How to use Lightroom on PC and Mac
You wish to know how to use Lightroom on PC and Mac? I'll settle you immediately. But first, let me remind you that the famous Adobe image management and processing software it is not free: being a software used in a professional environment, in fact, it requires the subscription of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan, which starts from 12,19 euro / month. However, rest assured: you can test all its features for 7 days for free and calmly decide whether to subscribe or not.
Lightroom Download
Before I explain how Lightroom works, let me explain how to download its trial version. First, connect to the Adobe website and click on the button Activate your free trial version. If you use Windows, once the download is complete, run the file Lightroom_Set-Up.exe you got and presses the button Yes. If you use a Macinstead, open the file Lightroom_Installer.dmg you downloaded and double-click the icon Lightroom Installer.
In the Lightroom installation window, press the button Subscribe and create your Adobe ID: then fill out the form that appears on the screen providing all the required information (name, last name, date of birth, address e-mail, Password) and then click on the button Registration (if you already have an Adobe account, you can of course skip this step by pressing on Log in and logging into your account).
Now, check the box I have read and accept the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy (UPDATED), award your bottone Continue and answer through the three drop-down menus that have appeared on the screen to the short questionnaire that is asked to you. Finally, click on the button Start installing and wait for the installation to complete (it will take a few minutes, it depends on the speed of your connection).
If any step is not clear to you or if you encountered problems installing the software, please consult the guide in which I explain in greater detail how to download Lightroom.
Using Lightroom
After installing Lightroom on your computer, the program should start automatically: if this does not happen, you can do it yourself: on Windows double click on the shortcut that was created on the desktop, while on MacOS click on the program icon that is present in the Launchpad. When you first start Lightroom, you will see information panels that illustrate its main features: press the button (>) to browse the cards and then presses the button (✓) to close them.
As you can see, the Lightroom interface is really “clean” and well organized, which will certainly allow you to use the program more fluently. At the top left, there is the button capacitor positive (+) lead through which to import new photos and the button in the shape of drawers thanks to which you can choose how to organize them. On the toolbar located on the right, there are instruments with which to retouch the shots, while in the lower part of the window and in the upper part there are, respectively, the buttons with which to modify the viewing photos and menu bar.
To help users become familiar with the program, Adobe has prepared a short tutorial that consists of five steps: all you have to do is follow the blue dot moving across the screen and start using Lightroom by referencing the wizard.
To import photos into Lightroom, press the button capacitor positive (+) lead, select the folder or device in which there are the images you want to retouch, press the blue button Add N photos located at the top right and wait for the import to complete. Once you have imported the shots you are interested in, decide how to organize them by pressing the drawer icon at the top left and, from the menu located at the bottom, choose the type of view you want to activate (eg. Photo grid, Grid with square cells o Details) and then presses the button Add an album if you want to organize the shots within a synchronized collection on the cloud.
To retouch a photo, then, select it from the menu located at the bottom (so as to view it within the work area) and use the tools on the left to retouch it. If you want to act on the parameters of the photo, for example, press the button depicting the three adjustment bars located at the top right and, in the window that opens laterally, move the sliders placed on the respective adjustment bars to modify the parameters concerning theexposure, contrast, shine, ombre, the balance of White and black temperature vividness saturation and so on.
If you want to crop the photo or rotate it, press the button Cut out located at the top right and, in the window that opens, move the cursor to straighten the photo manually or press on Automatic to straighten it automatically or, again, presses the buttons located under the item Rotate or flip to rotate or flip the photo. To crop the shot, however, left click on the gray bars that appear on the perimeter and corners of the image you are retouching and perform the desired crop by dragging the cursor to the desired position. When you are done, press Submit on your keyboard to save your changes and that's it.
If there are any defects on the photo, remove them using the tool Healing brush: press the icon of plaster located on the toolbar located on the right, select the other characteristics of the brush from the panel that opens and then highlight the area where the defect you want to remove is present (e.g. a wrinkle, a loop, etc.): as for "Magic", the defect (if it is not particularly complex) will be eliminated. If not, try changing the brush parameters and try again until you reach the desired result.
Do you want to retouch only a portion of the photo? In this case, press the icon of brush located on the right and move the mouse cursor over the area you want to edit, then modify the parameters of the photo - temperature, ink, exposure, contrast, etc. As you can see, only the area you have previously “colored” will be modified.
When finished, export the output photo: open the menu Fillet located at the top left, select the item Salva in ..., select the format, position and size you want to assign to the file and press the blue button Save. If you want, you can also make further changes using the tools integrated in Photoshop: to do so, instead of clicking on "Save in ...", select the item Edit in Photoshop ... (always from the menu Fillet).
Did you see how easy it was to use Lightroom? I am convinced that thanks to this powerful program you will be able to do great things. By the way ... if you want to learn more about certain functions and features of this software, do not hesitate to take a look at the official Adobe guide, which you can find at the link I just provided.
How to use Lightroom on smartphones and tablets
want use Lightroom on smartphones and tablets? Thanks to the app Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, available for both Android and iOS, you can do it without any problem! The app is free and allows you to process and share images quickly and easily: it integrates numerous advanced features, including the ability to take photos in formats DNG e HDR (for supported devices only) and to import / edit RAW files. The latter function, however, is only available for those who are subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan which, I remind you, starts at 12,19 euros per month.
After installing and starting Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC on your device, scroll through the information cards that appear on its first start (or tap on Ignore) and then presses the button Start to log into your Adobe account and use all the tools that are included there. So log in to your account by tapping the blue button Access or click on the link Registration (if you don't have an Adobe account yet). Alternatively, you can also log in through your account Google or your account Facebookby pressing the relative buttons.
Once logged in, presses the symbol of postcard to edit a photo already in the Gallery or tap on the icon camera to take a new one. After selecting or taking the photo you want to retouch, use the tools located in the toolbar at the bottom: Cut out, to crop a portion of the photo; Correction, to correct the shot using the Healing Brush; Color, to modify the temperature, saturation, etc .; Effects, to adjust the clarity of the shot, to remove haze, or to remove graininess; Details, to increase the sharpness of the image or to reduce noise; optics, to activate and / or deactivate the lens correction tool, and so on.
When you have finished editing the photo, tap the button (✓) located at the top right and then press the button Share located at the top of the screen and save the output file by selecting one of the available saving and sharing options.
How to use Lightroom
