My photography workflow has been centered around Adobe Lightroom for years (I started with Lightroom 4) and in that time, I’ve come across a few things that have made using the software a bit easier. These tips are for Lightroom Classic and are current as of release 13.4, which is the latest complete build at the time of writing.

The Williamsburg Bridge

Auto-Hiding Panels

Each module in Lightroom—Library, Develop, Map, etc.—has its own set of associated panels that appear on the sides of the screen. These can be hidden from view by clicking on the triangular pointer (▶)at the edge of each panel. Once you’ve hidden the panel, hovering your mouse over the edge of the screen will temporarily show the panel. This is great for when you are on a smaller screen and need extra space for viewing photos. This is also useful when you find that you aren’t using the features of a particular panel very often. It’s also possible to hide the filmstrip at the bottom of the screen, as well as the top panel with the list of modules. 

A view of Manhattan from Bushwick Inlet Park

Solo Mode

Each panel on a given module has a ton of controls. For instance, the Develop module’s right panel has 10 separate sections, and each of those sections has its own set of controls. As you go through your editing process, you may find that you have to constantly scroll up and down between these sections to make tweaks. Solo mode makes it so only the section you are currently using is visible, and all the other sections collapse. Personally, I find that it keeps the screen tidy, and I spend less time scrolling up and down looking for the controls I need. If you aren’t familiar with what sections have which controls yet, there will be a bit of a learning curve. However, once you’ve familiarized yourself with where things are, it can really be a time saver. You can enable solo mode by right clicking on the panel where you want it enabled and selecting it from the menu. You can also change the order of the items in the panel, but I tend to leave it in the default order. 

Lights at Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival

Raw Defaults

Admittedly, I don’t really use this one much but I figured I’d share it. Have you ever noticed that when you import your photos into Lightroom and then view them, they look a bit different for a second and then change? This is the embedded preview’s view being replaced with the default settings that get applied on import. These defaults are based on Adobe’s presets, but what if you’d prefer to have it the way it was before? You can change this in Lightroom’s preferences.

Press Ctrl + , (comma)  on Windows or ⌘ + , on Mac to bring up the Preferences menu. From there, you can go to the Presets tab and look for the section that says “Raw Defaults.” If you change the Global setting to “Camera Settings,” it will import your photos with the default settings from your camera. Not only that, but because these are being imported as default values, it means that when you reset the image or reset a slider, the default position will be whatever you set your camera to, instead of the neutral/zero value for the slider. This can also be done on a camera by camera basis. I’ve become accustomed to making my adjustments from the Adobe defaults, so I don’t really use this one, but it’s worth looking into, especially if you find yourself using the camera profiles more often than the ones from Adobe.