Let me tell you how Lightroom Changed My Life all these years ago.
Before I used Lightroom
In August 2013, I had three weddings, six senior sessions, six family sessions and one baby session. That’s 16 total sessions. Also, I traveled back and forth to Washington State from Utah twice that month. Both work-cations were longer than a week totaling about 20 days away from home. Oh, and I had a nine month old baby at the time!
I was editing every individual photo by hand back then. I opened up my photos in Adobe Camera Raw then opened each picture one by one in Photoshop cs5 or Photoshop Elements 11. I converted the photos from RAW to JPEG one by one, did skin edits, sharpening, cloning, actions, curves, etc. My work was inconsistent and sloppy, I was the queen of free actions and I was spending HOURS editing photos. This is when I tried Lightroom for the third time.
Original Edit: Adobe Camera Raw + Photoshop Free Action // New Edit: Lightroom (95%) + Photoshop (for Skin)
The Switch from Photoshop to Lightroom
It was a rough start. I couldn’t get my images to look the way I wanted to right off the bat. I played around with it for a week before I felt comfortable enough to edit my client sessions and a few months later I found my official style.
Now I have a system and I can get an entire wedding edited and returned in less than 24 hours and a portrait session in an hour! (But usually I wait about 7 days for weddings and 3 days for portrait session so I can post sneak peeks while everyone is still excited. I’m a tease.)
How Lightroom Changed My Life & It Can Change Yours too!
To start, download the free 31 day trial of Lightroom here.
1. Find your style!
Is your style bright and colorful? Dark and moody? Crisp or Hazy? There are so many options to choose from. Remember that the only person who has to LOVE your style is yourself. Play around with Lightroom for a few days with pictures from all different lighting situations (indoor, outdoor, etc) until you love each and every edit. What does each edit have in common? +exposure? -whites? +blacks?
Original Edit: Adobe Camera Raw + Photoshop Free Action // New Edit: Lightroom (95%) + Photoshop (for Skin)
2. Make a preset or two
Now that you have your style, SAVE IT! (Hint: Don’t include white balance!)
Develop >> New Preset >> Name it/Categorize It & Check All >> Create
3. Import with a Lightroom Preset
USE IT! I apply my custom preset to every single photo. Indoors or outdoors- it doesn’t matter. I know I like my pictures bright, vibrant and sharp. I also have a black and white preset that I apply to specific pictures after the import.
4. Tweak & Sync Your Edits
After the import, I go through each photo individually. I delete the ones I don’t want and make minor tweaks to the ones I want to keep. Less than 30 seconds-2 minutes max per picture. If there are 5 photos in a row that are in the exact same lighting condition, select all of them, edit the first one then hit SYNC METADATA.
5. Export
Ctrl+A >> File >> Export | You’re done!
I PROMISE…
Your work will be more consistent.
You will save hours of time.
You will LOVE editing photos.
You will want to go back and edit your old photos.
Original Edit: Adobe Camera Raw + Photoshop Free Action // New Edit: Lightroom (100%)
READY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HAVING A FASTER WORKFLOW?
The One Hour Workflow E-book includes steps, tools and detailed instructions for a more productive post-processing workflow. Learn about how I cull, edit, return and blog a session with in an hour and a wedding in under 24 hours. Get your life back and spend the extra time doing more of what you love.
Available in our Lightroom Course in the OPB Membership
Kylee started Kylee Ann Photography 9 years ago, and has since grown from a one woman amateur show to a full associate team. We shoot 50-75 weddings a year, and thrive on kindness and service. After a year of teaching Intro to Photography at the local technical college, she discovered that helping other entrepreneurs create thriving businesses is what fires her up! She hosts semi-annual Kylee Ann Sleepovers all over the US, speak at conferences and teach online courses about running a small business and marketing.
December 9, 2015
Kylee Maughan
