The Live Snap Love Blog
YOUR SPOT FOR PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIALS, TECHNIQUES, INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION!
What's the difference between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC? 2020 Update!
Adobe certainly knew how to confuse the living bejesus out of photographers when they began offering TWO choices for their Lightroom program - Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.
So, what’s the difference between the two? What does each one do differently? Who are they for? And most importantly, which one should you get?!!
Find out the answers to all these questions below!
Best Folder Structure for Photos?
Organising your digital photos and wondering what the best folder structure for photos is?
Whether you are getting ready to create your first folder structure in anticipation of the many (brilliant) photos you are going to take, or you’re trying to sort out a mess of random folders and pictures from previous years, this episode is going to be a must-watch.
I’m going to walk you through two simple folder structures you can use for your photos, and help you choose the best one for you.
For the best experience, you should really watch the video, but you can also scroll down to see the written highlights if you’re short on time.
How to Use Presets in Lightroom Classic
Wondering how to use presets in Lightroom? In this post we're going to cover EVERYTHING - from where to find your Lightroom presets, how to use them, and most importantly, how to tweak them for best results.
Because whilst Lightroom presets are wonderful for speeding up your editing workflow, most of the time you're going to need to make adjustments to them. (Otherwise your images are going to look a little bit over done and overblown, and we don’t want that!)
How to Install Lightroom Classic Presets
Hello there! Today, I'm going to show you how to install Lightroom presets in Lightroom Classic CC.
And the good news is it's never been easier to install Lightroom presets!
We’ll cover three different ways to do this, depending on whether you have the latest XMP style of presets, or the older, legacy presets - and whether you just want to install one or two presets or a whole bunch!
Lightroom Export Settings for Instagram
Today I'm going to show you the exact Lightroom Export Settings for Instagram!
If you've been finding that your images look fantastic in Lightroom, but then when you upload them to Instagram, they look crunchy or pixelated, or they've just got this really weird color vibe going on, then this is definitely the video for you!
I'm going to walk you through step by step setting by setting exactly what you need to do to export your images for Instagram.
The Ultimate Guide To Cropping In Lightroom
Cropping your images in Lightroom is so important in order to make your images look more polished, more professional, and of course more engaging and dynamic through better composition.
So that is exactly what I'm going to show you in this video!
I'm going to show you how the crop tool works, and we’re going to talk about aspect ratio, changing orientation with a really in depth like at the crop tool.
Do you make sure that you watch right until the end because I'm also shading a sneaky little bonus tip for changing the crop overlay so you can get more dynamic composition. That's really important to make sure that you don't miss that!
How to Change the Color of Absolutely Anything in Photoshop
If you want to change the colour of something in your photo, for example, a t-shirt or a pair of shoes, lip colour or even a background, it's pretty darn easy to do in Photoshop!
The video below shows you a simple technique you can use to change an item’s colour.
In the video, I show you how you could change the colour of the background, and use the exact same steps to make her lips pinker, just to show a couple of the different things you could use this for - but remember, you can use this on ANYTHING.
(One caveat though, please note that this works best with solid colours - anything that has a pattern or graduation won’t work nearly as well)
How to Fix an Overexposed Sky in Lightroom (in 3 simple steps)
We’ve all done it - taken a picture where we’ve overexposed the sky, either by accident or to try to ensure our subject is correctly exposed. But, fret not, as you can quickly and easily fix an overexposed sky in Lightroom - and in just three (or even two!) simple steps….
And that’s exactly what I’m going to show you how to do today!
Quick Guide to Photoshop: 3 Must-Use Tools
Photoshop is seriously filled to the brim with wonderful tools and shortcuts that can make editing our images a breeze, allow us to get more creative with our images, add a little extra magic and sparkle, and make huge fixes that are simply not possible with Lightroom.
But unfortunately, because it can do so much, it’s not exactly easy to learn 😔
That said, there are tools and features that you’ll find yourself using time and time again in Photoshop, so after a while, although it’s still a beast of a program, using it does become so much easier when you have some basics down.
So in this week’s blog post, I’m going to share just 3 must-use tools in Photoshop, especially selected for those that are new to the program, because they are SO simple to use, and because you’ll use them all.the.time.
5 Times You'll Need Photoshop over Lightroom for Editing Your Photos
It’s no secret - I freaking love Lightroom. I love how much you can do in the program, how fast it is for editing your photos, and the whole end to end organisation thing just makes me want to kiss my computer screen.
But that doesn’t mean it can do absolutely everything.
There’s a damn good reason why Adobe bundled both Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC together in their Photography Plan - because when you have access to both programs, you can do absolutely anything you’re little editing heart desires!
How to Use Lightroom: 3 Must Use Tools for Beginners
Lightroom is definitely the must-use photo editing software for both professional and hobbyist photographers, simply because it has absolutely everything you need to mange, edit and share your images in one place (and in waaaay less time than other software) .
Because it can do SO much, you can easily find yourself a little overwhelmed at first. But, as with everything else in photography, you can start by learning a few simple tools. And that’s what I what to cover here today!
7 Deadly Lightroom Photo Editing Sins (and how to avoid them)
When I first started learning how to edit my photos, I followed a few different tutorials online, patched them together, and studiously applied them to each and every photo.
The result?
Eye blindingly bright, overly contrasty and saturated images, that looked like they had been edited by 10 different people.
(My eyes hurt just THINKING about those early edits 😎😵)
But you don’t have to make those mistakes too, because you’ve got me, and I’m not gonna let that happen!
So without further ado, here’s 7 deadly photo editing sins - and most importantly, how you can avoid them.
How to Create Your Own Easy Lightroom Workflow Routine (and stick to it)
Have you ever found yourself wondering exactly WHERE an image that you’ve taken is?
Why you seem to have about 5 different copies of the same file kicking about?
Or you’ve been sat looking at your image for the last ten minutes wondering exactly what adjustments you should be making? Whether you’ve done enough?
If that’s you, then a) you are not alone and b) the chances are you’re missing something incredibly crucial - a Lightroom workflow.
5 Ways to Save Yourself Countless Hours Each Week with Lightroom
Let’s be honest, the one thing that most of us have in common is that we struggle with not having enough hours in the day!
That’s why trying to find an extra hour or two to edit and manage your photos when you have about 874 OTHER things that need to be done that day can be trying to say the least.
I know this from experience: after I was a few years into photography I had gotten myself in a huge mess when it came to my photos, and I was spending hours each week trying to get them into some sort of order, not to mention carrying out long winded editing on all my photos.
One thing that made a huge difference to how much I could get through in less time was Lightroom, so today, I want to show you 5 ways that Lightroom has saved me countless hours each week…
The Six Essential Steps of a Lightroom Workflow
Confused about exactly what your Lightroom workflow should look like? Then this video is for you!
As a photographer, the actual taking of the image is only half the work - the other half happens back at your computer. This is when you will upload your images, organise them, rate them or choose your favourites, edit them, then get them off your hard drive and into the world where you belong.
Lightroom Classic CC is simply an amazing tool, because it allows you to do all of that with complete ease!
But you do need to have a good Lightroom workflow in place, so you know exactly what you should be doing, and when to do it.
In this video tutorial, I break down the six main steps, or phases, of a standard Lightroom workflow, so you can use this as a baseline for creating your own. Check it out: