Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies

By Rob Sylvan

Edit, organize, store, and share photos  

Whether you are brand new to photography, a devoted enthusiast, or a seasoned pro, there’s a version of Lightroom for you. 

Lightroom For Dummies is the book to help you learn which version of Lightroom is right for your needs. The main focus of the book is on using Lightroom Classic, but also includes an introduction to Lightroom CC. All with the goal of helping you get started on the right foot toward taking your photographic workflow to the next level. The book is a great starting place to help you improve your family photos or add advanced Lightroom skills that aid your career. Look inside to find the steps to navigating the software and getting top-notch results.

• Deciding which version of Lightroom is the best fit
• Take control of your photo library with Lightroom Classic
• Importing, organizing, and finding photos 
• Editing and sharing your photos 
• Producing a slideshow, book, print, or web gallery
• Gain a foundation for getting started with Lightroom CC

Get ready to spend less time in front of the computer and more time behind the lens!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jun 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781119544999

Book preview

Introduction

It’s been over 10 years since I wrote the first edition of this book on what was then Lightroom 2. Saying a lot has changed since then is a bit of an understatement. At the end of 2017 Adobe released two similar, but distinctly different, versions of Lightroom with the goal of addressing two similar, yet different, digital photography workflows. I’ve structured this book to help you understand the differences between these versions of Lightroom — one now called Adobe Lightroom Classic and a new one now just called Adobe Lightroom — so that you are prepared to choose the right one for your needs. Just be sure to read all of Chapter 1 to get a handle on that. That said, the primary focus of this book is on how to get the most out of Lightroom Classic. There are a few chapters to help a Lightroom Classic user get started with the new Lightroom on the mobile platform, but if you are only using the new Lightroom on all your devices you’ll want to check out a different book.

Back in 2007 when Lightroom 1.0 was released, it was considered a paradigm shift in the way photographers managed and edited their digital photos. Today we are witnessing a new paradigm shift thanks to the rise of the smartphone as digital camera with always-connected Internet (which is why there is this new Lightroom version). While paradigm shifts offer new ways of doing things and the potential of improved workflows, they can sometimes be disorienting and frustrating to come to terms with at first. That’s why Adobe still offers the original version, which is now called Lightroom Classic. My hope is that this book can serve as a resource to keep you out of trouble, on task, and moving forward as you take your photos from camera to storage to output, over and over again.

About This Book

I am more than just a user of both versions of Lightroom. Through my roles on the KelbyOne.com Lightroom Help Desk, as an educator, as an author, and my participation in various Lightroom groups, workshops, and forums, I’ve worked with tens of thousands of fellow Lightroom users over the last decade. I’ve tried to understand the problems they faced as I’ve helped them find solutions. I wrote this book with the intention of preventing you from encountering the same problems that others have stumbled on, while also sharing the collective wisdom I’ve gained to make your workflow as efficient as possible.

How This Book Is Organized

I organize this book with the larger Lightroom Classic workflow in mind, but each chapter — and even the sections within a chapter — represent all the smaller workflows that make up the larger whole. So although there’s something to be gained from following the structure I lay out in the book, if you’re new to Lightroom Classic, my hope is that you can pick up this book when you need it and jump right to the place in your workflow that you want to learn more about.

Because of the existence of two different versions of Lightroom, I’ve also structured the book with the goal of minimizing confusion about which version I am talking about. I explicitly refer to Adobe Lightroom Classic as Lightroom Classic (as cumbersome as that is to read over and over again) and refer to the new Adobe Lightroom as just Lightroom (along with references to it being cloud-based or part of an ecosystem) within a given chapter.

Note that up until the middle of 2019, both versions had the initials CC (for Creative Cloud) appended to the end of their respective names. Now that it is only possible to license any version of the Lightroom family of products through a Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe dropped the CC from the ends of both product names. For sake of clarity, what was Lightroom Classic CC is now just Lightroom Classic, and what was Lightroom CC is now just Lightroom.

Lightroom Classic is a workflow tool by design, and within the macro workflow of capture to output there exist countless smaller workflows that cover all the micro tasks every photographer needs to complete. The very concept of a workflow implies that there is both a natural beginning and a finite end. I mean, you can’t start editing a photo if you haven’t first pressed the shutter, right?

Part 1: Getting Started with Lightroom Classic

If you’re new to Lightroom Classic — or new to digital photography — you’ll definitely want to spend some time in Part 1. I’ve seen too many people get off on the wrong foot with Lightroom Classic and lose time (and sleep) trying to get themselves back on track because they didn’t get a few basic concepts under their belt first. I’ve helped quite a few folks get back on track, and I know some of the more common pitfalls, so here’s your chance to benefit from my experience so you can spend more time productively working with your photos. In this part, I also explain the differences between the two versions of Lightroom and help guide you toward the one that best fits your needs.

Part 2: Managing Your Photos with Lightroom Classic

Managing data might be the least sexy part of a photographer’s workflow; however, it’s possibly the most essential. Considering that the volume of photos we photographers produce increases each year, this is an aspect of the workflow you have no choice but to get right. To be honest, this aspect of Lightroom Classic is where people have the most trouble.

Part 3: Working in Lightroom Classic’s Digital Darkroom

This part is where you work to realize the vision you had the moment the shutter clicked. For some, it’s as much fun as the capture, but for others, it’s a chore to accomplish the greatest quality in the least amount of time. Lightroom Classic can meet the needs of both kinds of people.

Part 4: Sharing Your Work with the World

Unless you’re satisfied with the process of only making photographs, you’re going to require some form of output and sharing that extends beyond just your eyeballs. Lightroom Classic offers several options for output.

Part 5: The Part of Tens

You can think of this section as how to get started with the new Lightroom for Lightroom Classic users. I want to achieve three things with this part of the book: I want to prepare you for the option of using Lightroom Classic and Lightroom together; I want you to know the basics of organizing and editing in Lightroom on the mobile platform; and I want to teach you about my absolute favorite mobile phone camera app found in Lightroom for mobile.

Conventions Used in This Book

Lightroom Classic is wonderfully identical on both Windows and Mac operating systems. I use both operating systems daily, but I create the majority of screen captures on Mac because that’s what I use most. However, I do include Windows captures where needed to highlight the few places where there are minor differences in the interface or dialog boxes, and there are a few captures from mobile devices where needed.

In the case of keyboard shortcuts (and there are many), I lead off with the Mac shortcut and always include the Windows shortcut in parentheses right after. All the shortcuts that don’t require an additional modifier key are the same on both platforms. When I give an instruction for opening a contextual menu, I use the term right-click even though you may not be using an input device with a right-click button. For the Mac, right-clicking is the same as Control-clicking something to invoke the contextual menu.

With regard to menu commands, I use the convention of separating each menu command with this cute arrow, ⇒. For example, I tell you to choose Lightroom Classic ⇒ Quit Lightroom (File ⇒ Exit for Windows) to quit. You can also quit the program by pressing ⌘ +Q (Ctrl+Q for Windows).

Icons Used in This Book

Scattered throughout this book you find some nifty little icons that point out bits of information that are especially useful, important, or noteworthy.

Tip You see this icon the most. I include many tips to help you get the most from each aspect of the program.

Warning There aren’t many of these (fortunately). I only use them when there’s a chance you might lose data if you aren’t careful.

Remember Whenever a certain piece of information isn’t particularly intuitive — but very important to keep in mind — I add this icon to help it stand out.

Technical stuff This icon indicates a heads-up for those few places where I need to deal with some of the more technical aspects of the software.

Beyond the Book

Like every For Dummies book, this one comes with a free Cheat Sheet that brings together some of the most commonly needed information for people struggling with Lightroom Classic. Turn to this for a handy list of shortcuts, a closeup of what’s included around image thumbnails, all the tools available on the Library Toolbar, and what to do when things go wrong. To get the Cheat Sheet, head for www.dummies.com and, using the Search box, search for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies Cheat Sheet.

Where to Go from Here

If you’re just starting out, my advice to you is to visit Part 1 sooner rather than later. Beyond that, this book is intended to be a reference that you can rely on when you find yourself stuck or that you can use proactively to avoid the most common pitfalls before you go in.

Be sure to check out my website, https://Lightroomers.com, and my weekly Lightroom blog at https://LightroomKillerTips.com for the latest news, tips, and tutorials on both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom.

Part 1

Getting Started with Lightroom Classic

IN THIS PART …

Familiarizing yourself with the Lightroom Classic interface.

Understanding how catalogs work.

Using Lightroom Classic’s most basic features.

Chapter 1

Getting to Know Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Understanding which version of Lightroom is right for you

Bullet Understanding the subscription model

Bullet Getting to know the Lightroom Classic interface

Bullet Preparing for installation

When I wrote the first edition of this book, the only product available was Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and the iPhone had just been introduced. The intervening years have brought about a boon to camera technology, mobile technology, software capabilities, and the Internet. Adobe has responded to these advances by spinning off a new version of the original Lightroom (while adding Classic to the old version) in a way that leverages the ubiquity of mobile devices, cloud storage, and always-connected Internet. This has resulted in more choice but also a bit of confusion.

In this chapter, I aim to clarify the key distinctions between the two versions of Lightroom to help you choose the version that is right for you. I encourage you to go back and read the book’s Introduction to get a big picture view of how this book is organized and clarity on how I refer to the two versions of Lightroom throughout the book. To get some historical context on the evolution of Lightroom, I encourage you to read my blog post on Adobe’s original announcement of the new version: https://lightroomkillertips.com/new-lightroom-whole-new-ecosystem.

The Two Versions of Lightroom

At the time of this writing, Adobe provides two separate but similar programs with the name Lightroom in the title. In a nutshell, the key differences are that

Lightroom Classic uses a catalog (more on that later) that is stored on your computer, which references photos that can be stored on your computer, an external drive, a network attached storage device, or any combination of those local storage options. It has been evolving since 2007 and will feel most familiar to anyone who has used a previous version of Lightroom. Lightroom Classic is the main focus of this book.

Lightroom stores everything (photos, information about the photos, and all adjustments) in the cloud (storage that is only accessible through an Internet connection and paid for through your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription), and by virtue of everything being stored in the cloud you can access all your work from any device (laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone) that runs Lightroom (available for the macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android platforms). Because everything is stored in the cloud, you can access your Lightroom photos through a web browser. Lightroom has fewer features than Lightroom Classic (although Adobe adds more all the time) and is designed for use in our always-connected mobile world. I introduce you to Lightroom in Part 5, where I explore how Lightroom on a mobile device can be a useful companion to Lightroom Classic.

This book focuses on Lightroom Classic because this version is the most mature of the two versions, has the most features, and doesn’t require an Internet connection to access your photos. In my view, Lightroom Classic is the most powerful version of Lightroom and makes the most sense for most people looking to manage a growing photo library over time. It also provides the greatest variety of output possibilities (prints, books, slideshows, web galleries, and more). Lightroom Classic is what I use, and I will continue to use it into the foreseeable future.

I don’t want you to think that I am not a fan of the new Lightroom; I am very excited about the opportunities it offers people who don’t need everything offered by Lightroom Classic, who want a simpler interface, and who place a premium on being able to access their photo library from any laptop, desktop, or mobile device. In fact, I devote three chapters at the end of the book to Lightroom to help you see its potential. That said, if you want to use just Lightroom on all your devices, this is not the book for you. Because Lightroom is new, simpler, and has far fewer features than Lightroom Classic, you can get by just fine using only the built-in guided tutorials (mentioned in Chapter 17) and the web-based training found on Adobe’s website: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/tutorials.html.

Just about all of Adobe’s software has moved from a pay-one-price perpetual license model to a new subscription-based model, which Adobe calls the Creative Cloud (often shortened to CC). Both versions of Lightroom are available only through a subscription plan. Let’s dive into this a little deeper.

Understanding the Creative Cloud

Adobe coined the name Creative Cloud in 2011, but the term took on new meaning in 2013 when Adobe moved away from the old Creative Suite of products and made its flagship products (like Photoshop) available for licensing only through a monthly or annual subscription. All programs are still installed locally to your computer and function the same way they always had; the only difference with the Creative Cloud (CC) is how you pay for the software.

While paying monthly/annually for the use of software may seem like a drag, Adobe has made it pretty affordable for photographers through the CC Photography Plan (more on that in the next section). The subscription model offers a few benefits, including the following:

Access to the latest version of included software the moment Adobe releases it, without additional cost

Periodic updates, which include new features as well as new camera support and bug fixes

Able to be installed on as many computers as you own, although you can be logged into only two at a time

Cross-platform compatible, so no special hoops to jump through if you have both a Mac and Windows computer

Remember The Creative Cloud subscription model provides a few benefits. Notably, Adobe frequently releases updates that include new features, new camera support, and bug fixes. With the subscription service, you can access these features immediately rather than waiting 18 to 24 months to see new features added.

There are a few CC plans to choose from, and due to the somewhat fluid nature of how these plans evolve, I’m going to direct you to Adobe’s website to read up on what’s included and the various prices. Head over to https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html to learn more.

Creative Cloud Photography Plan

Within the various subscription options, the plan that makes the most sense for photographers is the CC Photography Plan, which at the time of this writing goes for $9.99/month and includes the latest versions of Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Photoshop, 20 GB of online storage, and more (like a free online portfolio), so check the link in the preceding section to get the full details.

Tip Adobe Photoshop is the prime tool to complement Lightroom Classic and, to a lesser extent, Lightroom. It gives you the most power and offers the greatest functionality and tightest integration with both versions of Lightroom. In fact, when you consider all the features in Lightroom Classic, you may find you don’t need anything else for most of your work.

Adobe also offers a Lightroom plan, which is $9.99/month, and includes only Lightroom (it doesn’t include Lightroom Classic or Photoshop) and 1 TB of online storage (which is enough for hundreds of thousands of JPG photos). There are folks for whom this plan is a good fit, but the plan is not for everyone and is not the focus of this book.

From here, I assume that as a reader of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic For Dummies, with a focus on Lightroom Classic, you have or will be getting the CC Photography Plan subscription. Note that apart from features added after Lightroom 6 was released, most of this book applies to Lightroom 6 users too. (Lightroom 6 is the precursor to Lightroom Classic.)

Figuring out whether Lightroom Classic is right for you

If you have used any version of Lightroom in the past 10 years, you will feel the most comfortable in Lightroom Classic. Due to its maturity as a software product, Lightroom Classic has substantially more features and capabilities than the new Lightroom, and this alone may be the deciding factor for some people. For example, Lightroom Classic has an entire module devoted to printing, and Lightroom has no print function at all.

Lightroom Classic is best used if you have a high volume of photos stored in your library and plan to continue adding photos to that library. Lightroom Classic stores all your photos locally, so this is a much more affordable option for anyone with over 1 TB of storage. Hard drives are relatively cheap, so adding more space to store more photos is affordable and easy.

Lightroom Classic plays nicely with third-party plug-ins. Let’s face it, there are a lot of really great photo editing programs out there from companies like On1, Skylum, DxO, and more. You can configure Lightroom Classic to send copies to these editors (and to Photoshop too!) and have those copies automatically added back to Lightroom Classic. Lightroom does not currently support third-party plug-ins (though it does have limited Photoshop integration).

If you like to create photo books, you will enjoy using Lightroom Classic’s Book module. If you need to create slideshows, check out Lightroom Classic’s Slideshow module. Lightroom Classic supports a high-volume workflow, so it has a greater array of output options for when you need to create copies for any reason.

Lightroom Classic and Lightroom share the same powerful editing tools used to make your photos look awesome, so there is no real compromise there. So what makes Lightroom compelling? Read on!

Knowing whether you need the new Lightroom

If I had to sketch out the type of photographer who would be the best fit for using Lightroom (at the time of this writing), I think of someone who primarily shoots with a smartphone and/or digital camera set to JPG mode, has a photo library that’s less than 1 TB of total data, and doesn’t own an inkjet printer. That’s not to say that someone who only shoots raw with a DSLR and prints every photo can’t use Lightroom, but considering Lightroom’s current set of features and cost, the raw DSLR shooter would find using Lightroom frustrating and expensive. I’m sure this will evolve.

Lightroom’s greatest asset is that it makes all your photos available on all your devices, and it does that by storing the full-resolution photos in the cloud. This is an amazing feature! However, as I discuss in the Creative Cloud section earlier in this chapter, the Lightroom plan is currently $9.99/month for 1 TB of storage. If you have less than 1 TB of total storage needs, this is a pretty affordable way to have all your photos backed up, accessible, and combined with a state-of-the-art photo editor (and mobile camera app) with easy access to sharing on social media.

Warning Each additional 1 TB of storage costs an additional $9.99/month. If you have a photo library that requires 3 TB of storage you are looking at $29.97/month to store that in the cloud in perpetuity. That’s $359.64 per year, and I don’t know many photographers willing to pay that much per year to store their photos in the cloud. Another potential nonstarter for some people is the fact that at the time of this writing Lightroom does not have a print function.

Now don’t get me wrong; I love the direction Lightroom is heading, and I think it is a great match for people who fit well within its current feature set, but it just isn’t for everyone. That said, Lightroom is only a version 2 product as I write this. Who knows how things will change and evolve in the next 10 years? Nothing is static in the world of digital photography. However, keep in mind that Lightroom is also included with the CC Photography Plan with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop (and 20 GB of storage), and in chapters 16 through 18 I discuss how to use Lightroom Classic and Lightroom together.

If you’re intrigued about Lightroom, jump ahead to Part 5 of the book for an introduction to using it on your mobile device. The remaining sections of this chapter look at the interface of the focus of the book, Lightroom Classic.

Introducing the Lightroom Classic Interface

Adobe built Lightroom Classic using a modular architecture, which means that Lightroom Classic comprises a set of unique applications that share a common interface and that access a common database (or catalog, as it is called). Each of the applications is referred to as a module, and Lightroom Classic has seven modules.

Remember None of these modules can function outside of Lightroom Classic. Although tightly integrated, they each have a set of unique menus, panels, and tools that are tailored to the specific function each module is designed to handle.

I drill down into the specific panels, tools, and menus in the chapters ahead, but for now, I’m going to do the overview thing by taking a stab at what makes each module unique and then showing you how to get the most out of the common interface.

Getting what makes each module unique

Lightroom Classic has seven modules — but the beauty of modular construction is that the potential exists for more to be added. Adobe has opened only limited aspects of Lightroom Classic’s guts to third-party developers, and the outcome has been very positive.

The potential for extending Lightroom Classic’s functionality in the future is something to look forward to, but there’s already plenty of power under the hood. Here are the seven modules you find in Lightroom Classic:

The Library module: Your organizational hub, the Library module (see Figure 1-1), is where many of your Lightroom Classic sessions will start and end. Common Library module tasks include

Keywording and metadata entry.

File moving, deletion, and renaming.

Finding, sorting, and grouping.

The Develop module: The bulk of your image processing takes place in the Develop module. Armed with a powerful array of image-adjustment tools, shown in Figure 1-2, common Develop module tasks include

Setting white balance and tonal adjustments.

Adjusting contrast and color.

Reducing noise and adding sharpening.

Cropping and adjusting crooked horizons.

Removing red-eye and sensor spots.

The Map module: Shown in Figure 1-3, the Map module is for finding photos with embedded geolocation information on the map, or for manually placing photos on the map. The tools in this module allow you to

See photos with geolocation data appear on the map.

Manually place photos on the map.

Use the geolocation data in the photo to apply location information (city, state, country) to its metadata.

The Book module: Shown in Figure 1-4, the Book module is for creating book layouts that you can upload to be printed through Blurb.com. The tools in this module allow you to

Adjust book page layouts.

Create a cover for the book.

Add text to individual pages.

The Slideshow module: The aptly named Slideshow module, shown in Figure 1-5, is for creating presentations of your photos. The tools in this module allow you to

Adjust slideshow layout.

Adjust slide transitions.

Set the show to music.

Export a slideshow as a video, PDF, or series of JPGs.

The Print module: If you print photos, you’ll soon find the Print module, shown in Figure 1-6, to be a valuable addition to your printing workflow. Here you find controls for

Creating layouts and print packages.

Using output-specific color profiles to ensure the best-looking prints.

Printing to a local printer or to a JPG file.

The Web module: Getting your photos online in some capacity is a requirement these days. The Web module, shown in Figure 1-7, allows you to manage your web presence by letting you

Choose from various photo gallery styles.

Configure the look and feel of your Web gallery.

Upload directly to your Web server.

Screenshot of the Library module displaying a series of photographs where many of the Lightroom Classic sessions will start and end.

FIGURE 1-1: The Library module.

Screenshot of the Develop module displaying a photograph where the bulk of an image processing takes place, with a histogram displayed on the right.

FIGURE 1-2: The Develop module.

Screenshot of the Map module for finding photos with embedded geolocation information on the map, or for manually placing photos on the map.

FIGURE 1-3: The Map module.

Screenshot of the Book module, displaying some sceneries, for creating book layouts that you can upload to be printed using the tools in the module.

FIGURE 1-4: The Book module.

Screenshot of the Slideshow module, displaying the scenery of a waterfall, for creating presentations of photos.

FIGURE 1-5: The Slideshow module.

Screenshot of the Print module, displaying the scenery of a waterfall, which is a valuable addition to the printing workflow for printing photos.

FIGURE 1-6: The Print module.

Screenshot of the Web module displaying a series of pictures, which allows to choose from various photo gallery styles and upload the photos directly to the Web server.

FIGURE 1-7: The Web module.

What the Lightroom Classic modules have in common

Having all modules share parts of a common interface might make it harder (at first glance) to tell which module is which, but don’t worry too much about that. Clarity will reign supreme when you have Lightroom Classic up and running. Think of it this way: A common interface is in fact one of Lightroom Classic’s greatest strengths because keeping the same interface means you don’t have to spend time learning seven different interfaces. The interface behaves the same and has the same basic structure no matter what you’re using Lightroom Classic to accomplish.

Check out Figure 1-8 to see what I mean. The Library module shown there sports the following standard interface components that each module shares:

The Title bar: Provides an at-a-glance view of the name of the catalog and the module you’re in.

The Menu bar: The go-to place for all the commands needed for each module’s tasks.

The Module Picker: An easy method to pick the module you want to work with. This area of the interface is also home to the Identity Plate on the left, which you can customize to insert your own graphic, as well as the progress meter that appears when Lightroom performs a task. (For more on the Identity Plate, check out Chapter 5.)

The Left Panel group: Although the content varies with each module, the panels to the left of the interface are generally functions that involve accessing, grouping, and previewing photos and templates.

The Right Panel group: The panels to the right of the interface also vary with each module, but this is where you find controls for adjusting and tweaking.

The Toolbar: Each module has its own set of tools, but the Toolbar that appears under the main content area is a staple of every module.

The Filmstrip: At the bottom of each module, you find the Filmstrip, which displays thumbnails of the image grouping you are working with. It also is home to a row of tools right there along the top that put a lot of things at your fingertips no matter what module you are in:

Main and Second Window controls. Click and hold either of these window icons to access a number of shortcuts for controlling each window (more details on the second window function later in the chapter).

Jump to Grid View icon. No matter where you are in Lightroom, one click takes you to Grid view in the Library module.

Go Back and Forward buttons. Allow you to navigate between previously selected image groupings (folders, collections, searches) you have been viewing.

Filmstrip Source Indicator. Provides an at-a-glance view of the current image grouping and active photo. Click the drop-down arrow at the end for quick access to the special collections found in the Catalog panel as well as a list of recently visited folders, collections, and favorites.

Filters. When clicked, the Filter label expands to reveal ways to filter the current image grouping by flag, rating, or color label. The Custom Filter drop-down menu provides quick access to all of the Library Filter bar options. The last button on the right toggles filtering on and off.

Screenshot displaying various screen resolutions of a picture, with various components of the Lightroom Classic interface: Menu bar, Title bar, Toolbar, Filmstrip, and left and right panel groups.

FIGURE 1-8: The Lightroom Classic interface components.

Controlling the Lightroom Classic interface

Lightroom Classic’s interface has a number of options for reducing and simplifying the workspace. Here’s an example: My publisher had me capture the images of Lightroom Classic shown in this book at a screen resolution of 1280 x 800, so things are looking a little cramped. No way would I work at this resolution — I’d naturally bump it up to the highest resolution my monitor supports so that I could have as much space to work with as possible. However, sometimes there’s just not enough room for everything the interface has to offer — usually those times when you really just want to give as much screen real estate to your photos as possible. Imagine trying to work on a project in your shop and being forced to lay all your tools in neat rows on the workbench — I guess it’s handy, but you surely won’t have as much space as you would like for the project you’re working on. Lightroom has some pretty clever ways of tweaking how your tools are displayed so that you can maximize the size of your workspace.

The simplest way to maximize space is to take advantage of working in Full Screen mode. Just like with any application you currently use, you’re just a keystroke combo away from maximizing Lightroom Classic to fill the available screen. The neat thing about Lightroom Classic, though, is that it takes this maximizing business a step further by providing two separate Full Screen modes in addition to the Normal Screen mode (refer to Figure 1-8 to see Normal) for working:

Full Screen with Menu bar: With this option, Lightroom Classic expands to fill the screen and hide its title bar to gain more space. The Menu bar jumps to the top of the screen. Note that the standard Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons vanish from the top of the window in this mode.

Full Screen: With this option, Lightroom Classic expands to take over the screen completely. The Menu bar disappears, and the Dock (Taskbar in Windows) isn’t accessible.

Normal (shown in Figure1-8): All options are visible, and the Lightroom Classic interface can be resized and moved by grabbing the edge of the window just like in any other application.

Tip To switch between the three screen modes, press Shift+F to jump from one view to another. Keep in mind, though, that if it appears as if you lost the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons at the top of the window (the horror!), what’s really happened is that you’ve simply entered one of the Full Screen modes. (I can’t tell you how many panicked e-mails I have received from folks who believe they’ve somehow lopped off said buttons by mistake, asking whether I could please help them get back their buttons.)

Tip If you just want to see your photo full screen on a black background with no interface cluttering things up, press (only) the F key to toggle Full Screen Preview. Great for putting a photo front and center for evaluation. You can even use your arrow keys to move between photos. Press F again to exit the preview.

If you still want more space, you can take advantage of the collapsible nature of the Module Picker, Panel groups, and Filmstrip. Refer to Figure 1-8 — do you see the small arrow in the center of the outer edge of each side of the interface? Clicking an arrow once causes that panel to hide from view. Now, move your cursor away and then back over any part of that edge and the hidden panel returns, giving you access to the contents of the panel until you move the cursor away again. This is called Auto Hide & Show. Right-click an arrow, and the following options appear:

Auto Hide: When enabled, that panel automatically hides when you move your cursor away from it, but it won’t show again until you click the arrow. I personally like this option because the Auto Show kicking in every time I get too close to the edge tends to drive me nuts.

Manual: No Auto Hiding or Showing. Click an arrow to hide, and it stays that way until you click again.

Sync with opposite panel: When checked, the settings you apply to one panel will be equally applied to the panel on the opposite side.

Tip I find a more convenient method for showing and hiding these screen elements is the keyboard shortcuts:

F5: Show/hide the Module Picker.

F6: Show/hide the Filmstrip.

F7: Show/hide the Left Panel group.

F8: Show/hide the Right Panel group.

Tab: Show/hide both the Left and Right panel groups.

Shift+Tab: Show/hide the Left, Right, Top and Bottom.

T: Show/hide the Toolbar.

When it comes to clearing the clutter and focusing on your photos, Lightroom Classic has one further cool trick up its sleeve. It’s called Lights Out mode and has three states:

Lights On: The normal operating condition, where everything is visible.

Lights Dim: In this mode, your selected photos remain unchanged but the surrounding interface dims. Although dimmed, the interface is accessible and functional (if you know where things are).

Lights Out: Taking the dim view to the extreme, the entire interface is blacked out and only your photos are visible. The ultimate way to reduce clutter!

Tip You can jump through each Lights Out mode by pressing the L key. You set the