Self-paced Beginner Creative Cloud 2026

Lightroom: Photo Workflow and Editing

One day to get a whole shoot from card to delivered files without losing anything

$49.00

per person, including materials

Start the moment you buy it, work at your own pace, and keep access for twelve months.

How you learn

About this course

Most people do not have a Lightroom problem. They have a four-hundred-photograph problem: images spread across a desktop, a phone, two memory cards and a folder called New Folder (2), edited one at a time in whatever software opened first. Lightroom exists to make that manageable, and this course teaches it as one continuous workflow rather than a tour of panels.

You take a full shoot from card to delivered files in a single day. You import a set of raw images and decide, before anything else, where the originals live and how they are backed up. You flag and rate to cut the set down to the frames worth working on, add keywords so you can find them again in a year, then move into the Develop module and correct exposure, white balance, contrast and colour on one image properly before syncing those settings across the rest of the shoot. You mask a subject and a sky separately, clean up sensor dust and distractions, straighten and crop to the sizes you actually need, and finish by exporting the same edit three ways: full-resolution files for print, sized JPEGs for the web, and a watermarked proof set for a client to choose from.

The day is taught in Lightroom Classic, the catalogue-based desktop version, because that is what most working photographers and studios run. A dedicated section covers how the cloud-based Lightroom differs, what syncs between them and when the cloud version is the better choice, so you can decide which one belongs in your own setup rather than guessing. Editing in both is parametric: your original file is never altered, and the catalogue holds the instructions. That is a strength until the catalogue is lost, so backing it up is treated as part of the workflow, not an appendix.

There is currently no Adobe Certified Professional exam for Lightroom. The Adobe Certified Professional programme is delivered through Certiport and covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Animate, Dreamweaver, Acrobat Pro, Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly. If certification is your goal, this course pairs naturally with Photoshop Level 1, which is written against the Photoshop exam domains. You receive a MyLearnPlus certificate of completion for this day, which is a record of training rather than an Adobe credential.

The class runs live online in your own timezone or in the classroom in Colombo, with pricing in LKR for learners in Sri Lanka and USD internationally. You keep the raw exercise files, the export presets built during the day and the class recording for twelve months.

What you'll be able to do

Import a card of raw images into a catalogue with a folder structure, file renaming and a second copy written to a backup drive.
Cut a shoot down to a working selection using flags, star ratings, colour labels and the compare view.
Add keywords, captions and copyright metadata so images can be found and credited a year later.
Correct exposure, white balance, contrast and colour on a raw file using the Basic, Tone Curve and Colour Mixer panels.
Sync a finished set of develop settings across an entire shoot and then adjust the frames that do not match.
Mask a subject, a sky and a brushed area separately, and adjust each one without affecting the rest of the frame.
Remove sensor dust, blemishes and distracting objects with the Healing and Content-Aware Remove tools.
Straighten, crop and apply lens and perspective corrections to a set of architectural and portrait frames.
Build and save export presets that produce print-resolution files, web-sized JPEGs and a watermarked client proof set from one edit.
Back up a catalogue and explain what would be lost if the catalogue disappeared but the original files remained.

What we cover

The on-demand library is being recorded. Leave your email on any course and we will tell you when it lands.

Module 1 — Import, catalogue and selection

Where your originals live, how they get into Lightroom, and how a shoot is cut down to the frames worth editing.

Lightroom Classic and cloud-based Lightroom: what each one is for and what syncs 20 min
Importing from a card: folder structure, file renaming, presets and a second backup copy 25 min
Flags, star ratings, colour labels, the survey and compare views 25 min
Collections, smart collections and keywords, captions and copyright metadata 20 min

Module 2 — The Develop module: tone and colour

Editing one raw file properly, then carrying that edit across the rest of the shoot.

Parametric editing, the history panel, snapshots and virtual copies 30 min
White balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks on a raw file 30 min
Tone Curve, Colour Mixer, HSL and black and white conversion 25 min
Copy, paste, Sync and Auto Sync across a shoot, then fixing the frames that drift 20 min

Module 3 — Masking, retouching and geometry

Local work: adjusting part of a frame, cleaning it up and getting the lines straight.

Masking with Select Subject, Select Sky, brush, linear and radial gradients 25 min
Combining and subtracting masks, and adjusting each mask independently 25 min
Healing, Cloning and Content-Aware Remove for dust, blemishes and distractions 20 min
Cropping, straightening, lens profile corrections and perspective with Upright 20 min

Module 4 — Presets, output and looking after the catalogue

Turning a finished edit into the three sets of files a job usually needs, and protecting the work.

Building develop presets and applying them on import 20 min
Export presets: print resolution, web JPEG at set pixel dimensions and sharpening for output 20 min
Watermarked client proofs, contact sheets and PDF or web galleries 20 min
Catalogue backups, moving a catalogue between machines and reconnecting missing files 15 min

What's included

Class recording, available for 12 months
Raw exercise files from a full sample shoot, yours to keep
Course workbook covering every step demonstrated in class
Export and import presets built during the day, ready to load into your own catalogue
MyLearnPlus certificate of completion
Instructor email support after the class for questions on the exercises
One free repeat of the same live class, terms shown on the booking page

Need this for a team?

We run this course privately, on your dates, at your office or online, tailored to the work your team actually does. Tell us what you need and we will send a quote.

Get a quote