228 pages of expert Photo advice
Free DISC
10 expert video lessons – learn lightroom fast today
All you need to make your best photos even better Fully NEW! updated!
Everything you need to learn lightroom 6, Lightroom Mobile and lightroom cc, Lightroom CC lightroom mobile Lightroom 6
• • •
4 Pro image making techniques 4 Detailed steps from raw file to print 4 All the important tools and features
Printed in the UK £14.99
PMZ55 2015
4
Teach yourself Lightroom ON YOUR free disc Save on the full DVD course See page 224 for more
Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA www.digitalcameraworld.com Series Editor Operations Editor Art Editors
Chris George Steven Raynes Rodney Dive, Chris Hedley
Future Publishing Limited Head of Photography Group Editor in Chief Group Art Director Content & Marketing Director
Matt Pierce Chris George Rodney Dive Nial Ferguson
Advertising Senior Sales Executive Sasha McGregor
Tel: +44 (0)1225 788186 sasha.mcgregor@futurenet.com
CIRCULATION & MARKETING Trade Marketing Executive Dan Foley
daniel.foley@futurenet.com
PRINT & PRODUCTION Production Co-ordinator Vivienne Calvert
vivienne.calvert@futurenet.com
LICENSING Senior Licensing and Syndication Manager Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com Phone: + 44 (0)1225 442244 Printed in the UK by William Gibbons on behalf of Future. Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT. Phone: + 44 (0)20 7429 4000
Future produces carefully targeted magazines, websites and events for people with a passion. Our portfolio includes more than 180 magazines, websites and events, and we export or license our publications to 90 countries around the world. Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel: +44 (0) 1225 442244 www.futureplc.com All information contained in this magazine is for informational purposes only and is, to the best of our knowledge, correct at the time of going to press. Future Publishing Limited cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies that occur. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers direct with regard to pricing. Š Future Publishing Limited 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.
We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
Teach yourself Lightroom CHAPTER 1
Import and sort images
6
Introducing the Lightroom workspace...................................... 8 Import your photos into Lightroom.......................................... 10 Find photos fast using embedded metadata..........................12 Organise images using Collections............................................14 Trigger a camera using Lightroom.............................................16
CHAPTER 2
The Library module
18
Introducing the Library module.................................................20 Sort and rate your images in Lightroom..................................22 Find images fast with keywords.................................................24 Put a name to a face......................................................................26 Tag your images with location data...........................................28 Apply quick photo fixes with Quick Develop............................30
CHAPTER 3
The Develop module
32
Introducing the Develop module...............................................34 Discover how to use the histogram...........................................36 Use Smart Previews to edit remote images...........................38 Make basic colour adjustments................................................42 Crop and straighten your photographs..................................44
CHAPTER 4
Photo-fixing tools
48
Tackle high-contrast monochrome scenes...........................50 Remove distortion caused by your lens...................................54 Get a better perspective in your images..................................56 Reveal more midtone detail and texture..................................58 Remove unwanted colour casts................................................62
CHAPTER 5
Selective adjustments
66
Remove sensor spots in your images......................................68 Dodge and burn in Lightroom....................................................72 Editing in Lightroom with masks................................................76 The Graduated Filter tool.............................................................80 The Radial Filter tool......................................................................82
CHAPTER 6
Special effects
84
Master the HSL panel in Lightroom..........................................86 Make better black and white images....................................... 90 Apply the split-tone effect to your mono images...................94 Create HDR images......................................................................96 Apply a Post Crop vignette..........................................................98 Add effects to video clips...........................................................100
CHAPTER 7
Advanced editing
102
Introducing the Tone Curve panel...........................................104 Master the Tone Curve panel...................................................106 Sharpen up your images...........................................................108 Reduce noise while preserving detail......................................112 Mimic camera presets in Lightroom.......................................114 Lightroom’s powerful editing presets.....................................116
CHAPTER 8
Creative effects
118
Bring your landscapes to life in Lightroom............................120 Get the gritty mono look............................................................124 Creative cross processing.........................................................126 Merge panoramas......................................................................128 Make the best of your portraits................................................132 Create a spot-colour effect quickly.........................................136
CHAPTER 9
Print from Lightroom
138
Soft proof your images...............................................................140 Introducing the Print module.................................................... 142 Create a custom print layout....................................................144 Watermark your images............................................................146 Manage your printer’s colours.................................................148
CHAPTER 10
Publish your images
150
Publish photos with Blurb..........................................................152 Create a video slide show..........................................................156 Make a triptych from three similar pictures.........................160 Publish your pictures to social media websites....................162 Create an online photo portfolio..............................................164
CHAPTER 11
Advanced skills
168
Get creative with Lightroom......................................................170 Retouch your images like a pro................................................ 178 Apply a vintage postcard look..................................................186 Turn day into night in Lightroom..............................................194 Six of the best Lightroom plugins...........................................202
CHAPTER 12
Lightroom Mobile
210
Sync Lightroom Mobile..............................................................212 Working with Lightroom Mobile...............................................214 Sort your Library with Lightroom Mobile..............................216 Enhance images with Lightroom Mobile...............................218 Share your photos with Lightroom Mobile...........................220
ON YOUR DISC
What’s on your free preview disc
224
Discover how to use your free video disc...............................224
5
36
Teach yourself Lightroom The develop module Get the files here: http://bit.ly/TYLR2015
The histogram Use Lightroom’s histogram window to diagnose and fix tonal problems in your digital photos he histogram window is one of the most useful tools in the Develop module. The histogram graph performs a similar function to the medical chart clipped to a hospital patient’s bed. Just as a doctor or nurse can use a chart to help diagnose the health of a patient, we can look at the shape of a photo’s histogram graph to see if the image is under- or over-exposed. We can also use Lightroom’s histogram window to help us create an image that has a healthier spread of tones that
T
1
Analyse the histogram
The graph is bunched up towards the middle and right of the histogram window. This indicates that the image consists mostly of midtones (in the middle) and highlights (on the right). The fact that there’s no graph data on the far left demonstrates the photo’s lack of shadows.
3
Show the clipping warnings
Drop Shadows to -71. A photo should have some black pixels, so drag Blacks left to -62. Click the Show Shadow Clipping icon to see the blackest shadows as patches of blue. These clipped areas will print as pure black, but there’s no crucial detail being lost in these small sections.
displays more detail in its shadows, midtones and highlights. In the walkthrough below we’ll show you how to analyse a histogram so that you can understand how parts of the undulating graph equate to a photo’s tonal characteristics. Our TYLR04.dng starting image looks over-exposed to the naked eye. We’ll show you how to use the histogram to create a correctly exposed photo. To get started, import TYLR04.dng from the download files into Lightroom and open it in the Develop module…
2
Darken the midtones
A well-exposed photo should have a graph that spreads from the blacks on the far left to the whites on the far right. Place the cursor over the peaks in the middle. The Exposure slider will be highlighted. Drag left on the graph to reduce Exposure to -0.60. This darkens the midtones.
4
Improve the contrast
For a strong contrast we need some white highlights. Turn on Show Highlight Clipping. Drag Whites to +50. A few red patches will appear when you begin to blow up detail in the brightest highlights, but again, there’s no important detail to lose in these areas.
Teach yourself Lightroom The develop module AFTER
BEFORE
37
76
Teach yourself Lightroom Selective image adjustments Get the files here: http://bit.ly/TYLR2015
Editing with masks
Identify areas to be selectively adjusted using masks n the previous spread we demonstrated how to use the Adjustment brush to dodge the dark standing stones, while burning more detail into the brighter sky. By altering the size, softness and flow of the Adjustment brush, you can target and tweak the tones of specific objects with precision. When you click a photo with the Adjustment brush you place an Edit pin. This pin records the position and strength of all the tonal adjustments you make. Thanks to Edit pins you can make multiple adjustments to a photo and then click a pin to fine-tune its affect at any time in the future. If you click a pin and drag it to the right, you can increase the value setting of each associated slider to, say, brighten the image more or boost the contrast more. Drag left on a pin to reduce the slider settings. In step six on the previous spread we introduced masks. By moving the mouse over a particular pin, you can see a red mask overlay that indicates which areas are being adjusted by that pin. The Adjustment brush strokes we used to lighten the stones were fairly soft and imprecise. It would be quite easy for the brush tip to stray over the background and lighten the sky or ground. In the following walkthrough we’ll show you how to use auto masking to dodge and burn with much more precision, so you can lighten the complex jagged edges of the dark rocks in our starting image without blowing out the background details.
O
BEFORE
AFTER
Teach yourself Lightroom Selective image adjustments
77
118
Teach yourself Lightroom Get creative
Teach yourself Lightroom Get creative
Get creative Give your images an edge by applying creative special effects in Lightroom
120
Bring your landscapes to life in Lightroom
128
Merge panoramas
124
Get the gritty mono look
132
Make the best of your portraits
126
Creative cross processing
136
Create a spot-colour effect quickly
Use selective adjustments and the Clarity slider to add punch and contrast to cloudy seascapes in Lightroom
Hankering after the punchy appearance of old-fashioned high-speed black-andwhite prints? Look no further…
Produce selective shifts in colour by mimicking a classic darkroom-processing technique in Lightroom
Use Lightroom’s automated imagemerging tool to stitch several frames into a stunning panoramic image
Get your subjects looking their best by removing spots, softening skin and teasing out detail in the eyes
Isolate and preserve a specific object’s colours in a monochrome conversion to get the popular spot-colour effect
119
132
Teach yourself Lightroom Get creative Get the files here: http://bit.ly/TYLR2015
Make the best of your portraits Get your subjects looking their best by removing spots, softening skin and teasing out detail in the eyes he art of retouching a portrait is sometimes a contentious subject, especially if you alter the subject’s appearance too radically. However, people are happy to alter their own look before a shoot by applying make-up to conceal spots and create the appearance of healthy looking skin. In the studio a burst of direct key light can flatten out a portrait subject’s wrinkles and create a more youthful look. Photographers are also free to put filters (such as the pro-mist filter) over their camera’s lens to add a glow to the subject’s skin and give it a smoother, more flattering complexion. But despite the best efforts of the subject and the photographer during the shoot, some post-production retouching is almost always required to create a perfect portrait. If the subject of your portrait has a bad hair day or they have a spot, then they will be less than happy with the photographic result. Fortunately, Lightroom has all the tools you need to help get your portrait subject looking her best without dramatically altering her appearance. In this walkthrough we’ll demonstrate how to spruce up a portrait by removing blemishes such as spots and use brush strokes to create a smoother complexion. We’ll also demonstrate how to counteract in-camera problems with white balance settings, so that skin looks natural instead of too orange. A key tool in the struggle for the perfect portrait is the Adjustment brush. This tool is packed full of portrait-retouching presets that enable you to selectively lighten under-exposed eyes and tease out fine colours and textures in the irises, so your subject can make eye contact with the viewer.
T
BEFORE
Teach yourself Lightroom Get creative AFTER
133
194
Teach yourself Lightroom Advanced skills Get the files here: http://bit.ly/TYLR2015
Turn day into night in Lightroom Learn how to use the selective adjustment tools in Lightroom to transform a daytime photo into a nocturnal photo
he beauty of Lightroom is that it boasts the same advanced Camera Raw editing tools contained in Photoshop CS6’s Camera Raw editor. This is good news because Lightroom costs hundreds of pounds less than Photoshop CS6 and CC. If you’re an Elements user, or you own an old version of Photoshop CS then it’s well worth downloading the fully functioning trial version of Lightroom from www.adobe.com to get access to the latest raw editing tools. Lightroom is designed with photographers’ photofixing needs in mind, so it lacks many of Photoshop’s more creative commands such as filters. It enables you to improve exposure, correct colour and remove artefacts such as chromatic aberration. Despite Lightroom’s photo-fixing pedigree, it can be used in a creative capacity too, as you can see from our before and after images here. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to produce a colourful nocturnal cityscape from a daytime shot by working entirely on the raw file. The key tool you’ll need to be able to turn day into night is the Adjustment brush. We’ll show you how to edit the brush’s attributes so that you can use washes of dark nocturnal blue to darken skies and add bright glowing colours to windows and signs. You’ll also discover how to use pins and masks to identify and modify particular strokes.
T
BEFORE
Teach yourself Lightroom Advanced skills AFTER
195
ENJOYED READING THIS MAGAZINE? Treat yourself or someone else Choose from a huge range of titles Free personalised gift card when buying for someone else Guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas! Plus a range of stocking fillers from just ÂŁ5
Subscribe and make great savings at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk