Here they are – my top 10 favorite Masking shortcuts (in no particular order):

Shift + O toggles you through the different Mask colors (you’re not stuck with just that red tint overlay).

When you’re using the Masking Brush the [ and ] bracket keys (to the right of the letter P) let you change brush sizes. Hitting the left bracket key makes the brush smaller – the right one makes it larger.

Press the letter O on your keyboard to hide the red overlay tint on your masked area (as shown below) .

Pressing the letter ‘n’ creates a New Mask using the same masking tool you used last, so if you were just using the Linear Gradient Mask tool, it creates a new mask and you can just start dragging to make another Linear Gradient without a trip to the Mask tools menu.

You can press Shift-W to open or hide the Masks panels.

Press the letter “h” on your keyboard to hide the Mask pins on your image from view.

To give your mask a Mask, in the Masks panel right-click on (or Ctrl-click on Mac) on any Mask and from the pop-up menu that appears, chose ‘Rename‘ (as shown below).

Press the [ ‘ ] apostrophe key to invert your mask.

Press ‘m’ to get one of my most-used masking tools: the Linear Gradient (probably my #1 most-used is the Brush).

Switch the Brush tool to the ‘Eraser’ Brush – hold the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (PC).

There ya have it. Hope you found those helpful.

The Worldwide Photo Walk is Almost Here

Saturday, October 7, 2023 all around the world – it’s free, it’s fun, and it’s all a great cause (to support the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya. Sign up for a photo walk near you at worldwidephotowalk.com – see you there!

Have a great weekend everybody! #RollTide and GoBucs!

-Scott

The post Ten of My Favorite Lightroom Masking Shortcuts appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Thanks, Terry – we can also use more timesaving tips!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

–Scott

The post How ‘Bout Some Timesaving Lightroom and Photoshop Shortcuts? appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Happy Friday, everybody! These aren’t a list of hidden or super secret shortcuts — just those “meat and potatoes” type shortcuts that I use day in and day out. Here goes:

G – This instantly returns me to the Library Module and the Grid view of all my thumbnail images.

2. Shift-tab – This hides all the panels and lets me see my image really big on screen).

3. D — This takes my image quickly over to the Develop module for editing.

4. Command-E on Mac (Ctrl-E on Windows) – This takes my image over to Photoshop to do some editing over there.

5. F – This gives me a full-screen view of my image and Lightroom is hidden from view.

6. P / X / U – These are the letters I use when I cull through a shoot. P marks the shot as a “Pick” (a keeper). X marks the photo as a reject (I shot I not only want to remove from Lightroom but remove from my hard drive at the same time). U is what I hit if I made a mistake or changed my mind. It “undos” my P or X.

7. Command-N (Windows: Ctrl-N) – This creates a New Collection from my selected photos.

8. V – Tapping this key shows what my image would look like in Black and White, so I can see if it’s even worth going through a full black and white conversion. To switch it back to color, tap “V” again.

9. To Reset any slider double-click on the slider’s name. When you’re using the Adjustment Brush, to reset all the sliders to zero, double-click directly on the word “Effects.”

10. To change brush sizes, pressing the left bracket key [ makes the brush smaller in size, and the right bracket key ] makes it larger.

11. Press the Backslash key ( \ ) to see a before/after of your image.

12. Press Y to see a side-by-side before/after preview of your editing. Press Y again to return to your normal view.

Hope you found those helpful. If you have any interesting ones that you use every day, I’d love to hear about ’em. Leave me a comment below with your most-used ones that aren’t on my list above.

A New Series For Photographers From SmugMug, And It’s Sooooo Good!

SmugMug (the folks you use to host your portfolio and sell your prints) have done it again – they’ve created a new series for photographers (created by brilliant filmmaker Anton Lorimer) called “This Lens Tells Stories” and it’s about how photographers can change the way we see the world & each other. Check out this one-minute trailer below: 

You can see more at https://bit.ly/3Ox1hvK – this is such good stuff!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

-Scott

P.S. If you’re not watching “The Old Man” (starring Jeff Bridges) on FX, you gotta give it a watch. Really good! (heads up: it’s a bit violent. OK, it’s more than a bit, but still…so good).

The post My 12 Most-Used Lightroom Shortcuts appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Try this one – I think you’ll super dig it.

Here’s wishing you a way better than usual Monday!

-Scott

P.S. We announced “The Portrait Photography Conference” last Friday, and it is taking OFF!!! Get more details and tickets right there.

The post Such a Great Little Tip For Getting Your Lightroom Spot Healing Brush The Right Size Every Time! appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

I did a short and sweet video for you with a bunch of really handy keyboard shortcuts that are all based on numbers. They’re really easy to learn and remember, but they can save a ton of time (and I’ll bet there’s a few in there that even really seasoned Lightroom pros might not know). You can check it out right below (and get ready for love….

Well, there ya go! Hope you picked up some helpful shortcuts there.

OK, we’re heading into this weekend, right – My Buccaneers beat the Cowboys in a season-opening nail biter, the Alabama Crimson Tide has what should be an easy out-of-conference game on Saturday, and all is right with the world (well, it will be after Bama wins, anyway. #rolltide).

Here’s wishing you a great weekend, and please come on back next week and we’ll catch up on some more fun Lightroom stuff.

-Scott

The post It’s “Lightroom Shortcuts Friday!” appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Let’s kick off this week by learning some really helpful Lightroom keyboard shortcuts. Here we go:

(1) To open all the panels in the left or right side panels, hold the Command-key (PC: Ctrl-key) and click on any panel. To close ‘em all back up, use the same shortcut.

(2) To have Lightroom show you exactly where your currently open image is found on your computer, press Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R) and it will open the original image in the Finder (Windows: Explorer)

(3) To play an instant slideshow of your current images in the Library module or the Develop Module, press Command-Return (PC: Ctrl-Enter).

(4) To apply an Auto White Balance to your image in the Develop Module, press Shift-Command-U (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U).

(5) To change the color of the Mask Overly from its default tint of red, press Shift-O (each time you press it, it toggle to the next color). 

(6) If you’re cropping an image and feel likes it needs some straightening too, while you still have the Crop border in place, just hold the Command-key (PC: Ctrl-key) and your crop cursor will change temporarily to the Straighten tool, so you can drag the tool out over an area of your image, vertically or horizontally, that should be straight. 

(7) To instantly see your image as a Black & White photo, press the letter “v” on your keyboard. If you want it back in color again, just press “v” again.

Hope you found those helpful, and here’s to a great, healthy, happy week ahead!

-Scott

The post Seven More of my Favorite Lightroom Shortcuts appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

If you’re in the Develop module working in the Basic panel and then decide you want to jump to:

…the new Color Grading panel, just press Command-4 (PC: Ctrl-4).

To jump back up to the Basic panel press Command-1 (PC: Ctrl-1)

Press Command-2 (Ctrl-2) for the Tone Curve panel

Command-3 (Ctrl-3) for the HSL/Color panel

Command-5 (Ctrl-5) for the Detail panel (and so on)

Pretty handy stuff, eh?

NOTE: The panel keyboard shortcuts correspond to the order your panels in, from top to bottom (so Command-1 choose the Basic panel, Command-2 the next one down, the Tone Curve, and so on). The shortcuts I listed above are for the default order. However if you’ve used the “Customize Develop Panel” control (right click on the panel header) to reorder your panels, the shortcuts still go from top to bottom in order. So, for example, if you reordered your panels so the Calibration panel is your 2nd from the top, pressing Command-2 (PC: Ctrl-2) would now take you to the Calibration panel, and not the Tone Curve panel, which by default is the 2nd panel down. Tip of the hat to Simone who pointed this out in the comments.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Stay safe and sane and catch you here next week.

-Scott

P.S. On Tuesday, the KelbyOne Flash Photography Conference 2020 kicks off (featuring the world’s #1 wizard of flash, Joe McNally), but the day before I’m doing a pre-conference workshop for people who are absolute flash photography beginners, designed to get folks up and running fast. Then on Tuesday it splits into two training tracks: one for beginners with me, and an intermediate / advanced track with Joe. Although the whole event is live (with Joe up in a studio in Connecticut and me down in Tampa), but we archive the entire conference for six full months so you can go rewatch any sessions, or catch any sessions you missed on either track.Photographers from all over have already signed up, and it’s not too late if you want to join us next week. Here’s the link for tickets and more details.

The post Get right to the panel you want without having to scroll down appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Here are 10 I use everyday to speed my work and get things done. Here we go:

1. If you don’t like the area where the Spot Removal tool chose as the source for your spot removal, press the ‘ / ‘ key (slash) and it will choose a different area to sample from.
   
2. To change the brush size of Lightroom’s Adjustment Brush; the Left Bracket key on your keyboard makes the brush size smaller; the right bracket makes it larger.
   
3. To change the color of the Mask Overly from its default tint of red, press Shift-O (each time you press it, it toggle to the next color). 
   
4. Hold the Shift key, then Double-click the Whites and Blacks slider to have Lightroom automatically set your white and black points for you
   
5. To reset all your Adjustment Brush sliders back to zero, all at once, double-click directly on the word “Effects” near the top of the panel.
   
6. To temporarily hide all the panels, press Shift-Tab.
   
7. To see just one panel at a time (instead of constantly scrolling through a list of panels) right-click in the title bar of any panel and choose “Solo Mode.”
   
8. To see a side-by-side before/after of your edited image, press the letter “y” on your keyboard. To return back to the regular view, just press ‘y” again.
   
9. To see how you image would look in Black & White, press the letter “v” on your keyboard. If you want it back in color again, just press “v” again.
   
10. To hide the gray toolbar that appears below your image, press the letter ‘t.’ You can toggle this on/off temporarily by pressing and holding ‘t.’

Hope you find those useful (I sure do).

Next week, it’s “The Photoshop Conference”

Hard to believe it’s just a little over a week to go, but this is going to be HUGE and I want you to be a part of it. Check out this short video trailer below to see if it’s right for you:

These are the dates:

Tuesday and Wednesday | July 14-15, 2020

This live-streamed event is open to everyone, everywhere, and you can register today at https://kelbyonelive.com/photoshop-conference – sign up right now to get the best pricing.

Have a great Monday (stop snickering), stay safe; look out for each other, and we’ll see you online.

-Scott

The post 10 Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts I Use Every Day appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Here’s one from the vault which was inspired by a question on my Facebook page on Tuesday about how to reset the Crop tool to its original starting place without exiting the tool itself (it’s #10 below). Anyway, lots of helpful stuff here to take us into the weekend, and it’s on all of those hidden reset buttons and shortcuts.

Besides the obvious “Reset” button at the bottom of the Right Side panels in Lightroom, there are a number of ways to reset part of your editing, or even all of your edits, and here are ten of my favorites:

#1: To reset just the sliders in the middle section of the Basic Panel, double-click directly on the word “Tone” (as seen above right), and all the sliders in just that section reset to zero.

#2: To reset both White Balance sliders to zero, double-click directly on “WB” (as seen above right).

#3: To reset just the sliders in the bottom section of the Basic Panel, double-click directly on the word “Presence” (as seen above right), and all the sliders in just that section reset to zero.

#4: To reset any individual slider to zero, just double-click directly on the nub of the slider itself (as seen above left) and it resets (as seen above right).

#5: When using the Adjustment Brush, to reset all the sliders back to zero (I usually do this each time I hit the “New” button to start painting somewhere else), double-click directly on the word “Effects” as seen above right.

#6: To reset the Tint color applied to the Adjustment Brush, double-click directly on the word “Color” and it resets the chosen color to “None.”

#7: If you choose an effect from the Effect pop-up menu (seen above left), it zeroes out all the other sliders and increases just the amount of the slider you’ve chosen (as seen above right).

#8: A shortcut to resetting all the settings for your images, it to right-click within the image and choose Reset from the pop-up menu (in reality this takes two clicks: one to right-click, another to choose Reset, rather than just clicking once on the Reset Button at the bottom of the Right Side panels, but this one is handy to know if you work with the Right Side panels hidden).

#9: Another way to reset all your sliders to zero is to click on the Preset (under General Presets) called Zeroed.

#10: To reset a Crop to the uncropped image press Option-Shift-Command-R (Win: Alt-Shift-Ctrl-R) and it returns you to the original cropped version. Also, while you have the Crop tool; pressing Command-Option-R (Win: Ctrl-Alt-R) will reset the Crop.

OK, that’s a few of my favorites. Stay healthy and wash the heck out of those hands, and here’s wishing you a happy, safe, stay-at-home weekend.

-Scott

The post My 10 Favorite Hidden “Reset” Buttons in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Note: Check my blog today for an update on the Coronavirus and my live seminars coming up in Houston and LA.

Adobe’s own Julieanne Kost did a really nice post this week on using Keywords in Lightroom Classic, and there’s a lot to it, and totally worth checking out her post today. Here’s the link.

This is such a weird time — I’ve been around for a while and have never experienced what we’re all experiencing and going through. I wish you good health, clean hands, and be careful out in public. Brighter days are ahead, have a good weekend (stay home), and let’s ride this thing out together.

All my best,

-Scott

The post Julieanne on Keywords in Lightroom Classic appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.