Beginner Lightroom Tips You Need To Know For Immediately Better Photos

Beginner Lightroom Tips For Immediately Better Photos

Whether you're just getting started with photo editing or want to enhance your photography workflow, these beginner Lightroom tips will help you create stunning images with ease.

This guide is packed with Lightroom advice that beginners need to understand. If you're looking to instantly improve your photos using Adobe Lightroom then, you're in the right place.

Lightroom Vs. Lightroom Classic

So, before getting started it's important to understand that these tips are for Lightroom users. If you're using Lightroom Classic things will be in different places. However, the concepts are the same.

Opening Lightroom

If you're a true Lightroom beginner then opening Lightroom can be a bit intimidating. First, it's going to show you a grid of the photos you have given the program access to. Of course, if you've not given it access to any the main part of your screen will be blank. Therefore, begin by adding photos to Lightroom.

Adding Photos To Lightroom

On the right side of your screen is a panel that allows you to add photos. While you can add single photos, Lightroom is a great way to manage your catalog of photos. Therefore, add folders or entire drives rather than adding photos one at a time.

Now, you've added photos to Lightroom. Here is where the magic begins. This first area is called the Library.

How to Use the Library Panel in Lightroom

The Library panel is where you begin making edits. Here, you can adjust exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks. These foundational edits bring balance and life to your photo.

The Edits Panel

The edits panel is  found under the Edit Icon on the right of the screen. It looks like a set of sliders. As of June of 2025 it's the second button from the top just under presets.

Begin by playing with the edit sliders to see how each one affects your image.

Light Settings

The first settings you can adjust under the edits panel are Light Settings. So, get familiar with these. After all, these settings affect the brightness and contrast of your photos.

Color Settings

Below the Light Settings are the Color Settings. Much like the Light Settings these settings are very important to the overall look of your photos.

Note: If you're working on .jpg files the light and color settings are not as effective as they are when you're editing RAW photos.

If you're not familiar with RAW photos, it's an image file type that contains everything the camera captured. Alternatively, jpg files are compressed. As a result, jpg files have the light and color settings already worked out for you. That said, editing is still possible. However, it's far more limited.

Best Lightroom Settings for Sharper Photos

Go to the Detail panel to fine-tune sharpness. Use the Amount, Radius, Detail, and Masking sliders to control how and where sharpening is applied. Use the Option/Alt key while dragging Masking to target edges and avoid noisy areas.

Note: You can't recover focus with Lightroom. That said, there are programs that claim to sharpen out-of-focus images. However, these programs are not great. So, if you've really missed focus it's better to just accept defeat. Alternatively, you can spend hours of your time not really recovering it.

Additionally, it's important to remember that sharpness/focus isn't everything. In fact, some of the greatest photos ever taken are not the sharpest. That said, aim to create sharp, in focus photos where possible.

Fixing Exposure in Lightroom: Quick Tricks

To adjust exposure start by increasing the Exposure slider. Additionally, adjust Highlights and Shadows to recover details in bright or dark areas. Use the Whites and Blacks sliders for added contrast and balance.

While I've titled this section "fixing exposure in lightroom" in reality this is how you can adjust exposure. The difference between fixing and adjusting is important. Fixing implies that you got your exposure wrong. On the other hand, adjusting means you're making improvements.

We adjust things that are okay to make them better. Whereas, we fix things that are not okay. It might seem pedantic. However, you can't always fix exposure. If you don't have the details in the photo you can't "fix" it.

Using Lightroom Presets Without Overediting

Many photographers choose to use Lightroom presents. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. In fact, Lightroom presets are great tools for Lightroom beginners. To use them select the preset panel on the right. It should be the first icon. At least, as of June of 2025 it was the top icon.

Presets are a great starting point. However, they often need adjusting. Apply a preset and then tweak the settings. In particular, adjust your Exposure and White Balance after choosing a preset. Set your exposure to suit your photo’s lighting and subject.

How to Straighten and Crop Photos in Lightroom

Lightroom beginners often find tips on cropping to be very useful. If you're new to photography in general or you don't use a tripod then you likely need to straighten your crops.

Use the Crop Overlay tool (hit "R" on your keyboard) to fix tilted horizons and unwanted distractions. Line up crop edges and other crop lines with lines in your composition. Then, look to only include areas in your final crop that support the overall story of the photo. 

You can maintain aspect ratio or unlock it for creative cropping. Use the rule of thirds overlay to guide your composition.

Don't over-crop

If you didn't get a close enough photo it can be tempting. However, don't over-crop your photos. This is a great tip for Lightroom beginners. After all, we can be tempted to zero in on our subject. However, over cropping means we're also shrinking our images.

Beginners often struggle with cropping in camera. So, if you struggle with this know that you're not alone. Rather than relying on cropping after the fact, try to find creative ways to fill your frame. Too, think about everything inside the frame before taking the photo. Then, eliminate what you don't want. Do so by zooming, moving yourself, or looking for alternative compositions.

What Does the Clarity Slider Do in Lightroom?

A big question for Lightroom beginners is what the Clarity slider does.

Clarity boosts midtone contrast. As a result your photos have extra punch. Use it for landscapes to emphasize texture, but use it lightly for portraits—it can highlight unwanted skin details. Alternatively, subtract clarity to create a glamor-glow reminiscent of 1990s mall portrait studios.

Clarity, texture, and dehaze are great tools. That said, use them sparingly. Over clarified photos are easy for experienced photographers to spot. Too, just like the detail sliders, clarity will not bring out-of-focus subjects into focus. However, it will create a little extra sharpness.

Lightroom White Balance: How to Get Perfect Color

White Balance Selector (eyedropper) or manually adjust the Temp and Tint sliders to correct unnatural color casts. This is especially useful for indoor and mixed lighting scenarios. In addition, these adjustments are most effective when shooting RAW photos. 

Getting the right White Balance as a beginner isn't easy. Therefore, consider using auto-white balance. Alternatively, use a white balance filter to set a custom white balance. Just remember to change it when the lighting changes.

How to Remove Distractions With the Healing Tool

Use the Healing or Clone tool to clean up dust spots, blemishes, and unwanted background elements. For portraits, it’s great for skin retouching; for landscapes, use it to remove distracting elements like trash or signs.

What are dust spots?

Dust spots are bits of dust that get stuck to our sensor and show up as dark spots or lines on our photos. Our sensors are electromagnetic which means they attract dust magnetically.

The more often we remove or switch lenses the more likely dust is to get into our camera. Of course, leaving our camera turned on when we take a lens off welcomes dust into our camera. Therefore, only take a lens off after turning your camera off. Too, replace it with another lens or body cap as quickly as possible.

Clean Your Sensor

You can see dust spots in this picture of the Allegheny Observatory. No matter how advanced of a photographer you are your camera's sensor will end up with dust on it. If your sensor has a lot of noticeable dust, then take it to a professional to clean. Alternatively, you can ask another experienced pro to teach you how to clean your sensor.

I don't advise beginners to clean their own sensor. First, it's important to not damage your sensor. Second, there is a lot of bad advice on how to do so. Finally, there are people everywhere who can teach you how to do it right.

What is the Difference Between Vibrance and Saturation in Lightroom?

Lightroom Beginners often struggle with getting these settings correct. So, here is my tip for adjusting your saturation and vibrance in Lightroom.

First, you need to know what they both do. Saturation increases the intensity of all colors, while Vibrance targets only the more muted tones and protects skin tones from becoming unnatural. Use vibrance for subtle enhancement. Then, use saturation for overall color intensity. 

Pro Tip: Limited Adjustments Are Better

Note: It can be tempting to over-saturate your photos to make them seem more interesting. Avoid doing this. Instead, use masking to selectively increase specific areas. Our eyes are drawn to bright areas of high color saturation. Plus, we are drawn to warm colors which seem to pop out at us. Conversely, cool colors seem to fall back away from us.

Therefore, selectively adjust saturation to add depth and draw attention. Brighten up the areas you want people to look at and increase saturation in warm tones in those areas. Try to darken down and desaturate areas you want to draw attention away from.

How to Sync Edits Across Multiple Photos in Lightroom

My final tip for Lightroom beginners is to sync your edits. When editing multiple photos from the same sync your edits. Similar photos require similar adjustments. Therefore, you sync your edits to save time. Plus, syncing your Lightroom edits helps create uniformity.  

So, to sync your edits, select your edited image, then select the rest of the batch and click Sync.

As I mentioned, this is ideal for photos taken in similar lighting conditions. Once again, it maintains a consistent look across your photos. 

Your Beginner Lightroom Tips

Do you have tips for Lightroom beginners? Are there things that you struggled with or that helped you? If so let me know and I'll add them to this post.