Lightroom Editing Hack to Save You Time!

Learn this skill to change your photo editing in Lightroom forever!

You can spend years editing hundreds of photos to master editing your photos. But this simple hack will help you save time and edit your photos in Lightroom easier. 

Even if you’ve been using Lightroom for a while, this hack will help you save time and upgrade your editing process.

Photo Editing skill in Lightroom that will change your editing process

If you have seen a photo and wondered how did they edit that? How did the photographer get that photo to have certain light and colors?

There are so many tips and tricks to learn for editing in Lightroom. This one in particular will help you get that beautiful photo definition and save you editing time.

It’s all about the visual journey – where you want the viewer to look

When you are taking and then editing a photo, it’s important to think about what the viewer sees and how they might perceive the composition. 

Keep in mind where the viewer should in the photo. Typically, viewers eyes are drawn most to lighted areas in sharper focus and avoid darker or unfocused areas.

So examine your scene and decide where you want the viewer to look.

What journey do you want their eyes to go on?

Is there a clear path for the eyes to move across the image?

Where do you not want their eyes to linger?

This skill will help you to bring attention and directional focus to your image. Define from a raw file to the image that you want viewers to see and create the visual journey for your viewers. 

Editing Skill You Should Know: Using Gradient Filters in Lightroom

The skill to master that will save you a lot of time editing in Lightroom is to utilize Radio or Linear gradient masks.

What is a gradient mask? 

Most editing tools in Lightroom apply to the entire photo. But the gradient filter allows you to select and edit over specific parts of the image, so your adjustments will only affect the chosen gradient area. 

You can add these in different shapes, sizes and with a feather effect to smooth the gradient area into the rest of the photo.

Set gradient filters to change the darkness or lightness of different areas in the photo by adjusting the exposure. 

You can use this to darken where you don’t need the viewer’s eyes to linger. (Just be careful not to make it too dark though and create a distraction.)

Set other gradient mask layers for brightening the exposure in the areas you want the viewer to look at and follow in the photo. These add depth and definition to the composition so you can then adjust the colors and brightness. 

Start with this skill when editing to save time in your process and complete great photos

Basically use this feature to make outer parts of the image subtly darker and the main focus of the image brighter and warmer. Then you can finish your editing with changes to colors and exposing other focal points or adding other effects.

Comment how this Lightroom editing hack has changed your editing process!

And if you want more tips on editing in Lightroom, check out these tutorials:

Portrait Editing in Lightroom essentials tips!

Editing Landscapes in Lightroom

16 Lightroom editing tips and tricks