Solo Mode is one of the biggest time-savers and frustration avoiders in all of Lightroom, and it has the power to speed your entire workflow — all you have to do is turn it on. See how it works in this installment of “Lightroom in 60-seconds.” Check it out:

P.S. I’m taking next week off, so the blog is taking the week off, too. Have a safe and happy Holiday!

The post Work Smarter and Faster Using Lightroom’s ‘Solo Mode’ appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Above: here’s our standing view in Lightroom Classic. Now let’s looks at different ways to maximize our working space.

1. Press Shift-F and you’ll notice that Lightroom’s title bar across the top is now hidden, automatically expanding Lightroom’s interface upward to fill in that area.

2. Press Shift-F again, and now Lightroom’s menu bar up top is hidden as well, giving you maximum real estate. Press Shift-F one more time to return to the regular view. You’re toggling through the three different modes with this shortcut. Here’s a couple more….

3. You can press Shift-Tab to hide all of Lightroom’s panels, so now your distractions are really limited — it’s just your image and the toolbar across the bottom (Bonus tip: if you press the letter “t” even that gray bar across the bottom will tuck itself out-of-site).

4. If you press the letter ‘F,” it hides everything and takes your image full screen (as shown here).

That’s it — four quick tips to kick off what could be an incredible week!

Those are my next stops for my “Ultimate Photography Crash Course” full-day seminar. San Diego on Feb 12, Phoenix the next day on Feb. 13th. Then I’m in Houston on the 23rd and on to LA on the 25th. Come on out and spend the day with me – it’s 100% money-back guaranteed — you’ve got nuthin’ to lose and everything to gain. Here’s the link. See you there!

Cheers,

-Scott

The post Four Quick Tips for Maximizing Your Lightroom Screen Real Estate appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

To open or close any panel, you can click the little triangle icon on the edge of the panel, but since you’ll be opening/closing these a lot during your workflow, I recommend using their keyboard shortcuts instead (which are listed below).

NOTE: All of these shortcuts “toggle”; press them once to hide the panel(s) and press that shortcut again to show it again.

Above: Here’s the standard view, with your image surrounded by panels, left, right, top and bottom.

Above: To hide the filmstrip along the bottom of the screen, press F6 on your keyboard.

Above: This is my preferred working layout, with the Filmstrip hidden and the Left side panel is hidden as well (by pressing F7). Look how much larger the image appears now. You won’t need the left side panels as much, so it’s a great one to keep hidden while you work.

Above: Here’s what it looks like with the Right Side panel hidden (press F8). The only problem with this layout is — you can’t do much to your image using only the left side panels.

Above: Here’s the view with the top navigation bar hidden (the Module Picker) as well. To hide the top Nav, press F5 on your keyboard. This is another you won’t use that often (plus, you can jump to the Develop module any time by pressing the letter “d” on your keyboard).

Above: Here’s the super uncluttered view when you hide all the panels. I use this view when I want to evaluate the image without any distractions. The keyboard shortcut is Shift-Tab. However, you’ll notice that the Toolbar still appears along the bottom of the screen.

Above: To remove the Toolbar at the bottom as well, press the letter “T” on your keyboard.

Above: For the ultimate in uncluttered, press the letter “F” on your keyboard to enter Full Screen mode. Everything is hidden automatically.

NOTE: If you want to change your panels so they don’t keep automatically “popping in/out” when you least expect it, right-click on the arrow at the edge of the panel and choose “Manual” (As shown above). Now they will only open/close when you use the keyboard shortcut or click on the arrows yourself manually.

Hope you found that helpful. Have a great day, everybody!

-Scott

P.S. If you want to learn how to light beauty headshots (like the photos you see above), I have an entire class on it on KelbyOne.com — not just the lighting, but the Lightroom post-processing and Photoshop retouching, too. Here’s the link (and I put the official trailer for the course below).

The post Lightroom Classic: How To Cut The On-Screen Clutter appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

You will either love this feature, or absolutely hate it, but either way, Benjamin Warde shows you how to use it in less than 60-seconds so you won’t have a lot invested if you decide it’s not for you.

Thanks, Benjamin (and don’t hate me because I hate the Auto-hide feature).

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for Rob’s column. 🙂

Have a great one!

-Scott

The post How to Have Your Lightroom Side Panels Auto-Hide To Give You More Viewing Space appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Totally worth doing! (thanks, Benjamin).

I’m off to Milwaukee, Wisconsin today for my Lightroom seminar there tomorrow. Break out the Nabisco Easy Cheese and Chicken in a Biscuit crackers – here I come!

Best,

-Scott

P.S. The countdown is on – only 70-something days until the Photoshop World Conference. This is the perfect time to plan your trip; book your hotel room at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, and get ready to learn more in three days than you have in three years! Details and tickets at photoshopworld.com

The post How to Hide Unused Panels and Modules in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Since Lightroom is all about photos and most people like to see their photos larger on screen, I wanted to give you some of the shortcuts and secret handshakes to help make that happen 

1. Just press the F key (for Full Screen) – This is definitely the simplest. Where ever you are in Lightroom, just press Ffor Fullscreen and Lightroom will show the photo full screen with all of the interface hidden.

2. If you want to zoom in to 100% (or some other amount), just go to the Navigator panel in the Library or Developmodule. Then click the Fill, 1:1, or custom zoom option at the top left. Oh and while you’re at it, if you don’t want to click the options in that Navigator panel, you can use the keyboard shortcuts Cmd +/- (plus or minus) which would be Ctrl +/- on a PC.

3. If you’re in the Library module and you’re in Grid view, you can just press the Spacebar key to go 1-up on the photo you have selected. It’s not full screen view, because it still keeps the interface available. But it’s just a single photo view.

See, pretty handy stuff (thanks, Matt). 🙂

Why Lightroom Mobile is The Future
Today at 2:00 PM ET I’m doing a KelbyOne Members Only Webcast about why Lightroom Mobile is the future, and why it’s so important. It’s not a demo of LR Mobile, showing you which sliders to move and such (we already have full length courses on that type of stuff); this is more that higher-level stuff that changes the way you think about editing on your mobile device. I think you’ll find it eye-openingly helpful.

Who: Me, and I’m joined by iPhoneographer Erik Kuna
What: Members only Webcast on the “bigger picture” of Lightroom Mobile (no pun intended)
When: Today at 2:00 PM ET
Where: http://kelbyone.com/livewebcast/
Why: Because you don’t want to be left behind 🙂

Hope to see you then. Also, today on The Grid we’re doing a take-off on the bestselling diet book, “Eat This, Not That!” with “Shoot This, Not That!” You’re gonna dig it. 🙂

Best,

-Scott

The post 3 Ways To Zoom In On Your Photos in Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

I always try to sit down and think up things that have become totally vital to my Lightroom workflow. Sometimes those things are right inside Lightroom, but I have to say if there’s one non-Lightroom thing that I can’t live without for my photos, it’s my Wacom tablet. No joke. I know I shouldn’t have to say this, but Wacom doesn’t pay me a penny to write about them. And honestly, if you don’t own a tablet then this post isn’t even for you because it’s probably hard for you to envision where you’d use the tips/settings I’m about to give. This is for people that are as addicted as I am. I’ve just come to rely on my tablet so much, that I literally feel lost when I have to edit without it. I’ve even changed my preferences on which tablet I use because I travel a lot, and just got used to the Small Intuos Pro tablet because it fits right in to my laptop bag. Anyway, on to my point here.

Before the 5 Tips, Let Me First Explain Where They Came From
First off, let me acknowledge that everyone works different (obviously). And the tablets have a TON of ways for you to customize them. You could literally come up with a hundred shortcuts for your tablet for Lightroom, Photoshop and anything else you want. Me, I can’t remember that many things so I try to keep it simple. My preferences aren’t fancy and I don’t think they touch a fraction of the things they could. I’m okay with that though, because they work for me.

My Tablet/Lightroom Workflow
For me, I usually don’t feel I need a tablet when I’m going through my photos and finding favorites. I actually don’t mind just putting my hand on the keyboard, hitting the right arrow key, and pressing P (for Pick), or X to reject. I (again, personally) find the keyboard faster for this. The tablet just doesn’t feel right for it.

But once I have my picks and go in to Edit mode, I like to sit back with my tablet on my lap in front of the computer, and start working. The keyboard is usually in front of me, out of immediate easy reach. At that point, any time I have to go to the keyboard for something, it takes extra time. For me, that’s where the tablet comes in to play. To do things that I can’t do quickly otherwise or would slow down my workflow.

Okay… On to the 5 Tips/Ways I Use My Wacom Tablet in Lightroom

1. Adjustment Brush
This one is a gimmee. The Adjustment Brush has pressure sensitive settings with it. So as I paint on an effect with my pen/tablet, I can control how much of the effect I add by changing how hard I press on the tablet. If you look at the screen shot below, you can see what I mean. Just as an example, I dramatically changed the Exposure setting to show it off. On the left is the result of when I press very lightly with the pen on to the tablet. On the right is when I press hard. Now think of how this could help you if you were retouching portraits or dodging and burning on a photo.

2. Touch Ring for Brush size (Adj. Brush and Spot Removal tool)
The touch ring is this touch-sensitive circular ring that lets you put your finger on and move it clockwise or counter-clockwise around it. I use this, again, with the Adjustment Brush to control the size of the brush. I also use it with the Spot Removal brush to control the size of the brush as I clone or heal.

3. Before/After View
This is one of those things I do all of the time when I’m editing. I want to see the Before/After view. The keyboard shortcut for it is the backslash key (\). Since I don’t want to interrupt my work, I set up one of the ExpressKeys to a custom keystroke of (you guessed it), the backslash key. Then I just press that ExpressKey when I want to toggle to the Before and After.

4. Express Key for Previous Button
One of my favorite buttons in Lightroom is the Previous button in the lower right corner of the Develop module. Basically, it applies the settings from the previous photo to your current photo. While they may not work exactly perfect on the photo, they’re usually a good starting point. While the Previous button doesn’t have a keyboard shortcut, if you go to the Settings menu you’ll find what’s just as good. It’s under Settings > Paste Setting from Previous. So it pastes the settings from the previously edited photo on to my currently selected photo. Pretty much the same thing as the Previous button. Again, I set that up as an ExpressKey.

5. Full Screen View
Finally, I’m always pressing F on the keyboard to see my photo full screen, without the interface around it. I know it’s a simple one, but I use it all the time so I just set up another ExpressKey with a custom keystroke of the F key.

I’d love to hear any essentials you have for working with your tablet. I know mine are simple and I hope you didn’t come here thinking I’d give you some crazy secret long Wacom shortcut list. Honestly, I feel really safe in saying that, while I don’t use a fraction of the features that they offer, the ones I do use are absolutely essential to me. So if you’re a tablet user, I hope they help you out. Thanks — Matt

That’s it for today (it’s me Scott now); thanks to all the great folks who tuned in for yesterday’s first episode of “The Grid” for 2017 — we had such a great time (and I really love my guest).

Have a great Thursday everybody, and we’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Best,

-Scott

The post 5 Tips For Using a Wacom Tablet With Lightroom appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Above: If there are entire modules you don’t use (maybe you don’t ever use Maps, or Slideshow or the Web Module), there’s no sense in having them taking up mental and physical real estate. Just Right-click anywhere up in that top navigation bar, and a pop-up menu will appear. “Uncheck” any module you don’t use, and now they’re hidden from view. Don’t worry — if you ever decide you want any one or all of them back, just right-click again up there and turn them on by choosing them from the pop-up menu.

Above: Same thing goes for the left and right side panels — if there are panels you just don’t use (like the Snapshots panel, for example), just hide them. Right-click to the right of any panel’s title, and from the pop-up menu that appear uncheck any panels you want hidden.

There ya have it.

Thanks for stopping by – hope you’ll stop by again on Friday for another Lightroom love-fest.

Best,

-Scott

P.S. My book “How Do I Do That in Lightroom?” is now in it’s third printing. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, you can get it in print or Kindle ebook version right here.

The post Un-Cluttering Lightroom For How You Use It appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.

Hope you found that helpful.

I have a post planned for tomorrow here – I hope you stop by again then. Have a great Tuesday, and we’ll catch ya then.

-Scott

P.S. Just 7 days ’till Photoshop World. You’ve always wanted to go. It’s not too late. 

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

Here’s a short video that shows the problem (it’s actually a feature), and how to turn that feature off, it you don’t want those filmstrip badges clickable.

https://youtu.be/QSMcqZ1PqKM

The post How To Stop Accidentally Clicking on Badges In The Filmstrip appeared first on Lightroom Killer Tips.