Lightroom (Classic) Tutorial for Beginners

Professional photographer, Terry VanderHeiden created this video to show you how to set up Adobe Lightroom Classic from the beginning. How to prepare your catalog of images correctly from the start to keep you images safe and find those images at a later time. This is part of an ongoing Lightroom series that will step you though using Lightroom like a professional.
Link to eBook Razor-Sharp Nature Photography - bit.ly/3L7nP3M
Here is the link for the portable hard drive I use: bit.ly/3KtpeEM

[@miguelsuarez1511]

Congratulations! By far... the best Lightroom tutorial for beginners I've seen so far. I've been using Lightroom for a long time and I love to watch how people try to explain "how easy" it is to use lightroom, and no one does really. 🤣🤣🤣 You simply nailed it. Great job. For sure I'll be watching more of your videos and will share them with my friends. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from those. Huge thanks. 👌👌👌

[@tv510]

Thanks Miguel for the kind words and for watching!

[@Starz_nSky]

I am new to the program myself and have been watching modules from a photography course I am taking but somehow I am not getting it so I came here and it's good to see that others who are familiar with LR find you to explain it so well for beginners. I use a laptop and so far I was able to do some organizing but so much more to learn so I will get back to it. I just subscribed as well!

[@tv510]

Thank you! @@Starz_nSky

[@motv2717]

After carefully watching your tutorial repeatedly, I am convinced I now hold a Basic Beginner Certificate (BBC) in Lightroom. Thank you for this outstanding outpouring of good knowledge.

[@tv510]

Ha! Certificates of achievement, sounds like a product I need to develop and start selling. Right after I design my coffee mugs and t-shirts. Thanks for watching!

[@cassiegroves1497]

I have been using Lightroom for two years now and have been just winging it. This is the first time it has made sense! So glad I found you!

[@tv510]

Hi Cassie, I'm glad it works for you. I have more videos coming!

[@reubendavison1]

The best tutorial for setting up catalogues I've seen. You have a great presentation style along with all the information you need. Brilliant. Thank you.

[@tv510]

Thanks for watching Reuben!

[@chrisd3780]

I'm a total newbie with LR Classic and photo editing in general, always shot JPEG and never edited. Finally shooting RAW and had no idea how to even start with LrC. This video was significantly helpful... Thank You!

[@tv510]

Congrats Chris, I think you are really going to improve your photography with adding RAW and Lightroom to your knowledge base. Thanks for watching.

[@melirn7280]

I'm so happy I found you! You are an excellent teacher! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and making learning so much nicer!

[@tv510]

You are so welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@DaveMelvin]

Excellent, steadily paced, very clear and informative. Highly recommended. Thank you Terry.

[@tv510]

Thank you Dave. I appreciate the kind words. More to come.

[@mienchen07]

Yay! Finally a video on Lightroom Catalogs that is understandable and easy to follow! Thank you so much, it is very enjoyable to listen to your explanations. Greetings from Germany

[@tv510]

Hi Jazze Eau, thanks for watching. More to come.

[@highanddryful]

You Sir are the very first U tuber I have manged to find after hundreds of searches who has actually taken the time to provide a tutorial of how to create a library catalog and its steps. Thank you,I wish I had found your channel months ago.

[@tv510]

Thank you. I think it's so important to take the steps to do it right from the beginning. That way you won't have to deal with som many missing files.

[@jameswong-xf9tm]

Thanks for sharing. I'm a beginner in Lightroom. This is my Frist sorry I meant my first decent video for enhancing great photos. Looking forward to seeing your next session. cheers mate

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful for you James! Thanks for watching.

[@dtswan55]

Excellent tutorial, by far the best! Thank You.

[@tv510]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@patkennedy-b4c]

Best video for me I will be watching more. Thanks

[@tv510]

Thank you Pat!

[@craigrdunlop]

Thanks for your help , very informative .

[@tv510]

You are welcome Craig!

[@Ksixstring]

I've now been introduced to lightroom classic from my employer. Very interesting!

[@tv510]

Thanks for watching.

[@TheZGALa]

Thank you! I am taking 'the leap' this week, and appreciate the tips for setting up a good work flow.

[@tv510]

Fantastic. I'm glad you saw my starter video before you jumped in. So much better than redoing your catalog down the road. Have fun!

[@VaansWorld]

This is tremendously helpful. Thank you!!

[@tv510]

You are welcome Vaans!

[@richardbrown3434]

Really informative video and well explained, thank you.

[@tv510]

Thank you Richard, I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.

[@michaelotoole8326]

Great and helpful video!! I also use a hard drive to backup my images. But, when you edit the original photo, how does the backup get those newly edited images. If I'm not clear with my question, send a reply and I'll try to make it clearer.

[@tv510]

Hi Michael, that is going to depend on how you back up the hard drive. There are programs out there (like Super Duper) that will back up your drive from one to another. If you set it up, on the second backup, it will only add just the new files. This makes the backups go really quick. If you don't have that, then just a complete back up from time to time to keep that drive up to date. (Replacing all the files so the drives are exact.) let me know if this helps.

[@BiJoy2925]

Thank you Terry, you have demystified Lightroom classic for me, this is an amazing way to go for me.

[@tv510]

Glad you like them. I have another coming next week, be sure to hit the bell icon to be notified. Thanks for watching.

[@digitdouglas]

Just bought a Nikon Z7ii and took some photos. Excited how to use Adobe LRC. Your explanation is so well done, thank you for making it so easy and clear. This is fun!

[@tv510]

Yes, it is fun. Enjoy your new camera and look forward to taking some great shots that you will now be able to find in LRC!

[@joshuaphuongle9762]

I have just started to take my casual phototaking a bit more seriously with Light Room, been struggling in organizing and backing up my photos. Your video is really useful. Thank you Terry.

[@tv510]

Hi Joshua, Excellent, you will be glad you are cataloging everything. Thanks for watching.

[@svenfjall]

Hi Terry. I just want say that this was probably the best tutorial I´ve ever seen in any subject. Keep up the good work. Locking forward to see more about LRC!

[@tv510]

Will do Sven. Thank you.

[@ShelleyHughes2503]

Thank you for making this tutorial. You have made a great video for a beginner. I will definitely be looking you up as I progress through my lightroom journey.

[@tv510]

Excellent Shelley, good luck!

[@satyajitmukhopadya6159]

Thanks Terry, I will wait for your next Lightroom videos.

[@tv510]

Perfect, I have more coming. Thanks for watching!

[@tectorama]

All very good advice Terry. Lightroom is built around catalogues, but like a lot of other people I don't use them. First of all I will download my RAW files onto my PC, and do a cull before importing them to Lightroom. I'll never work directly from my memory card. I'll then edit and export my images to a folder, before moving them to another folder with a title for that day's shoot, and for that year. There are so many ways to use Lightroom.

[@tv510]

Indeed, there are many different ways to get good results out of Lightroom. Thanks for watching!

[@cerenademe9433]

I don't think he's working from the card, but working from the external drives he has attached to his laptop and just using LR to transfer the images from the card to the drive. Anyway, I suspect you work on a PC at home as I do? I don't even own an external drive because I don't have a need for it when I've got tons of storage on my PC and a backup service running in the background. And like you, I only import those photos into LR I want to work on/keep and don't bother with catalogs at all. I guess it just depends on what one's needs are and what technology their working with. I don't yet have a need to be editing images on my laptop nor am I taking it with me on shoots. I suppose my workflow would be different if I did.

[@AnthonyInSanDiego]

This was my first tutorial video I watched for learning Lightroom Classic. Thank you for the great presentation!

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful! I have more to come!

[@kaperetheophilus5129]

Thank you for this Tery

[@tv510]

You are welcome Kapere!

[@TheFruityColor]

Perfect tutorial for beginners!

[@tv510]

Glad you think so! More to come.

[@HarleyDoc86]

I have been very shy about trying Lightroom, thank you so much!

[@tv510]

I think you will like it and use it for all your photography and cataloging of your images. thanks for watching!

[@GeorgeCarloss-z8c]

Terry, I just wanted to say thank you for posting this video. I was looking for some video editing software. A good friend suggest LR then I ran across LRC. I really enjoyed watching you tutorial. I think I will be able to use this software.The other tutorials seem to work fast and not taking the time to explain the process. Thanks once again

[@tv510]

You are welcome George. I try to make videos that I would want to watch, so we are on the same page. Thanks for watching.

[@heatherlouise5470]

Yes! I have ADHD and need visual examples along with direct explanations that don’t include a lot of sidetracking and personal opinions. This is it! Thank you!👏👏👏

[@tv510]

Yay! Glad I can help!

[@MsMrWiz]

Thanks for creating this intro. I have the master collection and Ive never used Light room but have seen I need to.

[@tv510]

It’s a pretty worthwhile program to learn. I use Photoshop every couple of days, but I use Lightroom Classic, EVERYDAY! Thanks for watching Brad.

[@Goku61001]

Simple and useful. Great job!

[@tv510]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.

[@tchin2020]

Great instructional video for the beginner (or like me the guy who doesn’t like reading LRC “How to”) I jumped into LRC without reading and was struggling with cataloging and finding my photos, your video is great in explaining how to down load your pics into a folder…will follow you for more instructional videos..thx Terry..

[@tv510]

Glad it working for you. I've been using LRC for years now. Thanks for watching.

[@grahamyates7896]

I have been using LRc and really like it, but I am useless at organising/loading my photos, so I decided to back to basics and this tutorial was really great and easy to follow. So I will now look for more of your pearls of wisdom, thanks very much from a geriatric English man.

[@tv510]

Welcome Graham, thanks for subscribing and I have lots more to come.

[@alanbudge]

Excellent video Terry, thank you. I have watched numerous videos on how to upload but yours is the easiest to follow by far. Looking forward to watching more so I can better understand Lightroom

[@tv510]

Thanks Alan, I'm glad it's working for you.

[@jimmackelvie1343]

Hi Terry, Your Lightroom Tutorials are just what I was looking for. I can see from the playlist when each video was made, ie., 3 months ago, 5 months ago, etc. Can use oldest to newest as a logical sequence to view the entire playlist? I currently know nothing about Lightroom but have just started to shot in Raw so this is the next step for me.

[@tv510]

Hi Jim, yes, best to learn from those in chronological order. I made them in the order that I would teach LRC so that order should be great. BTW, you will love shooting RAW!

[@ericachisolm2927]

Great tutorial.

[@tv510]

Thanks for watching, Erica.

[@cheekyoscar1353]

fantastic absolutely spot-on, I watched a couple of the others one and they go way too fast, the time in of your one is absolutely perfect, thank you so much I should now be looking through some more of your videos to try and learn some more . 👍👍

[@tv510]

Many thanks! I have heard this before that I have a good pace and not to go too quickly. Glad its working.

[@joeyrobertson4926]

Just getting started with LrC. This was very helpful! Thanks 🙏

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful! I have lots of videos on LRC - thanks for watching.

[@GeorgiosKalaydjian]

Thank you Terry, very informative video. I have a question please, is there a way to create the Catalog with Folders carrying the same name are existing in the source?

[@tv510]

While I don't use folders inside of Lightroom for organizing purposes, if you name the folders outside of Lightroom and then start your catalog, you should see them. However, be careful about renaming folders AFTER if they are being used in LRC. You might have to go find the images and reassign them in Lightroom. If that happens, check out this video on how to find your images that LRC thinks are lost: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYKZZJeoi5VpppI

[@raylander6329]

Very, very good video; thank you!!

[@tv510]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.

[@Renerator]

Excellent Video my man!!! I haven’t seen anything as thorough for Lightroom Classic. Thank you!

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.

[@joakimkillander795]

Thanks Terry for a great tutorial! A question though, why didn't you tic the "Smart preview" box?

[@tv510]

Hi Joakim, Since this was a "basic" tutorial for Lightroom, I didn't want to throw too much stuff at a beginner at first. I will be making more advanced videos, like on how to speed up Lightroom, and this would be one of the steps. Thanks for watching.

[@michaelhochstetler8483]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@tv510]

Hi Michael, thanks for watching!

[@HotShuffleDanceRemix]

Really great.

[@tv510]

Thank you for watching!

[@adrienevd]

great explanation!

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@bgroome]

I'm new to LRC. Love your tutorial.

[@tv510]

Thanks Bernie, glad it works for you.

[@drjulierasmussen]

Thank you for this tutorial. It was very well explained. I will be coming back! Many thanks.

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful Julie. More to come.

[@sionkaze]

Excellent tutorial. Most KZbin tutorial are too fast for me. This was just right and very informative.

[@tv510]

Thanks Simon. I appreciate you watching.

[@rodabernethy7277]

Thank you for this great beginner's tutorial!

[@tv510]

You are welcome, enjoy the new beginnings to your photography.

[@dataventurer9998]

Stumbled across your channel, just in time to fill in some cracks in my on-the-fly start-up in Lightroom! Thank you! I started with your two Masking tutorials and now working from the beginning of your series. Thank you for your concise and very helpful tips and pointers!!!!

[@tv510]

Yep, best to start at the beginning. However you got here, I'm glad it's working for you.

[@chopardguy]

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial please continue with these educational videos Marry Christmas and Wonderful New Year

[@tv510]

Thanks for watching Nevan, I'm working on them this week!

[@Brian-xo3mk]

Hi Terry, Thank you so much for presenting one of the best tutorials I've watched since starting photography 3 years ago. I am going to purchase LrC after watching your presentation. There is so much to learn, and I always look forward to your U-Tube presentations.

[@tv510]

Thank you Brian!

[@jbasproductionseditorial1287]

Great Series, Terry ! Like yourself, I too am a nature photographer, unlike yourself - I am still a novice, but, just back from Tetons (NPS) - and have, with shaky results, used a monopod. Traveling a lot, which tripod do you use, or recommend (still and video applications? Thanks.

[@tv510]

I use a Really Right Stuff tripod. I also went with the carbon fiber for less weight. I also us a RRS ball head to couple to my L plates on all my cameras. While this is and expensive set up, if you take care of a good tripod, it will last you much longer than any other camera gear you can own. Buy once. For video, I use a Sachtler tripod and a fluid head. You don’t need two different tripods, but you do need a fluid head if you plan to shoot video.

[@dariablackrose104]

Thank you for this tutorial! Lightroom looks really easy now, even for non-native English speakers!

[@tv510]

You are welcome!

[@cheriemendez4292]

This is GOLD! I'm new to Lightroom - thank you so much!!

[@tv510]

Gold? I love it, thanks for watching.

[@FlorentineFilmsRogerSherman]

hi, I'm a pro too and when Apple dumped Aperture I came over to LRC. Of course I didn't RTFM and set up Folders not catalogs. I see that Catalogs probably would have been better. Do you think it's worth importing into catalogs from here on? I'd deal with the confusion of what's where? Thanks!

[@tv510]

I do think it’s worth it. For me, I have several catalogs. Many individual clients have their own catalog, where I can go there and just access the photographs they need. But I don’t have to look at some random product shots if I am working with my nature photography. Separate catalogs give you a lot of freedom.

[@FlorentineFilmsRogerSherman]

thanks

[@jeffreylmAu]

Hi Terry! After seeing your tutorial, I am thinking of using lightroom and catalogue to move and organise photos from my phone to my computer and backup drive. How much better is lightroom then ctrl c and ctrl v - ing photos from the phone to my computer in the file manager?

[@tv510]

Lightroom is a very powerful organization tool. I have just loaded images from my phone via Airdrop. Then categorized them in LRC.

[@robertleahy5168]

"N" for survey🤣! Seriously, this has to be one of the best Lightroom, scratch that best tutorial I have found on KZbin. Hopefully you have done a lot more of these.

[@tv510]

Wow, thanks, Robert. I have more to come!

[@debrapeasley2606]

I liked this one. Which is next? Thanks.

[@tv510]

Best to watch them in the order they were posted. I should have more in the next few weeks. Thanks for watching.

[@debrapeasley2606]

@@tv510 I can't wait to watch the next video. You explain things very well. I've never used Lightroom before so a beginner's course is truly appreciated.

[@bayourunner2]

Great Video Terry. I'm new to Lightroom but not new to backing everything up. Great info.

[@tv510]

Glad you like it. More to come.

[@shoesr21]

Great tutorial, thank you Terry! My teacher reccomended me this video and it helped so much. Going to watch the rest of the videos in this series.

[@tv510]

Awesome! Let me know if you have questions.

[@joeletizia8171]

Hi Terry, I finally decided to try and learn LRC however, I have tried to mess around and have photos and catalogs I don't want. Can you tell me if there is a way to reset LRC as if I was starting from the beginning and opening for the first time?

[@tv510]

The easiest way is to start a new catalog. Import all of your images into it and go from there.

[@eleonoragoman9656]

Hello Terry, Thank you for the great tutorial! Soccer momtorgapher is here.I have just downloaded the trial version of the LIghtroom and have chosen your channel to guide me through this new journey as I like the fact the you start from the basic workflow . I had hard time trying to identify the ultimate workflow in the postprocessing step and I hope I can imprvove it now. Thanks again.

[@tv510]

Glad to be your guide!

[@dennisjones5579]

Great video Terry. I've downloaded many images onto my computer HD and onto a OneDrive cloud. You didn't mention the use of cloud storage and now I need to undo what I've done, to create a more organized approach like what you've demonstrated. Believe it or not the whole idea of not just where to download the images, but how to retrieve and put them into LRC has been a huge deterrent for me to really "get started". Any advice you might have would be helpful.

[@tv510]

Hi Dennis, I know this sounds like a pain, but if you download all your images off the cloud - take you time there is no rush. Once they are all on your computer in a folder, then Import them into LRC. Make sure they get moved or copied to your folder where your Library is. Once in, you can start organizing them, keyboarding the, putting them into collections - then you will truly have access to all your images.

[@dennisjones5579]

@@tv510 Thanks Terry. This sounds much easier said than done. I appreciate your response.

[@frankvet1]

Love it except two issues: 1) the drive, which I purchased, has gotten terrible reviews, especially complaints about total erasure of your data!, 2) is there any reason to use LR to store videos? Thank you for your work.

[@tv510]

Hi Frank, Here is a link to the drive I have been using at Amazon. amzn.to/44KhcOh As far as video goes, no, I don't usually store my video in Lightroom. I takes up a lot of space and I have other drives dedicated to video. Thanks for watching

[@3DGraphicsFun]

Awesome tutorial Terry! Much appreciatedI was wondering Iam so frustrated. Cant you tell me real quick. I know how to isolate a subject from my image with lightroom 2023 AI from background now all I want to do is save that isolated subject as a transparent PNG. Is there a fast simple way to do that? Maybe you can recommend a tutorial or just explain real quick. Thanks so much:) IcloneFun

[@tv510]

Hi 3DFun, I assume you have tried exporting as a PNG, but that is will not export just the mask. The only way I know is to do this in Photoshop and then delete all the layers except the one that is transparent. Sorry as I know this is not optional, but I bet Lightroom offers this in an update at some point. Thanks for watching.

[@michaelknibbs]

Excellent tutorial. Learnt a lot. Why use a second SSD as backup? Why not use cloud storage ? I like OneDrive personally. But apple die-hards might go with icloud. But backing up to devices that can lost or damaged makes no sense. Also OneDrive is always there for me - regardless of platform or location.

[@tv510]

Good point, but my camera shoots pretty large RAW files, that would take quite a bit of time to back up. I'm sure that will speed up soon. Thanks for watching.

[@michaelknibbs]

You need a good network and ISP provider. But it's worth it - Onedrive has an option to completely offload photolibrary to save primary storage on the SSD. It sychonizes on-demand. Very cool.. @@tv510

[@dosam_6146]

I’m so glad I found your video. I learned so much from this. I knew I needed storage but I didn’t know how to use it. I know that seems ridiculous but it’s true. You see all these videos with people talking about storage and so forth but they don’t explain the basics. I can’t thank you enough. Please keep these videos coming. Thank you 🙏

[@tv510]

Glad you like them. More to come!

[@lmin1989]

Great video! I wish I found it sooner. Subscribed. Thank you!

[@tv510]

Thanks for the sub! Welcome!

[@taramichelemanning8210]

Thank you so much for posting this! I'm in Photography I now, and I needed this desperately. I appreciate you! 💖🙌💖🙌💖

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@taramichelemanning8210]

​@@tv510you're so welcome...thank you again! I'll be watching more and saving more videos for instruction to go back over time and time again. You're literally a lifesaver! Also your voice reminds me of my late Uncle Tim who was an amazing photographer as well. 🥺💙

[@tv510]

I'll do my best to make Tim proud. Thanks again for watching.@@taramichelemanning8210

[@TheCarmelociancio]

Hi Terry, I’m grateful for the tutorial. Like many of your listeners I’ve been stumbling through it for the last two years. As a result I’ve created a mess. Because I’ve been taking care of my wife who has several medical issues I’ve not been a consistent user. I now have the time to devote to it. I have a question , “how do I erase everything and start all over?” I want to remove catalogues , folders etc.. I also want to clarify something, your photos do not reside in LRC they are in your sanzdisk drive. As long as it is attacked LRC will locate them. Unplug it and they don’t exist? Thanks for your help, Carmelo

[@tv510]

Sometimes it takes a complete overhaul to get things on track. Go around to all your hard drives and find all your original images. Then copy and put them all in one place. Then start a new catalog and import all those images into that catalog. Keep the catalog with the images on a drive that you can duplicate from time to time. As you get new images, place them in that same catalog and hard drive. Once you have everything in place, follow the steps in my video to organize everything into collections and using keywords. It will take some work but over time you will able to find everything you are looking for. Remember to duplicate that entire drive so you will have a good back up. Let me know how it goes.

[@QVL75]

Excellent tutorial on Lightroom Classic. Thank you!

[@tv510]

Thank you Surfman!

[@rickkremer0525]

question for you, first great video. Curious when you first load your photos to your portable drive you copy instead of converting them to DNG? Why not convert them to DNG? Thank you ahead of time.

[@tv510]

Hi Rick, at one time I converted them to DNG. But it takes more time and I haven’t seen any advantage to it. So no, I don’t convert them any more.

[@rickkremer0525]

@@tv510 thank you.

[@sachkanade]

Hi there, great tutorial! Question: I have went ahead and imported my pictures into LRC, but when I click on Develop, the selected photo doesn't show and I'm unable to edit the picture. What am I doing wrong?

[@tv510]

Check to see WHERE you imported your images. If you imported into a separate drive, that drive might not be plugged in. In the section on the right, at the bottom at import, confirm where the images are going. Likely they went somewhere else. If you see an exclamation point on your images, check out this video to fix it and why: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYKZZJeoi5VpppI

[@MrM3hm3t]

This is really beginner guide, no lie! Great tutorial, thanks.

[@tv510]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tv510]

Thank you for watching and commenting.

[@keithartworker]

Great video! The keyboard shortcuts can have some humor. For Instance, in After Effects, the rotate tool is "W". Simply do an Elmer Fudd voice and say "wotate". To change the start and end of your work area in After Effects it's B (for beginning) and N ( for "enn" said in a southern accent :-) ). Maybe survey used the N key to to have your eye follow the letter up, diagonal, and down as if following the motion of an eye surveying. I don't know but it would be interesting to hear from the engineers weighing the merits of shortcut labeling. Anyway, I downloaded lightroom for my wife who photographed a wedding in raw and has become overwhelmed using only photoshop for so many photos. Hopefully, this will make it a little more breezy for her

[@tv510]

I think she will love it. Have her watch some of my videos, they may help - or reach out if she has questions. "Wotate...very good"!

[@brianluck5974]

Hi Terry , for your photography editing , do you only us Adobe Lightroom Classic or do you use any other lightroom series ?

[@tv510]

HI Brian, I use only Lightroom Classic and then many times finish the image off in Photoshop. I have tried the tablet version of Lightroom but for reasons, such as long wait times for ingesting my RAW images, to not have quite all the controls of LRC, I just use Classic on a Mac.

[@reefseeker]

Thanks for your help, I do have one question. First time after I created a catalog I had ADD checked Not Copy , I wanted to move all photos to same new drive as catalog, when I went back to do it again they are all grayed out, I know now I only saved the thumbnails. So when I move to another computer images are not there. I guess I could start all over but seems to me there should be a way to copy. Hope I am making sense. Thanks in advance

[@tv510]

An easy fix for this is to physically move the images into your desired folder. DO NOT do this inside of LRC. Do it like you would normally move any file on your computer. Then open your catalog and click on one of those images. It should have exclamation mark since LRC doesn’t know where it is. Click on the exclamation mark and it will ask you where images are, follow the file structure and click on that exact file. LRC Will now know where they are!

[@chrislower5444]

Hi Terry, great tutorial. I am a total beginner and have a question regarding the backup drive. If I import to my primary drive with a copy to a secondary drive I will have as noted, a second copy of my raw files. My concern is that down the road, and 100,000 pictures later, my primary drive crashes. In this case, I will have the raw files, but not the catalogs with the edits. It seems daunting to reedit dozens if not hundreds of photos. Would it be a better process to import only to the primary drive, then make a copy of the primary drive (photos & catalogs) onto my backup drive after each editing session? Thanks much

[@tv510]

Yes, the best practice is to duplicate your main drive from time to time to keep it updated. However, I think if people just copy their original files at the start, they will at least have all their images. But Yes, duplicating your image drive is the best way to go.

[@chrislower5444]

Thanks so much

[@bmessenger1022]

Great video! Keep them coming! Thank you!

[@tv510]

Thanks, will do!

[@frankiepiper7760]

thank you. at last a simple explanation that isn't condescending.

[@tv510]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@Stallzyx]

Getting back into possibly using Lightroom to edit some concert photography photos and this was helpful in remembering the beginning stages. The sample group of three shots is interesting because they were taken at such a fast shutter speed of over one thousandth and thus forcing a high ISO for outdoors of 1250. I'm curious whether that was your manual choice

[@tv510]

Not sure which images you are talking about, but generally, I try not to raise my ISO any higher than I need to. So yes, I'mm pretty sure it was a my choice to do that.

[@Stallzyx]

@@tv510 The ones at 19:41 featuring the horse. Some reason a shutter speed of 1/2500 was used which forced ISO 1250

[@tv510]

@@Stallzyx Yes, those are moose, in very low light of the morning. I wanted to use a high shutter speed because the animal was moving. Thanks for watching, so close..

[@ingetjetadros2054]

Hi again, Terry I followed your instructions and now see my images in the catalog , it's still a bit messy as in backup but hoping with next work I can sort it out better.

[@tv510]

Please keep me updated.

[@coxbright]

Super helpful. Thanks! Been looking for a video like this for ages. How do you use the picking and rejecting feature to discard photos that you don't want?

[@tv510]

Once I have images in Lightroom, I seldom delete them. I try not to import any Out of Focus or bad images in the first place. I usually do my picks (seldom use reject) and place those in a collection. I have lots of collections.

[@coxbright]

@@tv510 Thanks!

[@janh6639]

Hurrah I can actually now go away understanding what to do thank you 🙏

[@tv510]

Happy to help

[@perfasting4342]

Thanks! Finally!! You helped me understanding!😊

[@tv510]

Glad it helped and thanks for watching.

[@jasonlacey5979]

Excellent, thank you. I have the latest version and the Enlage slider, for previewing images the grid mode has hidden itself end I cant find it.. Any help would be appreciated

[@tv510]

To get to the grid you can always press "G" and that should get you back. The Thumbnail slider on the bottom of the screen in Library mode is used just to enlarge the thumbnails. To show for example to show 30 thumbnails or 3 thumbnails. The best way to enlarge an image is double click. Up in the right corner of the screen you will see Fit, 100% and number with a pulldown menu. This pull down will help you with getting a larger zoom on an image. Hope this helps.

[@jasonlacey5979]

@Terry Vander Heiden Thank you, it was the thumbnail to which I was referring. I am looking forward to the rest of the series, again thank you

[@StuntcampRaaltestunts]

Thank you! Very helpfull :) Just got my new (first) Macbook and I wont fill it now with 1000 of photos!

[@tv510]

That's the right idea! And if you want to take your catalog to another computer with Lightroom loaded, its super simple. More to come!

[@kevinauyong3129]

Good intro!

[@tv510]

Thanks! More to come.

[@Lightsmith_UK]

And now I understand it. Thanks 👍😊

[@tv510]

You are welcome Steve. More to come.

[@BucleinfinitoEc]

FRIST CATALOG! 🤣hahah (It is what it is - you said) ...Great video! Thanks for sharing Terry! 😁

[@tv510]

Thanks for watching! I appreciate it.

[@nextsteptahiti8222]

Bonne explication, merci beacoup

[@tv510]

Vous êtes les bienvenus, merci d'avoir regardé.

[@gracejones2831]

Is there a reason you don't use the computer slot for the SD card? I have a Mac laptop and that is what I use.

[@tv510]

I do use that slot for my SD cards, however my camera shoots on a faster, more robust card CF Express. Those don't fit in the mac slot. Thanks for watching.

[@breathemovebliss]

Thank you so much, this was super helpful!

[@tv510]

I'm so glad! Thanks for watching.

[@alexbenvenuto4172]

Hi Terry, I just went through your Lightroom for beginners video and I find it very easy to follow it. That gave me the motivation to finally organize all my images. However I do have a question: can I import through Lightroom images that I already have in Photos, on my Macbook, in an external hard drive to start from fresh? Do I need to move them first from Photos in some place else like a different hard drive or can I import them 😢 directly? I appreciate your help and I’m looking forward to your next videos.

[@alexbenvenuto4172]

😅😅

[@tv510]

Hey Alex, I’m pretty sure you can import from the folder that they reside. Which usually is “Pictures”. If not, another way would be to airdrop or download all your images, say off your phone, into hard Drive folder. Then import. I do that from time to time to just have my personal iPhone photos in Lightroom. Remember to backup that final hard drive where all your images are. Good luck.

[@alexbenvenuto4172]

@@tv510 Thank you so much for getting back time so quickly. I will follow you suggestions

[@alexbenvenuto4172]

@@tv510 and let you know the outcome. I already subscribed and I’m looking forward to view your other videos. Thank you again

[@johnsiebel3498]

I hate to be redundant to everyone else but EXCELLENT tutorial on LRC! I have been viewing your other videos as well. I needed to confirm one question I had: Are you loading the images as RAW or DNG? I went through this video multiple times and it appears to be RAW! I was always under the impression that DNG would be better and faster as it is an Adobe standard, putting the DNG files in a more comfortable and faster format for Adobe programs. You addressed this in one of your other videos but I cannot recall your advice from that video. Bottom-line: RAW or DNG? And thank you!

[@tv510]

I use RAW. My understanding of DNG was to convert files to DNG to protect against your camera company not supporting their RAW format someday. If all cameras outputted a universal raw format all would be good. That is why when a new camera comes out, we need to update our software. Since it takes time to convert to DNG, I don’t find it necessary. Some instances after a process a program will return a DNG, that way you still have RAW control over that file. Hope that helps.

[@johnsiebel3498]

@@tv510 YOU really are amazing! Working in RAW without converting to DNG simplifies a host of issues. You just made my day and made a BIG difference in my life by just being YOU! If I can ever return the favor do not hesitate to ask, I would be honored. I believe in reciprocity! To say that it is an honor to have met you is an understatement. Thank you again.

[@mtngear6055]

Thanks for the video. I've had many issues with Lightroom and the whole catalogue concept. All my photos are on a NAS Raid that Lightroom won't recognize. I'm not redoing my whole setup. Adobe would never admit that was the issue. All my photos are currently set by year and event. I'll keep it that way and skip Lightroom.

[@tv510]

Yeah, you got to do what works for you. Thanks for watching!

[@138kev]

Thank you Terry great lesson. If i go with catalogs is it possible to view the photos on my hard drive (dont have an external drive yet) with another program on windows besides lightroom.

[@tv510]

No, the set up of catalogs allows you refine your searches inside of Lightroom Classic. Once organized, no other program can view your images in order.