Course description

Years of photos scattered across laptops, phones and old drives, and no idea where the good ones are? Lightroom Classic can turn that mess into a library you can search in seconds, and give you the tools to make your best photos look the way you remember them. This course teaches it from the very beginning, step by step and in plain words, on Windows or a Mac.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow a volunteer photographer for a Derbyshire walking club as she gathers more than 6,000 messy photos into one tidy library, learns to edit them and ends the year with the club's printed calendar. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and practice images to edit, plus templates and spreadsheet workbooks.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: the catalogue, non-destructive editing, the modules and panels, and your first import.
• Organising: a simple folder system, import settings, renaming, fixing missing photos and a backup plan that protects your originals.
• Sorting and finding: culling with flags and stars, keywords, metadata, collections and smart collections.
• Editing: the histogram, exposure, contrast, white balance, presence, cropping, spot removal, sharpening, noise, raw and JPEG files.
• Colour and local edits: HSL, the tone curve, black and white, presets, brushes, gradients and automatic masks.
• Sharing: export settings for websites, email, social media and print, watermarks, copyright and photos of people.

Who it's for

Anyone new to Lightroom Classic: hobby photographers, families sorting years of pictures, club and charity volunteers, and small business owners who edit their own photos. It ends with a final project, such as a calendar or photo book, and a 12-week practice plan. You'll need Adobe Lightroom Classic, which is sold on a subscription (check adobe.com for current plans and prices).

What will I learn?

• Set up Lightroom Classic and understand the catalogue and non-destructive editing
• Import photos, organise them in a simple folder system and keep them safely backed up
• Cull, rate, keyword and use collections to find any photo in seconds
• Fix exposure, contrast and white balance with the Develop module's basic tools
• Crop, straighten, remove spots, sharpen and reduce noise
• Shape colour and mood with HSL, the tone curve, black and white and presets
• Make local adjustments with brushes, gradients and automatic masks
• Export the right files for websites, email, social media and print, and share photos responsibly

Frequently asked questions