Lightroom Hints and Tips

[theMusicMan]

Hi All

Given the success of the threads covering OlyPaul's Elements tips, and Pete's Photoshop tips - I thought I'd start one for Lightroom. I will try to populate this with some straightforward tips, but not sure I have the time to be as comprehensive and detailed as Paul and Pete (they are excellent) so these may not necessarily include examples.

I shall kick this off in a mo... enjoy.

[theMusicMan]

Re: Lightroom Hints and Tips

Ever wanted to be able to see what the results of your editing look like side-by-side to the original image? Well, surprisingly, there are many people who I speak with either during or after my giving Lightroom demonstrations who are not aware of this very simple key-press which allows you to do just that!

Here's how. Firstly, make sure you are in the Develop module and preferably have made some edits from the original image you are presently viewing - so that you can then see these edits as compared to the original image, then simply press the 'Y' key on your keyboard. To come out of before/after view, simply press the 'Y' key once more and you will return to the normal develop loupe view.

Seeing a 'Before' and 'After' view by using the 'Y' key.


There are several variants of this, and the screenshot you see above is my default instance of a before/after view.

If you look to the bottom left of the screenshot, you see a button with 'YY' on it. This is the button that controls the type of before/after shot you see. If you wanted to view only a split in a single image in portrait mode, then simply select 'before/after left right split' from this menu, and voila!

You can also choose to view before/after in top/bottom view and in top/bottom split mode too. Very useful.



You can zoom in/out of your image as required, and the split or double image will work accordingly.

Here in this next screenshot, I have simply zoomed into the area I know you were all wanting me to zoom into on this picture - her eyes of course



Note that you can also view a single before and a single after view by simply pressing the '\' key. This key then alternates/cycles between the single before and after views.

Hope that helps. Many thanks to Chez, my excellent model for allowing me to use these shots.