Lessons

Lesson Info

Selecting Images in Lightroom Classic

1 Now that we've imported our images, 2 it's time to select them. 3 So, let's jump right into that. 4 Now, if you look, I've already got a collection 5 that we created while we were importing these images 6 that is called the Day Family Portrait, 7 it's got the date on it. 8 I can also, if I click on any of these images, 9 I can right click and say show that to me 10 in the folder in the Library. 11 So, I can show it in the Finder, 12 which takes me to the actual computer, 13 to the space on the hard drive that has the file. 14 But if I click on Show Folder in Library, 15 it's actually gonna take me to the Library folder. 16 So, I'm in the folder area, 17 so you see how I've got all these hard drives here, 18 and I'm in the folder 19 that contains that image. 20 And that's all of these images. 21 So, I've got, there's the job itself, 22 there's the raw file, 23 and it's showing me that that thing exists right here. 24 So, I can edit from both places. 25 They're the same image. 26 One...

's just a virtual location, 27 the other is the real location. 28 But it doesn't matter where I work from, 29 I can work from either and that's fine. 30 The thing I want you to notice 31 about the collection version of this 32 is that it is tied to the cloud 33 because we told it to tie it to the cloud. 34 Unfortunately, it's not showing up right here. 35 And this is important that you realize this. 36 Lightroom, I don't know why, has a glitch. 37 And that glitch is that even though 38 this is connected to the cloud, 39 the little icon that says it's connected to the cloud 40 sometimes doesn't show up. 41 So, if you know that you are on, 42 that you have your Lightroom cloud connected, 43 so you've already started that process, 44 you've been doing it for a while, 45 and the boxes and the little icons 46 that show that it's connected to the cloud, 47 which show up here, are not there. 48 If you don't see either squares 49 or little lightning bolts here, 50 that means that you're experiencing the Lightroom glitch, 51 which I don't know why it does it, 52 but if you go over to the Cloud button 53 that is right here, 54 then you click on it 55 and you say Pause Syncing, and then Start Syncing. 56 Now, you can shut that down and go back over here, 57 and they're back. 58 There's the little, you can see there's a square. 59 The square means that it is not connected to the cloud, 60 but it is willing to be connected to the cloud. 61 And then, the little lightning bolt 62 says it is connected to the cloud. 63 So, our portrait is connected to the cloud, 64 which means that while we uploaded those images 65 and while it created that collection, 66 it was uploading those images to the cloud. 67 Now, anything that comes from Lightroom Classic 68 that's going up into the cloud 69 is going up as what we call a Smart Preview. 70 And a Smart Preview is a small version of the original file, 71 but it is a raw image. 72 So, it's a raw small image, Smart Preview. 73 And when that goes up to the cloud, 74 you can do all of the editing 75 that you could have done to the original raw, 76 it just doesn't take as much space in the cloud. 77 In fact, the Lightroom cloud 78 sees raw images as sizable things 79 that it takes up storage in the cloud, 80 but if you upload a Smart Preview to the cloud, 81 it takes up no storage space, 82 it just doesn't count against your space. 83 So, if you only have 200 gigabytes in the cloud 84 or something like that, 85 or even 1 terabyte in the cloud 86 and you don't wanna pay for more, 87 coming from Lightroom Classic, 88 you can send up the Smart Previews, 89 doesn't count against your space. 90 If you, on the other hand, 91 put your images into the cloud via Lightroom mobile 92 or Lightroom desktop, the small version of Lightroom, 93 or even Lightroom web, 94 it uploads the full high resolution image 95 and that counts against your space in the cloud. 96 So, this is a really great place to upload your images. 97 This is why I can afford to have, 98 what, 100,000 images. 99 Earlier in the workshop, 100 it was only in the 90,000, 101 90 something thousand images. 102 Now, it's 100,000 because I uploaded all these files. 103 So, I have 100,000 images in the cloud, 104 but most of them are not taking up any space 105 because they're Smart Previews 106 because I upload everything that I'm working on 107 from Lightroom Classic. 108 So, you'll notice that I don't have everything in the cloud. 109 I just have 1/4th of my images in the cloud 110 because I upload only the stuff 111 that I'm currently working on. 112 And then, by the time the job is done, 113 I'm getting rid of a bunch of images, 114 and so all I'm keeping in the cloud 115 are the ones that I like. 116 So, right now all of these images are in the cloud. 117 Okay, so let's start editing these images 118 or, sorry, culling these images. 119 So, we have to decide which images 120 we're gonna be working on, 121 so I'm going to the folder version of this. 122 So, I'm not in the collection, I'm in the folder. 123 Doesn't matter if I do it in either, 124 it'll do the same thing. 125 If I flag it or star it in the collection, 126 it'll flag it and star it in the folders. 127 And I'm gonna start working on these images. 128 First thing, I'm gonna turn off this little circle 129 so that we can just see things as they're happening. 130 Now, like I told you, 131 in the Grid or in the Library module, 132 you have different options 133 as to how to look at your images. 134 You have Grid, you have the Loop mode, 135 which is just one image at a time, 136 and then you have a Survey mode, 137 which is N for Survey. 138 I don't know why they chose that, 139 but it is N for Survey. 140 And we're gonna click on that, 141 and it gives us as many images 142 as we have highlighted in the film strip. 143 So, what I do is I go to the start 144 and I simply click on the first one, 145 and then I Shift + click to another set. 146 So, things that look similar, so just those will work. 147 And then, I'm gonna hit the Tab key 148 so that I can get rid of the right and the left panels. 149 If I hit Shift + Tab, it gets rid of top and bottom as well, 150 but I just want to get rid of the right and left panels, 151 so I hit the Tab key and I just look through these images 152 and see do I want? 153 That's kind of a cute image, 154 and so I'm gonna zoom in 155 and make sure it's sharp, looks good, 156 and then I'm gonna hit the Tilda key, 157 which is the key right next to the 1. 158 So, the Tilda key that you would use in, say, Spanish, 159 you would click on that 160 and it toggles it from picked to unpicked, picked to unpick. 161 You can also hit the P key for pick, 162 you can hit the U key for unpick, 163 and you can hit the X key for reject. 164 But I'm gonna hit the P key to pick that again. 165 And I just use the Tilda key 166 because it's right here next to the 1 167 so that I can click on the Tilda 168 and I can click on 1, 2, and 3, 4, 5. 169 So, all of those are right next to each other. 170 I can also use a shortcut replicator. 171 So, a keyboard shortcut replicator 172 allows you to do things a lot faster inside of Lightroom. 173 But I'm going to teach you how to do this 174 based on keyboard commands 175 rather than using a keyboard shortcut replicator. 176 I'm only doing that so that you know 177 that this is how you operate 178 if you're not spending any additional money on extra things, 179 you're just learning the keystrokes 180 and the best way to use those keystrokes here. 181 So, I'm gonna hit the Tilda key, 182 or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for 1-5 stars, 183 the Z key. 184 It can be done with my finger here. 185 So, I've got my right or my left hand 186 right over here on the left side of the keyboard 187 and I can hit Tilda, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 188 Z for zoom. 189 And that's pretty much what I'm going to be working on. 190 And if I need to, I can hit G, which is pretty close, 191 to get back to the Grid 192 and I can hit N to get back to survey. 193 It's all kind of on that left-hand side of the keyboard. 194 Okay, so once I'm done with this set of images 195 and I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking at them, 196 the reason we're in the Survey mode 197 is because we want to see a group of images together 198 so that we can compare them. 199 We don't wanna go into the Loop mode, which is E, 200 and go like this 201 because we don't actually get to see the images together, 202 so we don't get to compare them. 203 The N key or survey mode 204 is where we want to compare our images. 205 And then, we're going to click on this next image, 206 and I'm just gonna use my mouse scroll 207 to just scroll over to about here, 208 Shift + click to there, 209 and now I get to see the next set of images. 210 And so, I can just go through 211 and say in comparison, 212 if I look at all of these bottom images, 213 I tend to respond to either this one or this one. 214 I kind of like this one the best, 215 I'm gonna zoom in, 216 she's sharp, pick it, 217 move on to the next one. 218 Scan through these. 219 I like that one, zoom in, pick it. 220 I don't like any of those, keep going. 221 Shift + click and look for anything here. 222 That's kind of cute. 223 And then, and this is just the girls playing 224 before the photo shoot, 225 so I'm just taking pictures 226 while we're waiting for everybody to get ready. 227 I like this one. 228 Good, and moving on to the next set. 229 You can see that I don't spend a lot of time 230 looking and scrutinizing the images, 231 I'm reacting to the images, 232 and this is the best way to be selecting your images. 233 First rule, we look at all of our images together 234 in the Survey mode 235 and that gives us a comparative review. 236 The second rule is that I don't spend a lot of time, 237 I react to it. 238 So, I in the same way that I react to images 239 while I'm taking them, 240 I react to the images as they show up in front of me here 241 and I use my instinct to select those images, 242 I don't spend a lot of time scrutinizing. 243 So, I'm gonna click on this one, 244 zoom in, I like it, and pick it. 245 Now, it's important for me to reiterate 246 the Auto Sync issue. 247 So, in the Survey mode, 248 if I, and I'm gonna just go hit the Tab key 249 to bring in the panels again. 250 If this button here is turned to Auto Sync, 251 then if I go in and click one of these images 252 and hit pick for P, P for pick, 253 it picks all of them. 254 And if I unpick it, unpicks all of them. 255 So, that's a problem, we don't want that to happen. 256 So, make sure that this Auto Sync is off 257 while you're selecting images. 258 So, I'm gonna click on this one and pick it. 259 Then, I'm gonna scan through the next set of images, 260 hit the Tab key to get rid of those right panels. 261 And then I really like this image I think, that's good. 262 Maybe this one. 263 Now, this, once I've zoomed in 264 and I'm kind of toggling between two images, 265 at this point I'll just use the arrow key 266 to make sure that I like that one. 267 So, occasionally I have to compare two 268 and I'll just go back and forth. 269 Or you can just click on this one 270 and then Shift + click to this one, 271 and then it just shows you the two. 272 But occasionally you have to zoom in to see it, 273 that's when you can use those arrows 274 and go back and forth between the two. 275 So, I'm just kind of scanning through, 276 grabbing like images and looking to see if there's any. 277 So, see how I've got closeups 278 and then I've got full length images? 279 I'm gonna just click on that 280 and I'm gonna go over here and click on this one. 281 That looks pretty good. 282 I'm gonna collect that one. 283 And I'm gonna just keep scanning through these. 284 Obviously, these are gonna be difficult 285 'cause she's doing a pogo stick, 286 so I'm just looking to see if there's anything 287 that comes out of this 288 and not really that interested, 289 but oh, see, they're all blurry. 290 It is very difficult. 291 I'm just gonna let it go. 292 Well, maybe this one. 293 There we go, got her on a pogo stick 294 nice and high, good. 295 So, then we're gonna do the same thing here. 296 And okay. 297 So, here's where we get to some cute images, 298 so I'm gonna Shift + click these 299 and look at all of these images. 300 I like the way this is a little too bright, 301 I darkened it back down. 302 I think that I like this one. 303 No, maybe this one. 304 So, I'm gonna click, 305 she's a little too smiley, a little squinty. 306 Let's try that, that's a little bit better. 307 She's, there we go. 308 Okay, so that's the one. 309 I like that one. 310 I might look at this one as well and see, 311 kind of like her half smile there. 312 So, we'll keep two of them 313 and then move on to the next set here. 314 Now, sometimes when you get 315 to a larger family portrait 316 where you have more people involved, 317 sometimes at that point it makes sense to go in 318 and hit the E key. 319 And I'm just gonna click on the first image on the frame 320 so that it deselects the other ones. 321 Sometimes it makes sense 322 because you need to be able to see their faces 323 a little bit better. 324 And so, what I'll do is hit the Command + Plus button 325 and just zoom in just a little bit 326 so that I'm looking at all of them. 327 Oh, I gotta zoom out a little bit so I can see this dog. 328 There we go. 329 So, now I can see them all much clearer 330 and I'm going to just move through. 331 There we go, see how I can see that a little bit better? 332 And at this point I'm just gonna flag anything 333 that looks pretty good on everybody 334 and then I'll skip anything 335 where someone's closing their eyes 336 or doing something with a weird look or something like that. 337 So, we'll just kind of cycle 338 through the images at this point 339 'cause looking at them really small 340 when it's a whole family, it's not very easy to do. 341 But if you happen to have two monitors, 342 remember we can always put on this second monitor, 343 then you could have the second monitor 344 showing the full sized image 345 and then you could cycle through the images 346 by clicking on them 347 and then just glance over at the big monitor 348 and you would see it. 349 But we don't have that 350 'cause we are kind of paring things down 351 and we're only operating in Lightroom 352 based on what's actually there. 353 That's my rule for this class 354 is that we're only going to use 355 what is actually in Lightroom Classic. 356 So, I like this image, so I'm gonna pick it 357 and then I'm just gonna keep cycling through the images. 358 I like those. 359 Dogs looking away, 360 now the dog's looking correctly, good. 361 And I'm just picking. 362 Oh, she's got her eyes closed. 363 Let's see. 364 I like, did I get? 365 No, that's the one with her eyes closed, 366 that's the one. 367 There we go. 368 Keep going. 369 All right, so I picked the ones that I liked from there, 370 and now I'm gonna go back into the Survey mode 371 to get the photo of the dog. 372 That's a pretty good one. 373 And this one where he is smiling is a pretty good one, 374 so I'll take those two. 375 And then, I've got these verticals, 376 which I think I can see them pretty well this way, 377 and so I'm going to look at them like this 378 and I'm just gonna zoom in. 379 Nope, that one doesn't work out. 380 Nope, we'll go back to this direction. 381 And I'm seeing them pretty well 382 'cause they're zoomed in, which is nice. 383 Don't like any of those. 384 You notice that I'm being very judicious 385 about what I'm doing, what I'm selecting. 386 So, I'm not adding extra images 387 just because they might work out. 388 I am very brutal about my selection 389 because I don't want to be working on thousands of images, 390 I want to be working on 100 images, 391 or 200 images, or something like that. 392 I usually try and select about 1/10th 393 or 1/5th of the images that I have. 394 So, if I have 1,000 images, 395 maybe I want to collect 100. 396 So, that's a pretty good number for a photo shoot. 397 Now, rather than go through 398 and select all these images right here in front of you 399 and spend a lot of time doing it, 400 I wanted you to see how it was done, 401 how I'm using the keyboard shortcuts to do it, 402 and I wanted you to see the process. 403 There are tools that can be used 404 to make this happen. 405 You can import your images into other tools, 406 like, for instance, there's one called Aftershoot, 407 there's another AI service called Imagine AI. 408 Both of those services will allow you 409 to export your images into them 410 as a catalog or as images, 411 and they will go through and choose the best images 412 and look for things that are out of focus 413 and look for things that have closed eyes 414 and kind of weed those out by marking them 415 with color ratings. 416 And then, you can import them back into Lightroom 417 and it will speed this process along. 418 But, like I said, we are not going to be talking 419 about other services outside of Lightroom Classic. 420 As we get a little bit further in this class, 421 there is one service that I think is pretty cool 422 that fits inside of Lightroom. 423 So, I'll show it to you 424 because it fits within the rule 425 that we can do it inside of Lightroom, 426 so we're gonna use that one. 427 But I'll just show it to you 428 because it's absolutely fascinating 429 that it works right inside of Lightroom and uses AI, 430 but uses an external service to do that. 431 So, it's pretty cool, 432 but we'll get to that when we start developing.