Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom is the digital photographer’s ultimate assistant. But don’t just take my word for it. Head over to LayersMagazine.com to find an article by best-selling author Scott Kelby in which he gives ten great tips to help get you started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Scott is a professional photographer that’s been around this software since it’s inception. If there’s a better way to do things in Lightroom, you can bet that he’s found it. Scott’s tips include keyboard shortcuts, techniques for using Lightroom tools, as well as suggestions for how to better arrange your workspace. Check them out here.

I recently came across a cool new blog for wedding photographers called Flash Flavor. It’s fairly new so it’s just starting to gain some momentum but it seems that they’ve been keeping up with posts regularly so far. I really liked the post where he showed how he put a speedlight in the “Just Married” limo - what a cool idea! It’s definitely worth a visit so go check it out at www.flashflavor.com.

Yep, I’m off on a vacation (and a little work) with my wife to Europe this week. First we’ll fly into Brussels, Belgium and then on to Amsterdam. I’ll be teaching a few sessions at Adobe’s own event - Adobe Live. The first leg of the 1-day conference is in Belgium and then I’ll be teaching two days in Amsterdam. The rest of the time I get to play! I’m so psyched as I’ve never been to either location so wish me luck. That said, I’ll be trying to keep up with posts over the next week or so but if I don’t, you can guarantee it’s because I’m doing one of the following: a) teaching at an Adobe event b) out shooting or sightseeing c) eating Belgian chocolate d) or drinking some fine Belgian beer. Tot ziens! (by the way, that’s good-bye in Dutch - I think ).

I’d have to say that Virtual Copies are one of my favorite features in Lightroom. This is a feature that sneaks under most people’s radar, but I think they’re incredibly powerful. Think about it this way. How many times do you want to see your photo as say, a color photo - then maybe in black and white - then maybe even as a sepia-tinted photo? Imagine what a pain in the neck it would be to try and create the black and white, and then have to undo to get back to the color version all of the time. That’s where Virtual Copies come in. They basically let you create different versions of your photo without one harming or affecting the other. Check out this week’s video to learn more about them.
Click here to watch the video (22mb)

This week’s video is taking a slightly different spin then usual. Usually, I show you some type of tool or technique in Lightroom but this time I’m showing you my top 10 favorite shortcuts. These are things that I use all of the time because they help me work faster. When I demo Lightroom I always have people come up to me and ask “How’d you do that so fast”. Sometimes I even forget because these shortcuts have become second nature. So… I figured I’d share them with you and hopefully you can put them to as good a use as I have. Enjoy!

Watch the video here (32 mb)