I am sure you have always thought of how all bloggers always take the best photos. We sometimes get the same questions “How come your photo content look so professional? How do you edit your photos? What do you use to make the photo content on your Instagram looking so nice?”. Those are only some of the questions we receive, but we do not think we are even the best of what we are doing, but we are continually working to improve our photo editing skills. If you want to learn more about how to edit your photos like a blogger, just keep on reading this article.
What Is Adobe Lightroom and Why I Should Start Using It?
We totally understand that every new programme or software seems scary, however, in order to continuously develop, a man should always try to improve skills in every aspect possible. And we assure you, Adobe Lightroom is not as difficult as it seems.
I hear you, every new term can sound a bit scary, but I can assure you- Adobe Lightroom is going to make your life so much easier! Lightroom is an image management and editing program also developed by Adobe, the same company which created Photoshop. Bloggers are able to work through their images from import, to sorting and organization, to processing, and finally all the way to share with the online world when using Lightroom. Saves time and efforts.
What are the advantages of using Adobe Lightroom?
- You can convert your raw files to jpeg, png or whatever you need (File conversions)
- You can organize your photos in one place (Image Management)
- You can make your photos look exactly like a pro blogger (Retouching)
- You can keep the best image quality, does not matter the format.
- You can make your images load faster when uploaded to your blog (Image Compression)
In order to create the best photo content, you have to invest in not only camera tools (Which of course can be done with any iPhone 7 and newer as well as any Galaxy S10 and newer), but also a proper image editing tool. The great news is, the use signing up for Lightroom isn’t that pricey and you can cancel your subscription at any time! Although, we are sure you will be using it for years!! You might see below the picture representing before and after editing with Adobe Lightroom. See how brighter and more professional after shot looks? We will show you exactly how you can improve your images this way, so follow this tutorial carefully! Let’s get started!
- Get Adobe Lightroom
Simply click HERE and sign up for Adobe Photography Plan and download Lightroom to your computer. Follow simple steps to install it and once you do – proceed to the next step…
You can either start editing and mixing different adjustment until you see the desired result, or you can simply get Lightroom Presets and improve your editing skills in seconds!. You can check our packs here. Seriously, it is THAT simple!
Victoria Christoph All in One Pack includes all the presets we have designed and customised until now. Within this bundle are different presets which would be used for any situation you could think of including dark or bright photos, beachy or moody photos, cloudy or sunny etc. If you would like to go for an affordable option then you can consider buying Natural Glow or Favourite Patterns as separate packs. If you prefer to shoot indoors or you’re not particularly a fan of the outdoor environment, then they might not be suitable for your needs.
The presets that you use will vary on the images that you’ve taken, so make sure to find a few that you enjoy using and stick with them to achieve the sleek editing style. For now, pick from any of the presets mentioned above or check out our FREE PRESETS to start editing.
- Import Your Presets To Lightroom
Just follow these simple steps to import your presets into your Lightroom application. Make sure you have the latest version of it.
For Windows:
- Open Lightroom
- Go to: Edit • Preferences • Presets
- Click on the box titled: Show Lightroom Presets Folder
- Double click on Lightroom
- Double click on Develop Presets
- Copy the folder(s) of your presets into the Develop Presets folder
- Restart Lightroom
You can CLICK HERE TO READ HOW TO INSTALL YOUR LIGHTROOM PRESETS ON DESKTOP on Mac.
- Start editing your Pictures
Now, let’s get to the fun part and start making changes to your pictures!
You can either make wonders by applying the presets purchased on your Photo by following this tutorial or you can start editing and mixing different adjustments until you see the best results.
It’s really as simple as choosing your chosen preset and double-clicking on its title to apply the changes to your chosen image. You have to be on the Develop section in order to do so. In order to have the best quality do not apply too many adjustments to one photo. In order to save the best quality of your photos, we have developed our Lightroom Presets with few, but the best adjustments so that the quality stays the same. And in the end, you want your picture to look natural, right?
Once you’re happy with your image- export it and start sharing with your audience! Continue reading below to learn how to export your picture
However, if you decided to keep on learning the adjustments features of Lightroom, we have presented some of the most important ones below in this tutorial. Before starting to learn, you can see below a picture before and after the adjustment explained below.
Beginner Guide
In order to start editing, make sure you have clicked on the Develop Module. Now you will be able to see all of the panels with different editing tools on the right-hand side of the screen. The first panel is the Basic panel.
For all of these tools, there is a slider that you can move from left to right to make adjustments. You can also click the number to the right of the slider and type in a precise number of your liking. To reset an individual slider, just double-click the name of the slider on the left. For example, if you’ve moved the exposure slider to the left and want to bring it back to zero, just double-click the “exposure” text.
Lets start with Editing White Balance...
You can use this tool in order to adjust the temperature and the tint. For instance, if you would like to add more blue or in other words cooling down your photo, then you should move the temperature slider to the left. On the other hand, if you would like to add more yellow or adding warmth to your photo, then you should move the slider to the right. Compensate with the tint slider to add more green or pink.
Another way to quickly get the correct white balance is by using the white balance selector (the eyedropper tool). Click the tool and then hover over your photo in the preview panel. Click on something in your photo that is supposed to be white (for example, a cloud or a white T-shirt). Your photo will automatically adjust. Then use the sliders to fine-tune it.
Moving forward to Adjusting the Exposure…
This tool is used when you would like to achieve an overall brightness of your photo. If you would like to increase the brightness, slide it to the right, but if you would like to reduce it and make It darker, then get the slider to the left. Notice what happens to the histogram while you adjust the exposure. Remember that a well-exposed photo doesn’t have any large peaks on the right or left sides of the histogram (and at the very least, the main subject of the photo isn’t too dark or too bright).
Another essential tool is the Contrast Adjustment..
This slider can either make your photo more contrasted or less contrasted, depending on your needs. Contrast has to do with how bright the highlights are, and how dark the darks are. Increasing contrast will make the darks darker and the highlights brighter. On the other hand, decreasing the contrast will make your image appear flattered. Typically it is good to have some contrast. It makes your image pop. We usually prefer to have some contrast on our photos and we recommend it, however, you might wish to have a flat-looking image, that is fine. Everyone has their own style. Do not also forget that adding contrast to your image also increases the saturation.
Editing Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks are some of our favourite adjustments. Let us now talk like a pro.
If you shoot in a RAW format like we do, then highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks sliders tools will allow you to really get in there and fine-tune different parts of your image. All of these sliders work the same. Moving to the left will make the corresponding parts of your image darker, and moving to the right will make them brighter. If you have an overexposed image, which means it is too bright, decreasing the highlights slider will add more detail to the highlights. If your shadows are too dark, move that slider to the right.
The clarity tool is essential, but recommend not positioning the slider on a higher level as this might leed to a too sharp colours and too much contrast. Use this tool sparingly with photos of people, as it intensifies people’s blemishes and wrinkles. A good time to add clarity is with photos of landscapes and nature.
The vibrance & Saturation Tools
This adjustment tool is almost the same as the saturation tool as they have almost similar functions. The vibrance slider is a smart tool that adds saturation to desaturated colors, while leaving the colors that are already saturated unchanged. It doesn’t increase saturation in skin tones, which is great because adding a lot of saturation to normal skin tones will make them look unnatural. On the other hand, you are adding or decreasing the saturation of all colors in your photo with the saturation tool. Adding a little bit of saturation can make your photos come alive. However, be careful not to add too much saturation.
Tone Curve. This is an amazing tool that you need to master if you want to learn how to edit photos in Lightroom. Probably it’s one of our favorite tools. The Tone Curve represents all the tones of your photo.
The X-axis of the curve is the tone axis.
The Y-axis represents the lightness of a given tone.
The X-axis. Tones.
Going from left to right, you have Shadows, Midtones, Highlights. The Midtones are split in Dark Midtones and Light Midtones.
The Y-axis. Tone’s Lightness
By moving the curve down tones get darker, moving it up they get brighter.
As you will see, it’s pretty intuitive to start making changes using the tone curve. If for example, you want to make the image brighter, click on the midtone area and drag the curve up. You will see your image getting brighter as you drag the curve. You can repeat the same action for the Highlights and Shadows until you obtain the desired result.
One thing you will notice is that we obtained a slight “S” curve. It’s is a common way to make your image pop more. All I did to then mute the tones is drag the farthest left-hand point (Shadows) up, and the farthest right-hand side point down (Highlights).
HSL/Color also meaning Hue-Saturation-Luminance. This Tool allows you to control different colours of your image independently. You can brighten or saturate specific colors while leaving others untouched.
Hue is the gradient of color in your image. Saturation tool will help you make the color more or less intense while luminance is the reflective brightness of a color. Luminance. Luminance is the reflective brightness of a color. Usually, if I desaturate a color, I try to balance and see how it looks by adding more luminance.
Here are the exact adjustments we did on this photo.
- Now you can export your Photo.
Click and select the photo you wish to export (Lightroom can export multiple images at the same time). Then right-click on your mouse or trackpad and select Export > Export…
Export Location. In what destination in your computer or external hard drive you want to export your work.
File naming. You have several options, as you can see from the menu. It’s totally up to you if you want to rename your files or keep the original name.
File Settings. Are you going to do more work on the image by using Photoshop? You can choose to export your file as a PSD. Or the most common file extension, if you’ve finished your work on this photo, is JPG.
Image Sizing. Here as you’ve already guessed, you can resize your images. If you know the pixel and resolution, you want then choose width & height and type the number of pixels. If you want your JPG to be a bit smaller in terms of file size, you can select percentage and type, let’s say 90% or less depending on the size you want to obtain.
Metadata. Here you can choose if including the details about camera and lens, exposure settings date and time, and so on in your image. By adding these, you will make it available to other photographers, or you can decide to include the Copyright only.
And Enjoy! Make sure you tag us using #victoriachristophpresets so that we can see your edits.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to leave a comment below in this tutorial and we will be more than welcome to help you.