.1 Lightroom Metadata: What Can It Do For Us? (What Can’t It Do For Us?!)
Adding information to your files helps you find them when you need them, and this lesson covers the basics.
3.2 Metadata Workflows in Lightroom Classic
Lightroom makes working with metadata easy! In this lesson we take a look at all the tools available.
3.3 How to Organize Your Images With Keywords in Lightroom Classic
Useful keywords are one pillar of an organized Lightroom catalog. Learn how to add them in this lesson.
3.4 How to Sort Your Images With Color Labels and Flags in Lightroom Classic
Colour labels and flags are a quick and flexible way to sort and segment your photos, especially while reviewing.
3.5 How to Rank Your Images With Star Ratings in Lightroom Classic
Ranking images in passes is another great way to create useful filters.
3.6 How to Use Saved Search to Stay Organized in Lightroom Classic
Saved searches compile photos into sets based on criteria that you choose, like keywords, flags, stars, and locations.
3.7 How to Make Ad-hoc Image Collections Using Lightroom Classic
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to quickly add photos to custom sets.
3.8 How to Use Smart Collections in Lightroom Classic
Like saved searches, Smart Collections allow you to sort photos into a virtual folder according to criteria.
3.9 How to Make a Custom Sequence of Photos in Lightroom Classic
This lesson leverages the tools we just learned into a practical example and shows how to sort photos into an order of your choosing.
3.10 How to Sync Image Settings Between Photos in Lightroom Classic
Learn a small but essential trick for working with multiple images at once in Lightroom: copy-and-paste settings.
4. How to Correct Photos in Lightroom
Correcting photos is the process of bringing the image to a not-too-anything state before you make any creative changes. This important step helps you see the potential in your photographs.
4.1 How to Post-Process Photos Efficiently in Lightroom
A small amount of planning goes a long way in Lightroom, and in this lesson we introduce the basic post-processing steps and strategies.
4.2 Essentials of Photo Correction in Lightroom Classic
Great photos start with measured corrections: you need to see the potential first. In this quick intro lesson we preview the rest of this chapter by looking what a correctly neutralized photo looks like and how we can make those corrections in Lightroom.
4.3 How to Correct Exposure in Photos With Lightroom Classic
After metadata, sorting, and culling, correcting exposure is usually our first step in working with the contents of a photo. In this lesson you’ll learn how to make a basic exposure adjustment to a raw photo.
4.4 How to Recover and Adjust Highlight and Shadow Detail in Photos With Lightroom Classic
It’s a common problem to have loss of detail in “blown” highlights or “clipped” black areas. In this lesson you’ll learn what can be done to compensate.
4.5 How to Correct White Balance in Photos With Lightroom Classic
White balance is the next major correction. In this lesson you’ll learn ways to set and refine white balance in a raw image file.
4.6 How to Correct Tone and Contrast in Photos With Lightroom Classic
Raw photos tend to be a bit flat out of camera, by design. In this lesson you’ll learn how to restore natural tone and contrast to images.
4.7 How to Use the Histogram and Sliders for Accurate Tone Control in Lightroom Classic
The histogram is a scope gives a readout of the tones in your image. It’s a very useful tool for fast and precise corrections.
4.8 How to Correct Saturation in Photos With Lightroom Classic
Adding contrast, and other changes, can add unwanted saturation to your images. In this lesson you’ll learn how to fix saturation.
4.9 How to Crop a Photo in Lightroom Classic
Lightroom makes cropping your photos easy and intuitive, with helpful presets.
4.10 Batch Processing Photos Made Easy in Lightroom Classic
Working on many images at once? Batch processing in Lightroom is a breeze.
5. How to Add Creative Color Adjustments in Lightroom
With corrections complete, now it’s time to add emphasis and style to your images. In this chapter you’ll learn how to create expressive colors in your photos.
5.1 How to Apply Creative Contrast and Color Adjustments to Photos With Lightroom Classic
With corrections complete, it’s time to get creative. In this lesson we’ll look at adding tone and colour to images for style and emphasis.
5.2 How to Use Color Curves to Create Expressive Images in Lightroom Classic
Not just for corrections, Curves are also a tool you can use to add tone and color to photos.
5.3 How to Make Creative Black & White Photo Conversions With Lightroom Classic
Lightroom has many ways to convert to monochrome, we look at our favourites in this lesson.
6. How to Refine Photos in Lightroom
In this chapter we get a little closer to the pixels to learn how to change specific parts of your photos.
6.1 How to Use the Adjustment Brush to Change an Area in Lightroom Classic
Learn how to make quick and accurate local adjustments with the help of color masking and brushes in Lightroom.
6.2 How to Reduce Noise in Pictures with Lightroom Classic
Noise is the natural result of amplifying the signal from your camera’s sensor, though it’s not noticeable in every image. Lightroom has powerful ways to reduce or change the look of noise in photos.
6.3 How to Add and Remove Emphasis to Parts of a Photo Using Lightroom Classic
Apply tonal adjustments to an area of an image in less time than before thanks to luminance masking in Lightroom.
7. How to Craft a Look in Lightroom Classic
What makes your photos look like your photos? In this chapter we learn how to add a coherent look to across your images.
7.1 What is a Signature Look, and How Do You Find One?
Learn how to start building an editing look that is recognizably a style of your own with the help of this Lightroom tutorial.
7.2 How to Use Presets in Lightroom Classic
Presets are a time-saver. Learn how to get started with presets in this lesson.
8. How to Export Your Photos From Lightroom
With post-processing complete, it’s time to get your pictures out of Lightroom Classic.
8.1 How to Export Photos From Lightroom Classic
Once your pictures are ready, it’s time to get them out into the world! Learn how to export photos from Lightroom in this lesson.
8.2 Best Practices for Delivering Photos to Clients From Lightroom Classic
If you have a client your export needs might be more specific. In this lesson we look at best practices for getting finished photos into your client’s hands.
9. Conclusion
9.1 Conclusion
And you have reached the end! This course has a lot packed in, so congrats to you on tackling it all. In this final lesson we recap the key things you’ve learned.
Course Credits
This course was written and presented by Andrew Childress, with contributions from Jamie Evan, Amy Touchette and Daniel Sone. It was produced by Jackson Couse.
