If I am being honest, editing was once the most draining part of my job.  I disliked it to the core.  I never had any formal training of Photoshop and I found myself stumbling through it.  Once I got my workflow down packed, I didn’t feel relief because I felt like I was making a thousand clicks just to get one image fully edited and complete.  (Sound familiar?) Editing was so time consuming and it sucked the energy right out of me!  Not only did it take me forever to edit, it took me forever to find the drive to edit.

I now actually enjoy editing and have cut my editing time in half!!  (More than half actually!)  It takes me a few hours to edit a full session and only a few days to edit a full wedding. 

What was the game changing tool??  Lightroom!!  This one tool being added to my workflow was the best decision that I wish I had made forever ago!

Below are 4 reasons how using Lightroom has helped me edit quickly and efficiently with image consistency!

1.       Presets

I almost always lighten the shadows, boost the contrast, and slightly increase the exposure in all of my images.  Rather than doing this to each image, I can create a preset of the adjustments that I consistently apply and save them together as one.  Next time I open a new image and want to make these adjustments, rather than reapplying each step, I can simply click on my “AHP Preset” and the adjustments will automatically appear. 

2.       Sync Images

Let’s say that you have 15 images all taken in the same location with the same lighting.  You begin to make adjustments to the first image of the set.  After a few clicks and adjustments here and there, the image is perfect.  Now you just have to apply these same adjustments to the next 14 images one by one, right??  Wrong!  You are able to sync these images together!!  After you have edited the first image, simply select that image first then select the other 14 images that are similar.  Now click sync and the adjustments of the first image will be applied to all of the selected images!

3.       Easy Slide Bar Controls + Adjustments All In One Place

One of the things I disliked most about Photoshop was that I had to click 10 times to get to one spot … With Lightroom, all of your adjustments are located together!!  Your exposure, your shadows, your highlights, your temperature, color adjustments, curves- all of it in one place!  Just simply scroll up and down to find the section you are looking for and use the slide bar left and right to make the adjustments the way you want them!

4.        Resolution + Exporting

One of the most time consuming and draining parts of my editing workflow when I used only Photoshop was the task of cropping the image, changing the resolution, and renaming each image one by one… Monotonous is an understatement.  Well, here comes the fabulousness, friends… After you edit and crop your images in Lightroom, you are able to easily export your images to their designated folder.  The amazing part is that you can select all of your images at once, click export and with just a few clicks you are able to change the resolution and name your images in sequence all at one time!!  Ah-mazing!

If this program isn’t currently in your workflow, it totally should be!  (Especially if you find yourself sitting hopelessly in Photoshop for hours on end trying to get editing consistency in your images)  I literally only use Photoshop now if I need to remove blemishes or imperfections of that sort.  So!  If you are just starting out and feel intimidated by Photoshop and the amount of time it takes to edit a session, do yourself a favor and click here for a bit more info about Lightroom. You won’t regret it friends!

Photo Credit: Hope Taylor Photography