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There are a lot of Lightroom tips & tricks videos out there, but they all seem to gloss over the same handful of things. A lot of the really useful stuff is missed because they’re so used to the software that they go on autopilot and do things without even thinking. So, when asked, they don’t recall.
In this video, though, from photographer Mark Denney, we hear seven tricks that he uses on a daily basis as part of his image editing workflow.
Lightroom is filled with little “tricks” that can help you speed up your workflow and make the editing process more efficient and accurate. If you use Lightroom to edit your photos, then you probably already know what it’s capable of. But photographer Chris Eyre-Walker shares some of the lesser-known features you might not have heard of, and they can be extremely useful for all the Lightroom users out there.
Adobe Lightroom is full of useful shortcuts that can speed up your workflow. If you still haven’t created the habit of using them, this video from Lucy Martin might help you do it. It’s an easy to remember video with 18 Lightroom shortcuts every photographer should know. They’ll help you work faster and more efficient, so take a look.
Most of us have a fairly solid order of priorities in our lives. Family comes first, then photography, then everything else. For some folks, those first two are the other way around, but whatever allows us to spend more time with our family or our camera is a good thing.
I don’t really consider sitting at a computer to be photography, and as such, I want to spend as little time doing it as possible. So, I use shortcut keys. In this video, photographer David Justice shows us how much time we can save by letting go of the mouse and using keyboard shortcuts.
If, like some, you spend the same amount of time playing Doom 4K as you are editing videos, you will absolutely like this hack for using a game controller to control premiere.
Editor Casey Faris has a pretty sweet setup using Logitech Gamepad controller (about $20). The secret sauce is the actual mapping of the buttons. Casey uses a free software called xPadder (here is a link to the free version)
Of course, using the gamepad only makes sense if it actually expedites your workflow, if it makes you go slow, there is no point in using it. And the magic to making it fast is mapping the right buttons to the right shortcuts. And what do you know, Casey shares his layout on the video link.
If you are editing a lot of videos, you know that shortcodes and hot-keys are essential for fast editing. We actually shared a tip on using gaming keyboards for editing becasue they have more keys that you can assign macros to.
But LinusTechTips just upped the game of adding shortcodes by creating a whole 87-shorcut keyboard form a cheap $15 keyboard. Of course, the video editor from LinusTechTips is kinda of an extreme-case in the sense that he already has his entire letter-set, numbers, shift, alt and control combos assigned to macros and he needed MORE macro buttons.
If you are reading this blog, you know that we are big fan of keyboard short cuts, but for some programs, working with a mouse is unavoidable. I was talking with an editor friend, Ariel Hadar from Kaveret, and he showed me quite an awesome was to utilize a gaming mouse and keyboard to get the benefits that you would get when working with a keyboard while working with a mouse. The best of both worlds.
Of course, this means that you are the type that likes working with shortcuts, and just want to take it up to the next level. If you like working with menus, move along, this is not the hack you’re looking for…
So there a great debate out there: which method is faster? Using the mouse or using keyboard shortcuts? I was sure that keyboard would be the fastest but test results are inconclusive [pdf] (some even suggest the complete opposite). One thing that stands out on research is that if one is very proficient with keyboard shortcuts, then those shortcuts (or hot keys) will produce faster work.
Probably belonging to the keyboard camp, the folks at makeawebsitehub shared a set of cheatsheets for many adobe apps. Save, Print, Stick over your monitor and memorize:
Here is a quick quiz for you? how do you trigger the Photoshop Liquify filter? (CTRL+SHIFT+X) and Premiere’s go to previous marker? (CTRL+SHIFT+M), and the rest of the million shortcuts for the apps you use? You could, of course apply some keyboard stickers for a specific app, but if you wanted all the shortcodes for all the apps, you need something like a keyboard that changes its keys. something like the Sonder keyboard.
Keyboard shortcuts can be a huge time saver and help your post production workflow run a lot more efficiently. It can be tough to learn and keep track of them all, especially if you’re using multiple programs as part of your process. There are all sorts of tools available to us remember all the shortcuts such as this handy web app, a countless number of printable charts, or these keyboard covers if you really mean business.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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