Free Photoshop Tutorials: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom – Simple editing actions

1. Lookalike
Editing steps will be saved in Lightroom and you can recover them from History palette by clicking Ctrl+Z, or you can delete them. However, you can also create a virtual copy of your photo. To do so, click on the Photo/Create Virtual Copy command or Ctrl+’ keys.

This copy can be freely edited, independent of the original version. This copy can be saved in any gallery you created, or you can put them in the temporary gallery, in Quick Collection, for example, where you store the pictures to be edited.

Virtual copy is not a new file, it is just created by Lightroom. The duplicated version appears on the right side of the original photo, under the same file name. By switching between the two versions, you can easily check the original and the modified state.

2. Before/After
But there’s a much simpler way to check original and modified state. The icon bar in the bottom left corner of the main window. This gives you many more opportunities than simply switching between states.

The first icon is the normal view with one photo, this is the default setting in the main window. The icon on its right turns on the split view with before/after state. The left side shows the original state, the right side shows the modified one. The latter state constantly changes with the editing actions. The small arrow beside the icon opens a dropdown menu, where the display mode can be set.

Left/Right: two picture states next to each other.
Left/Right Split: one view split (see picture above). Left side shows the original state, the right side shows the edited version.
Top/Bottom: two picture versions one under the other.
Top/Bottom Split: one view split (see picture above). Left side shows the original state, the right side shows the edited version.

The third icon right to the Before&After inscription copies the content of the right view and puts it to the left one. The first icon copies the original state view from the left and places it to the right, so if the original state is on the left, all settings will be deleted. The second icon plays the opposite role. The right-side version will be copied to the left side. It’s good to use it when you want to save an important editing stage and then continue editing. This state goes to the left, and you can check changes in the right-side view. Third icon switches the content of the two views. Left side shows the editable (actual) state, right side shows the original (saved) one.

3. Clean, neat windows
Arranging window views is the “mission” of the icons on the bottom left side. The first two facilitate two views. In the course of editing, you will meet loads of palette windows, which take up a lot of the window space. These icons help you save two window arrangements, which allow for a quick switching between them. A quick right click above the icons and the options will appear. You can save Before/After view, or Full Screen by hiding the menu bar. You can open a multiple-view window on the second screen, which will help search among the small previews during editing, while the main window shows the actual state in big size.

The next icon comes handy when you have hidden the palette containing the man sections (Library – Develop – Print, etc.). Click on it to bring back the multiple-view Library view, where you can select from images. The last two arrow icons will switch between these two stages. If you are in Develop view, and before that you were in Library view, then the Back button on the left will take you back to Library, and if you press it again, it will take you back to the section before that.

We will continue from here with quick editing steps.