3. Lightroom Layout 1: Adding Photos & Albums

When you open Lightroom for the very first time, a window will open, prompting you to click on 'Add Photos' in the upper left. When you do, a window will open like this:

Choose the folder you wish to work from. Be careful not to put too many pictures in one folder, as it can slow down the program. Once you select the folder you want, press 'Choose Folder'.  A screen will appear with all the images in that folder. You can select the ones you want ('Select All' at the top right is simplest), and then press 'Add Items', the blue button in the upper right.

After you click on that, you will see this:

These are all images that  you can now begin editing. Double click on any image to enlarge it for editing:

Take a moment to notice the layout of Lightroom. There are drop-down menus at the top left, a panel on the left with photo selection options, a film roll at the bottom to cycle through pictures, and a selection of editing buttons on the right. You can hover the cursor over each button to see what it does:

The buttons on the right are as follows: Presets, Edit, Crop & Rotate, Healing, Masking, Versions, Activity, Keywords, and Info. We will go over these options in future lessons. Many of these options can be found in drop-down menus in Photoshop. One difference between Photoshop and Lightroom is that they replace many drop-down menus with buttons that are right there, ready to press. It can be confusing at first, but once you learn the symbols, it's more efficient.

Adding an Album

Unlike Photoshop, where images are only organized in Windows folders, you can now create virtual folders, called Albums, that you will only see while in Lightroom. These albums allow you to group your photos according to subject, project, assignment - whatever you want. Grouping photos makes them faster and easier to find, export, and send to clients (or your teacher). You can put the same photo into multiple albums without taking up any extra hard drive space - one advantage over using Windows.

To create an album, first select a photo you wish to add to that album, and then click the button 'Add Album' on the left. A window will pop up, allowing you to name it:

Choose a name for the album, then click 'Create'. Whatever photo you selected will automatically be in the album. If you didn't mean for it to be in the album, right click on the photo and click on 'Remove From Album'. You can then click on 'All Photos' and go through whichever images you want to add to the album. Right click on each one, and scroll down to 'Add 1 Photo to Album', then select the album where you want the image to go.

You can click on the '+' sign to make additional albums. Go through your photos, making albums to help organize them how you like. This is your chance to personalize your Lightroom interface. 

Note: If you ever move your folder to another location on your hard drive, Lightroom might not be able to access them, not unless you do all this over again! So, be careful not to do this.

Also Note: you don't have to add these one photo at a time. Save time, by selecting multiple images. Select one on the film roll below. Then scroll along, until you get to an image that does not belong in the same album. Hold the shift key while clicking on the image to the left of it, and you'll have a selection of images that all fit in one album. Right click, and add them all to the album at once.