Explore our comprehensive Lightroom tutorial to learn about editing photos to create history and creating & working with snapshots to increase your editing skills in Lightroom.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Lightroom training materials and is compatible with Lightroom updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Lightroom, check out our Photo Retouching Certificate and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Topics covered in this Lightroom tutorial:
Editing a photo to create history, Creating & working with snapshots
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
When you edit in the Develop module Lightroom stores a lists of your actions in the History panel. In this lesson you will learn how to create Snapshots which display the state of your image at a designated point in its development history.
Editing a Photo to Create History
- If you have not imported the photos that were imported in Exercise 2E:
- Go into the Library module.
- At the bottom left of the screen, click Import.
- In the dialog box that appears, on the left under Source, navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Lightroom Class and select the Develop folder.
- At the top, above the photos, make sure Add is selected (highlighted).
- On the bottom right, click Import.
In the Catalog panel, click on All Photographs.
Double–click on the graveyard photo (_CAS4771) to select it.
Press the D key to enter the Develop module.
On the right, open the HSL / Color / B & W panel, and make sure HSL is highlighted, indicating it is selected. If it isn’t, click on HSL to select it.
Click on Luminance so that only the Luminance color sliders are visible.
To bring out the sky, change the Blue channel to – 68, either by moving the slider to the left or typing the number in the text box.
At the top-left corner of the panel, click the Targeted Adjustment tool
.-
With the Targeted Adjustment tool still selected, near the bottom of the photo, under the gravestones, slowly hover with your mouse over the grass.
As you do this, look in the HSL / Color / B & W panel at the Luminance color sliders. You should see the Yellow and Green colors highlighted because the grass has both yellow and green elements.
Click the Targeted Adjustment tool again to deselect it.
- Still in the Luminance panel make the following adjustments:
- Bring the Yellow up to + 10.
- Bring the Green up to + 10.
- Press the backslash (
\) key a few times to see the before and after.
On the left side, open the History panel to see a list of the edits you’ve made.
Creating & Working with Snapshots
On the left, next to the Snapshots, click the Create Snapshot icon
.- In the New Snapshot pop up:
- In the Snapshot Name field, type Luminance Shift.
- Click the Create button.
- You will see the Luminance Shift snapshot appear in the Snapshots panel.
On the right, open the Basic panel.
-
Under Presence, make the following two adjustments:
Clarity: Increase to + 30 Vibrance: Increase to + 10 On the left next to Snapshots, click the Create Snapshot icon
.- In the New Snapshot pop-up:
- In the Snapshot Name field, type Clarity & Vibrance.
- Click the Create button.
In the Snapshots panel, click on the Luminance Shift snapshot. The photo will adjust to display the place in the History when the Luminance was adjusted.
Click the Clarity & Vibrance snapshot to move forward in History to where the Clarity and Vibrance were adjusted.
- In the Basic panel make the following adjustments:
- Decrease the Exposure to – 0.45.
- Decrease the Highlights to – 26.
- Increase the Shadows to + 23.
- Press the backslash (
\) key to see the before and after.
On the left, next to Snapshots, click the Create Snapshot icon
.- In the New Snapshot pop up:
- In the Snapshot Name field, type Exposure Adjustments.
- Click the Create button.
Notice that the snapshots are listed in alphabetical order.
On the left, open the Presets panel, then open Lightroom B&W Presets and select B&W Look 4.
Next to Snapshots, click the Create Snapshot icon
.- In the New Snapshot pop up:
- In the Snapshot Name field, type B&W Look
- Click the Create button.
Click on each snapshot to view the different stages in the editing of the photo.
Click on the B&W Look snapshot to select it.
Next to Snapshots, click the Delete Selected Snapshot icon
to delete the snapshot.
