Adobe Lightroom is the most popular photo editor among photographers because it does two jobs well: it organises thousands of photos, and it edits them without ever changing your original file. Here are the basics you need to edit your first photos well, using the Lightroom Classic or Lightroom (cloud) desktop app, or Lightroom Mobile on your phone.
1. Import and Organise
- Import photos into folders by date and place, for example “2026-11 Tihar Bhaktapur”.
- Add keywords as you import: place, subject, event. They’ll help you later, and when you upload for sale.
- Use star ratings or flags to pick your best shots before you start editing.
2. Start With Profile and Lens Corrections
For RAW files, pick a profile such as Adobe Color or Adobe Landscape. Then turn on “Enable Profile Corrections” and “Remove Chromatic Aberration” to fix lens distortion and colour fringes.
3. Straighten and Crop
Use the crop tool’s straighten option to level horizons and fix tilted buildings. Crop to remove distractions, but keep as much resolution as possible if you plan to sell or print.
4. White Balance
Use the eyedropper on something neutral grey or white, or adjust Temp and Tint by eye. Keep warm scenes like Tihar lamps or golden hour warm.
5. Exposure and Tone
| Slider | What it does | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure | Overall brightness | Set first |
| Contrast | Difference between light and dark | Small boost, +5 to +20 |
| Highlights | Bright areas | Pull down to recover skies and snow |
| Shadows | Dark areas | Lift to reveal detail in valleys and faces |
| Whites / Blacks | Brightest and darkest points | Set the end points for punch |
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while dragging Whites or Blacks to see where clipping begins.
6. Presence: Texture, Clarity and Dehaze
Texture and Clarity add detail and mid-tone contrast; use them gently on landscapes and less on faces. Dehaze cuts through haze in distant mountain shots, but too much looks unnatural.
7. Colour
Vibrance boosts muted colours more than strong ones and is safer than Saturation. Use the Color Mixer (HSL) to fine-tune: deepen a blue sky, calm an over-bright green, or correct orange skin.
8. Local Adjustments and Masks
Masks let you edit just part of a photo. “Select Sky” darkens a bright sky; “Select Subject” brightens a person; a linear gradient balances a bright top half. This is where good edits become great ones.
9. Sharpening and Noise Reduction
Add light sharpening with the Masking slider raised so only edges are sharpened. For high-ISO night shots, use AI Denoise or the noise reduction sliders.
10. Export
For sharing and uploading, export as JPEG, sRGB colour, quality 90–100, and full size. Don’t add a watermark to files you upload for sale.
Save Time With Presets
Once you like an edit, save it as a preset and apply it to similar photos, then fine-tune each one.
Free Alternatives
If Lightroom’s subscription isn’t for you, darktable and RawTherapee are free desktop RAW editors, and Snapseed is a free mobile editor.
Share Your Edited Work
Natural, well-edited photos sell best. Upload them to Image Pasal, and run through our stock photo checklist first.
