Look Who it Was Random video

My Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Productivity and Workflow and Editing Tips

1,151 views · Published 25 June 2018 · 21:11 · Indexed 31 October 2026

Channel: Eric Kim · 2018 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Free Lightroom PDF Visualization: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Eric-Kim-Lightroom-Classic-CC-Workflow-Visualization-by-Eric-Kim-Annette-Kim-HAPTIC.pdf

## See your photos as small thumbnails, and use 'p' to pick the photos you like

Treat looking at your photos like looking at a contact sheet. If the photo works well as a small thumbnail, and 'jumps out' at you; it is probably a good photo!

When you see a photo that might potentially be good, press 'P', and then later filter your photos based on what you 'flagged' to look at them for closer inspection.

Tip: Use 'Shift+Tab' as a hotkey to collapse side bars
Tip2: Press "L" to turn off the lights, to see your photos easier as small thumbnails 

---

## Look at your photos upside down, to better judge them 

If you flip your photos upside down, you can get a better look at them. The hotkey to flip your photos is Command+ left bracket or Command + right bracket (the brackets on your keyboard). 

By seeing your photos upside down, you will abstract the photos; and judge them based on their composition, rather than their content.

For example, sometimes you look at a photograph (right side up), and you think it is a good photo because of the content (what it is a photo of). But compositionally, it might be weak. But because you are so attached to the content, you will mis-judge the photograph as being ‘good’.

---

## Hotkeys 

Use "E" to enlarge your photo
Use "F" to full screen your photo

And whenever possible, use arrow keys to navigate!

To export, the hotkey is:

Shift+Command+E

## Dropbox

As a tip, keep all your JPEG photos synced in dropbox. I pay for Pro; best investment ever.

Also practical suggestion: don't bother saving RAW files. Too much of a hassle down the road. For example, you might think of re-processing your old RAW photos, but that is just a distraction. Think of making new photos; and moving on. 

Just export as JPEG (80% is the optimal size-quality ratio), and then realize the photo is done!

---

## Edit your photos based on your gut

Practical suggestion: you have thousands of photos to look through, but you're not sure which are your best. How do you know whether the photo is good or not?

Follow your gut.

If you look at a photo, and it 'sparks joy' in your heart, or the photo excites you -- it is a good photo!

Or, let your photo 'marinate' for a few days (after shooting photos of a place, don't look at the photos for several days), then re-look at with them with fresh new eyes. Then, you can better judge the photos.

--

## First look at your newest photos

Don't look at your photos from the oldest photos to the newest photos. Go in reverse-- look at the photos you shot most recently, then towards the old photos.

Why?

Generally whenever I am shooting photos of a scene -- I shoot many photos of the scene (let's say 20 photos of the scene). Generally speaking, my best photo of the scene is towards the end. Therefore, it is a good strategy to look at your photos in 'backwards' order-- because you're more likely to see the best photo at the very end!

More from this channel