Lightroom Top Secret Tips and Tricks Blog: 4 Secrets to a Faster Lightroom Workflow + FREE Lightroom Training on Sunday

We're so exciting to have a webinar all about using templates in lightroom and exporting! Learn how to export for web and print. We'll also be sharing how you can save time by creating your blog and facebook timelines in lightroom. We can't wait to see you there.

▪ Making exporting a breeze
▪ Exporting for print for your clients
▪ Exporting for web (facebook and blog)
▪ Using templates in lightroom (saving you a trip to Photoshop)

Be sure to reserve your spot today! Our last webinar filled up quickly, with over 500 on the waiting list. Thank you!

4 Secrets to a Faster Lightroom Workflow

As much as I love photography and Lightroom, I don't want to spend endless hours editing there. I am a busy mom and my time is valuable. Today I want to share with you 4 secrets I have discovered for speeding up my photo editing workflow in Lightroom.

1. Pick your Favorites First

The VERY FIRST thing I do after I shoot a session is come home and pick my favorites. For a typical family portrait or engagement session, I am looking for 25-40 favorite images (depending on the session) that I will show to my client. When I find a favorite I use a star rating or a flag to let Lightroom know it is a favorite! I spend about 15 minutes picking my favorites from a session.

2. Use Collections

Once I have picked my favorites, the first thing I do is create a Collection of those photos. Collections have so many advantages over folders in Lightroom and those advantages save me time. First of all, they are available in all the different Lightroom Modules which means no going back to the Library module if I want to change to a different collection or create images for my blog. Second, they are a lot easier to find--no need to click through endless folders to find your favorites from a particular session. (To Create a Collection of your Favorites: Filter your favorites using the Filter Bar on the right just below your photo. Ctrl/Cmd+a to select all the photos. Click the "+" on the Collections Panel. Name your selection and select where it goes.)

3. Use Pretty Presets and Brushes

Pretty Presets Collections, Brushes, and Filters save me SO MUCH time in Lightroom. I have been a heavy Lightroom user since Lightoom 2 and I could probably go through all the panels and create a look similar to many of the presets in my presets panel. But WHY would I want to do that instead of a single click to activate a preset or to choose a brush from the brushes panel? I don't. I use presets and brushes everyday and they save me lots of time editing!

Editing photos in Lightroom using presets saves me so much time! I can't imagine editing photos without them. That being said, the workflow is a little different than editing it on your own. So let's get started.

Note: When I say presets, I am also including Lightroom Brushes and Filters. Just thought you should know at the start! :)

Where to Start?

I always start by evaluating my photo and making a few decisions about what it needs. Is it underexposed? Is the white balance WAY off? Did it turn out the way I envisioned it? Does it need a little ooomph? These thoughts may even apply to a group of photos that I will be editing at the same time.

This helps me decide if I want to use Brushes and one of my creative presets (presets not in a workflow collection) or one of the Workflow Preset Collections.

We would like to create a resource guide for photographers to share with our community here at Pretty Presets. We know that YOU are our best resource and would love to have your recommendations for services you have used in your photography or in your business.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in this brief survey! Thank you for being here!