Cropping is so important because it can really improve our composition, and we all know about the importance of composition. One of these days, I’ll fill your head with composition ideas, but this is the 10 Minute Guide. 😀 That’s right, in about 10 minutes, we’ll make sure that you can get started with good cropping in Lightroom.

Someday, we’ll take a little closer look at some of the advanced ways to crop photos in Lightroom. But today, we’re taking a look at how to get started with cropping photos in Lightroom in a quick way.

Okay, to get started, let’s make sure that you’re in the Develop module. You can click Develop on the list of modules (upper right hand corner of Lightroom) to enter it, or press D to enter it as well.

Entering the Develop module lets us get started with cropping.

Next, go ahead and pick out the image that you want to work with. To get started with cropping, Press R on the keyboard, or press the crop button (far left) just under the histogram.

Now, we’re ready to get started. You’ll see that a grid has appeared on top of your images, and this is the basis for all cropping.

I’ll make a recommendation here: go ahead and press the lock button on the options on the right side. This will keep the dimensions of the photo locked so that we don’t create funky crops. It will basically keep the image the same “shape” as how it comes out of camera. If you want to create

Clicking the padlock locks the aspect ratio.

Okay, now that that’s taken care of, here’s my recommended way of cropping:

1) Grab a control handle of the photo. These are the thick lines that are at the corners and in the middle at top and bottom. You’ll see your cursor change, and dragging makes the rectangle smaller in area.

2) After you’ve made a smaller box, just drag the box to the area that you want to keep.

After making a smaller box, I just drag the new smaller area to the “keeper” area”. Anything in darker gray is going to be cropped out.

After you’ve done that, just press R on the keyboard again to leave crop mode and you’ll find your new crop!

Just two steps: resize a smaller area, and drag it to the part we want to keep

Another method is to just draw the rectangle over the area of the photo you want to crop to by clicking and dragging the box. If you want to “start from scratch” with the crop, that’s the best way of doing it.

So there you have it – you’ve got a really quick and easy crop method! I can do most crops in under 10 seconds after mastering the tool.

Did I explain this clearly? This is fairly easy to do, but a little tough to get started with. If you need more help, check in with a comment and I can explain more. 😀

This post is aimed at users who have never used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. If you’re wondering if you should upgrade from Lightroom 3, check out this post.

If you’ve taken notice of this site’s name, you can probably get a good idea of what my answer to the question is. But my path to using Lightroom might surprise you.

Given the name of this site, you probably already know my answer.

When I first used Adobe Lightroom, I hated it. I had buyer’s remorse about buying it. I hated the complexity of it, as well as

The problem wasn’t the program. The problem was how I used it.

I’m reminded of a quote a favorite teacher shared with me about how best to attack big problems (or in this case, big programs):

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

Attempting to jump into Lightroom and bite it off all at once is not going to end well. Instead, approach Lightroom seeking to solve your problems. As I’ve said before, each of the modules is really a solution.

If you’re serious about taming your image collection, learning Lightroom is the best investment of your time. In my opinion, there are no other applications that come close to rivaling the power of Adobe’s photo management software.

We’ve all go the need for speed. My goal in my Lightroom Coaching is to always help photographers move their their digital workflow more quickly. I think we all want to move quicker in the editing phase, and that’s the goal of all of the teaching that I do.

But what if the slowest part of your workflow isn’t you? What if your computer is to blame? If you find it locking up, freezing for several seconds, or generally taking a long time to complete operations, you probably need to upgrade or clean out your computer. Today, we’re talking computers to help make Lightroom run at top speed.

Yeah, probably wouldn’t want to run Lightroom on this computer.

This is kind of a technical discussion, but I’m going to make it as easy as possible. These parts and components are far more complex than I’m going to make them, but the goal here is just to keep it simple. Whether you’re buying a new computer or looking to upgrade your current one, keep in mind some of the things that I’m discussing here.

The Basics

There are really three basic computer components that drive the speed at which our computer moves.

Processor

Out of the three factors, this is probably the toughest to change or install. I recommend buying this right the first time. We  want the absolute fastest processor that you can find. These days, that means looking for an Intel processor that is an i7 processor. AMD also makes processors, but my computers are usually Intel machines, especially given that I am switching exclusively to Mac.

Processor speeds are expressed in gHZ, or gigahertz. The i7 processor I mentioned above is actually a quad core processor. Typically, more processors are better and lead to faster performance. (Again, this is a very simplified technical discussion)

RAM

First, Lightroom loves RAM. The more you have, the better it runs. If you aren’t familiar, RAM is a part inside of your computer that helps (more). Think of RAM as the temporary space that

My Macbook Pro recently was upgraded to 16GB (gigabytes) of RAM, and another computer in my house has 8GB of RAM. 4GB is probably enough to comfortably run it, but again the idea is the more, the merrier.

Hard Disk

Big and fast – those are the two factors you’re looking for in a hard drive. 1TB, or one terabyte (1000 gigabytes) are commonplace today and give us tons of storage for our photos. With high megapixel cameras, this is so important.

When it comes to speed, you’re probably wanting a 7200RPM drive. Don’t overlook the speed of the drive as a key factor of the computer. The faster the drive, the faster it starts up, opens programs, and generally responds to your inputs.

If you haven’t heard, one of the recent big innovations is the rise of SSD hard drives. I’ve got one in the computers I use, and I could hardly live without it. An SSD is like a huge flash drive that works in place of a hard drive. Because there’s no moving parts, they are much, much faster. However, they are also very expensive compared to traditional hard drives – even though prices are dropping.

System Cleanup

Last year, I made a long awaited switch to Mac. However, I feel that I am still probably stronger on the Windows platform after using it my entire life. I know a lot about Windows, and I know a lot about making it work better.

While I was a Windows user, I was semi-religious about periodically formatting and reinstalling Windows. This means completely wiping your drive and reinstalling from the ground up. Remember how fast your computer was when you first got it a year or 18 months ago? It’s like a completely new start.

This means backing up all of your data you want to keep to an external device, as well as reinstalling everything. If you are fairly handy with a computer, it’s not the hardest thing to do.

In general, try and keep things tidy! Uninstall software you don’t use. Have a good idea of where things are stored on your computer, and clean it out frequently. Set time aside and keep it pared down to the basics. I am constantly trimming down what is stored on my computer, and although it drives me a little insane, I know that my performance is better because of it.

Mac or PC?

Oh boy, I’ve got to tread lightly here. There are few debate that will spark a fire like the debate over which OS platform to use.

I went Mac and never regretted it. However, I think PC is a great platform too. Here’s the thing: all computers are simply the creative tools we use to make our art. I personally felt I could make more art more efficiently on Mac, so I switched. If cash is the most limiting factor you have, get the best Windows PC you can afford.

Wrapping Up

Lightroom is a fantastic program, but it’s only as good as the computer that it’s running on. There are some things in life that I don’t believe in cutting corners on – and a good computer that will last and run fast is one of them.

I spend a lot of time teaching people how to use the Develop module, but I’m rarely asked about how I use the various tools. Today, I’m going to show you five of my favorite Develop tricks that help me get my signature photographic looks.

Everybody has got those “go-to” moves in the editing phase. Every photographer I talk to seems to have their own little tricks for their signature look. Today, I’m sharing my five favorite tricks to help you get started with building your look.

1) Post-Crop Vignettes

Adding a post-crop vignette is one thing that the majority of my portrait and wedding photos bit. Most of the time, it’s pretty subtle. I love post-crop vignettes because they let me control how someone views my photo. When the edges of the photo are darkened, the viewer’s eye is inclined to move through the photo toward the center and toward the subject.

This image uses a post-crop vignette for an effect.

Find Post-Crop vignettes in the Develop module’s “Effects Panel” on the right side.

2) Tone Curve

The tone curve is probably one of the least understood and scariest tools. You’ve probably never seen anything like it in your image editing up until now, but the tone curve is one of my favorites. I usually will pull the lower left point up a bit, and the upper right point down just a bit for an almost film look that I love.

This image used a tone curve to bring in some creamy highlights and shadows.

Find the Tone curve in the Develop module’s “Tone Curve” panel.

3) Warmed Highlights

The Split Toning panel is another underused part of Lightroom for many users. I like bringing a little warmth to the highlights of the photo, so I typically select a warm hue and push the saturation up just a bit. This will make the highlight (bright) areas of the photo a bit warmer.

Find the Split Toning panel in the Develop module.

4) A Touch of Clarity

Before Lightroom 4, I wasn’t a big fan of how the clarity slider made my images look. Now, I’m pretty surprised to find how often I use it to add just a bit more “bite” to my images. It gives them a bit of an edgy look and brings the edges to life.

A touch of clarity can make the fine details shine.

Find the clarity slider in the “Basic” panel of the Develop module, in the section labeled “Presence”.

5) A Bit of Warmth

Speaking of warmth, another place that I find myself warming images up is with the white balance tool. Again, I’m a big sucker for warm images, so I typically will push my images a little bit to the right in the editing stage. My clients seem to appreciate this style, and at the risk of sounding cliche, I think warmth gives the images a heartfelt feeling.

Add warmth to photos by adjusting the white balance to the right in the Develop module.

Wrapping Up

Everybody has those million dollar tricks for getting their images looking perfect. If yours aren’t too secret, would you be willing to share with a comment? Let me know what you think.

Hey again! One of my favorite things to share is how I use Lightroom on a daily basis. I spend a lot of time preaching on ideas, fundamentals, or Lightroom techniques, and I love it when I can actually help users put it all together.

Today, I’m doing some freelance work for a photographer on the West Coast who runs a phenomenal Senior portrait business. He’s outsourcing his editing to focus on photography and building his business, which I think is a phenomenal idea for a lot of photographers. (Just a note, I’ve substituted my own images for the sake of client confidentiality.)

Anyway, I’m working with between 50 and 60 of his images to help him get the images out the door to his client. Here’s the workflow I’ve designed for his images:

1) Import. Pretty straightforward – he sends me images via a shared Dropbox folder, and I grab them from the Dropbox and throw them into a Lightroom catalog.

2) He’s already handled culling (he only sends me images he wants me to edit) so I begin doing basic editing – adjusting crops, white balance, exposure, color, and contrast. Each photo calls for a different recipe to get it looking perfect.

3) Okay, this is where things get a bit trickier. After applying editing to each photo, it gets one of three color labels:

Red – Most photos get a red label because they require some retouching. This means teeth whitening, eye whitening, etc. I’m using the spot retouching tools in Lightroom to do this. I prefer to do all retouches at the same time, so I add the label and then get ready to work on them later.

Yellow – Photos that get a yellow label need to be sent to Photoshop for heavier work – cloning things out, cleaning up backgrounds, etc.

Green – Photos that are finished get a green label! I will either give it a green label right after basic edits, or change red/yellow to green once I’ve applied the retouches.

I use red photos for photos that require spot work in Lightroom, yellow labels for photos to be sent to Photoshop, and green labels are for finished images.

4) Export, email the photographer, and make sure that he is 100% pleased. 🙂

This three color system is really helping me to keep these things straight. I might use this system from now on, or maybe just for today. 😀 Lightroom gives us a framework to create things, and then we can design our own workflows that fit our needs.

Make sense? Any questions? How can I help you learn Lightroom today?