Adobe Lightroom terms

When I first started learning photography and editing in Adobe Lightroom, I had no idea where to begin. I wished there was a guide that easily listed all the terms, their definitions when I should use them, and why...

Lightroom editing terms

I'll be dividing each section in Lightroom and looking at each term by panel. Let's start first with the histogram.

1. Histogram

The histogram is a graphical representation of tonal values in your image. It displays the distribution of tones and the frequency of each tone in the image.

It goes from pure black on the left side to pure white on the right side. You use the histogram to understand the overall exposure and tonal range in your image.

If your histogram is skewed to the left, then you know your image may be underexposed. If you see it skewed to the right, then you know your image may be overexposed.

2. Blacks

The blacks in your image are the darkest parts of your image; they exist on the very left side of the histogram.

To identify if you are losing detail in the darkest parts of your image. If the histogram is touching or bunched up against the left edge, it might mean those areas are clipped and have no detail.

3. Shadows

The shadows are the second most darkest parts of your image. They exist between your midtones and blacks on the histogram.

4. Midtones

The midtones in your image exist in the very middle of your histogram. These are the tonal ranges between shadows and highlights. You'll often find these tones control your subject's skin tone.

If you want to assess the overall balance and contrast in your image, adjusting the mid-tones is a great way to profoundly affect its mood and depth.

5. Highlights

Your image's highlights are the second-brightest values in the histogram, and they are on the right side. You'll often find highlights control sunbeams, sunlight in an image, etc.

6. Whites

The whites in your image are the brightest values in your histogram and exist on the right side. To identify if you are losing detail in the brightest parts of your image. If the histogram is touching or bunched up against the right edge, it might mean those areas are blown out.

7. White balance

The white balance in your image refers to the color temperature of your image.

The white balance ensures that you perceive the white in the image as it appears in real life. It essentially compensates for the color temperature of your light source, ensuring the colors in your image are consistent and accurate.

You'll want to change your white balance in order to correct color casts in your photos. Different light sources, such as sunlight, tungsten, fluorescent, etc., can add color tints to your images. Adjusting your white balance accordingly will ensure your photo has a natural color tone, setting a nice foundation for the rest of your edits.

8. White balance selector (eyedropper tool)

The white balance selector is a tool that allows you to select a neutral (gray) point in your image to adjust the white balance automatically.

If you are unsure of the correct white balance, this is a great tool to use. All you do is select a neutral gray in your image, and this tool will adjust the image, giving you a good starting point. It's particularly useful when you have a known neutral gray point in your scene, like with a gray card.

9. Temperature

The temperature in your image refers to the warmth or coolness in your image.

If you move the slider toward the blue side, your image will be cooler, and if you move the slider toward the yellow side, it will be warmer. This has a profound effect on the mood of your image, as cooler images often represent moodier, colder, and calmer images, whereas warmer images often represent happiness, comfort, or caution.

If your image appears too blue (cool) or too orange (warm), then adjusting the temperature can help neutralize the color cast. This slider is often adjusted based on your personal style or aesthetic or to help you create a certain mood in your scene.

10. Tint

The tint adjusts the balance between green and magenta in your image.

You can use the tint in conjunction with the temperature control to balance out any green or magenta color casts in your image. For example, some fluorescent lights can sometimes introduce a greenish cast, which can be neutralized by adjusting the tint control.

Similar to the temperature slider, you can also adjust the tint to be more green or magenta based on your personal style or aesthetic.

11. Profiles

Profile in Lightroom provides you with a quick and easy starting point for your processing and determining how colors and tonality get rendered in your photos.

The Profiles don't change the raw data, but they interpret it differently to give you varied looks. Let's take a look at each different profile and see what it does:

Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a general-purpose profile suitable for a wide variety of scenes. It provides a balanced color and tone rendering, giving you a natural and neutral starting point. This profile is ideal for most images, especially when unsure which profile to start with. It's designed to work well with any image, from portraits to landscapes.

Adobe Monochrome

Adobe Monochrome provides a black-and-white conversion with fine tonal gradations. This profile is ideal for mages you want to convert to black and white. It provides a neutral monochromatic starting point.

Adobe Landscape

Adobe Landscape boosts colors and is optimized for nature, landscapes, and outdoor scenes. It often brings out more vivid blues and greens. This profile is ideal when editing landscape shots or any images where you want vibrant, punchy colors.

Adobe Portrait

Adobe Portrait helps optimize for skin tones, offering a softer and more subdued color rendering. This profile is ideal for portrait shots. It emphasizes natural skin tones while avoiding overly vibrant color shifts.

Adobe Standard

Adobe Standard is an older general-purpose profile that was the default for Lightroom before Adobe Color was introduced. It offers neutral color rendering. Some photographers prefer this for its particular rendering of colors, especially if they've been used to this profile in older versions of Lightroom.

Adobe Vivid

Adobe Vivid is a profile that offers a punchier, more vibrant interpretation of colors, adding contrast and saturation to make the image pop. This profile is ideal for images that benefit from a boost in color and contrast, such as travel or street photography, where you want to emphasize color.

12. Exposure

The exposure slider controls the brightness of your entire image. You'll want to use this slider while looking at your histogram to adjust an overexposed (too bright) or underexposed (too dark) image.

13. Contrast

The contrast slider controls the difference between the darkest and lightest parts of your image. You'll want to use this slider to increase the visual difference between the light and dark areas, either to give your image more punch by increasing the contrast or to soften your image by reducing the contrast.

14. Texture

The texture slider enhances or reduces the appearance of texture in your image without affecting overall sharpness.

Essentially, it brings out or smooths out medium-sized details. You'll want to use this slider when you want to increase the prominence of features like skin, bark, and hair or soften and smooth out those same features without losing finer details.

15. Clarity

The clarity slider increases or decreases your mid tone contrast, which can add depth to your image.

You'll want to use this slider when you want to accentuate details or give your image a more punchy look -- especially useful in landscape or urban scenes. If you reduce the clarity, you can create a dreamy, soft focus effect that's sometimes preferred for portraits and light and airy edits.

16. Dehaze

The dehaze slider reduces or adds atmospheric haze to your image, which works on both the light and colors in your image.

You'll want to use this slider when you want to remove atmospheric haze in your images (such as landscapes) or add some creative fog or a hazy look. Just be careful when using this slider, as making strong adjustments can introduce color shifts.

17. Vibrance

The vibrance slider adjusts the intensity of the more muted colors in your image without significantly affecting the already well-saturated colors in your image.

It boosts saturation where it's needed the most. This slider is particularly useful when you want to make certain colors in your image pop without oversaturating the entire image. For example, you can use this slider in portraits when you want to enhance the skin tones without making them look unnatural.

18. Saturation

The saturation slider uniformly increases or decreases the intensity of all the colors in your image.

You'll want to use the saturation slider when you want to enhance or reduce the overall color intensity in your image. Oversaturating can create an unnatural-looking image, so just be careful of that.

Oversaturating or desaturating can also create a personal style or aesthetic. For example, oversaturating a bit and softening the clarity slider can create a dreamy, summer-haze look, while desaturating the image can make it moodier.

19. Tone curve

The tone curve is a graphic representation of the tones in your image.

The horizontal axis represents the input tones (shadow to highlights), and the vertical axis represents your output tones. By adjusting the curve, you can change the relationship between the input and output tones.

You'll want to adjust the tone curve when you want to make precise adjustments to the luminosity of specific tonal regions in your image, like lifting shadows or darkening highlights.

Parametric curve

The parametric curve is a subsection of the tone curve, and it provides an alternative way for you to modify your tonal range using sliders.

This curve lets you adjust the tonal range of an image using predefined regions: Highlights, Lights, Darks, and Shadows. It uses sliders to increase or decrease the tonal values within those regions.

You'll find it useful if you find the point curve too intricate or for times when you just want to make some quick adjustments to specific tonal ranges without affecting others.

Point curve

The point curve is another subsection of the tone curve and allows you to click and add points to the curve directly and adjust specific tonal ranges by dragging these points.

For precise control over tonal adjustments. You can create S-curves for contrast, lift the blacks for a faded look, or make other custom tonal adjustments.

Linear curve

The linear curve is the default state of the tone curve, which is a straight diagonal line from the bottom left (blacks) to the top right (whites). The tonality of the image is unchanged in this state.

S-curve

The S-curve is a classic and common shape made on the tone curve that makes it look like an "S."

This shape contrasts the image by darkening the shadows and brightening the highlights. This is a great way to add contrast to your image in a more controlled manner than the basic contrast slider.

20. Color Hue

The hue refers to the type or shade of a color.

In the context of photo editing, adjusting the hue means changing a color to a different color. The hue sliders exist for every major color, such as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, and Magenta.

You'll want to use the hue sliders when you want to subtly or dramatically shift the shades of a specific color in your image. For example, you can make your greens look more teal or adjust your subject's skin tones by tweaking the orange and red sliders.

21. Color saturation

The saturation refers to the intensity or purity of a color.

Increasing the saturation makes your colors more vibrant while decreasing it makes the color more muted. The saturation sliders exist for every major color and allow you to adjust your image's saturation levels.

You'll want to adjust your saturation sliders when you want to emphasize or reduce the intensity of specific colors in your image. For example, enhancing the blue in a sky or reducing the saturation of overly vibrant greens in a landscape.

22. Color luminance

The luminance of a color refers to the brightness or darkness of a color.

Increasing the luminance makes your colors brighter while decreasing the luminance makes the colors darker. For example, you can lighten skin tones by adjusting the luminance of the orange and red sliders and the brightness of the sky by adjusting the luminance of the blue and teal sliders.

23. Color wheels

The color wheels exist within the color grading panel.

There are three color wheels in this panel: Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights. Each wheel lets you add specific color tones to its corresponding tonal range in the image.

You should adjust these color wheels when you apply color casts or specific corrections to a tonal area. For example, you might want to add a cool (blue) tint to the shadows while warming up (orange) the highlights for a cinematic look.

24. Color wheel luminance

Underneath each color wheel, there are luminance sliders that will adjust the brightness or darkness of the chosen color grade. For example, after adding a blue tint to the shadows, you might want to darken the effect for a deeper, moodier tone.

25. Blending slider

The blending slider controls how the color adjustments between the shadows and highlights blend together, affecting the width of the midtones.

You'll want to use the blending slider when you want to refine how the shadow and highlight adjustments interact. A higher value will make the colors in the shadow and highlight regions affect a broader range of mid tones, while a lower value will keep them more isolated.

26. Balance slider

The balance slider adjusts the balance between the shadows and highlights color grade, essentially shifting the midpoint of the tonal range.

You'll want to use the balance slider if you feel the color grade on the shadows is overpowering the highlights or vice versa. You can use the balance slider to also shift emphasis. A positive value will give more weight to the highlight adjustments, and a negative value will emphasize the shadow adjustments.

27. Sharpening

Sharpening is a technique that highlights the edges and fine details in your image

Sharpening amount

The sharpening amount controls the intensity of the sharpening effect.

You'll want to adjust the sharpening amount to increase or decrease the overall sharpness applied to your image. Usually, some sharpening is applied to most digital images to counteract the inherent softness in the image.

Sharpening radius

The sharpening radius determines the size of the details the sharpening will target. This radius essentially adjusts the width of the edges that will be sharpened. You'll want to use a smaller radius (e.g., around 0.5 to 1.0) for images with fine details, and a larger radius (e.g., 1.5 or more) for broader edges and details.

Sharpening detail

The sharpening detail controls how much high-frequency information is sharpened in the image, affecting the finer textures. You'll want to use higher values to enhance fine textures and details, while lower values will sharpen larger edges, leaving finer textures unchanged.

Sharpening Masking

The sharpening masking determines which parts of your image get sharpened.

Moving the masking slider to the right will gradually exclude areas of uniform color and tone from the sharpening process. You'll want to use this masking to avoid sharpening noise or areas that don't need it, such as smooth skies that you want to keep smooth.

As a pro tip, you'll want to hold down the Alt key (Option on Mac) while dragging this slider to provide a visual representation, in black and white, of where the sharpening is being applied.

28. Noise reduction

Noise is a random variation in the image signal and often appears as dots or speckles in your image.

It can be caused by several factors, such as poor lighting, high ISO settings, long exposure times, and heat. The noise reduction sliders reduce the amount of noise in your image.

Noise reduction luminance

Noise reduction luminance reduces the grayscale noise. You'll want to use this slider when there's noise in the image related to differences in brightness. This is especially common in images shot at high ISO settings or under low light.

Noise reduction luminance detail

Noise reduction luminance details preserve the detail when applying luminance noise reduction.

A higher value will preserve more details but might also keep some noise. A lower value might remove the noise, but it also might remove some image details. You'll want to use this slider to strike a balance between noise reduction and detail preservation.

Noise reduction color

Noise reduction color reduces color noise, which will manifest itself as random red, green, and blue pixels. You'll want to use this slider when there's visible color noise, especially in the shadows or images taken at high ISO settings.

Noise reduction color detail

Noise reduction color detail adjusts the color noise threshold. Higher values will preserve more color details but can also leave color noise, while lower values will remove color noise. I've noticed it can also reduce some color details.

Noise reduction color smoothness

Noise reduction color smoothness enhances the smoothness of color transitions. You'll want to use this slider to ensure a smooth gradation of colors. This is particularly useful in areas like skies where you want to maintain a natural and noise-free gradient.

29. Profile corrections

Profile corrections apply automatic corrections to an image based on the camera and lens profile that Lightroom detects. You want to enable profile corrections when you want Lightroom to auto-detect your lens and apply corrections based on known profiles.

These corrections typically correct for distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration inherent to your specific lens.

Lens profile

The lens profile is the lens Lightroom has detected that you used to capture your image. Lightroom has a database of many lens profiles and will typically auto-detect the correct one if the photo's EXIF data includes this information.

This will automatically be added if you enable profile corrections, but in cases where Lightroom doesn't automatically detect your lens, you can manually apply the profile of a different lens.

Distortion profile correction

The distortion slider in the profile corrections panel allows you to manually adjust the level of lens distortion correction, which can range from barrel distortion (bulging outward) to pincushion distortion (pinching inward).

You'll want to adjust this slider if the automatic profile correction doesn't fully correct the distortion or if you wish to add some distortion for a creative aesthetic.

Vignetting profile correction

The vignetting slider in the profile corrections panel adjusts the level of correction for vignetting, which is the darkening of the corners of your image. You'll want to adjust this slider when the corners of your image are either too dark (due to lens vignetting) or too light (from overcorrection) and the profile correction didn't fully correct it.

30. Manual corrections

Manual corrections allow you to make manual corrections to your lens profile.

Distortion slider

This slider lets you manually adjust for lens distortion. You'll want to use this if you notice distortion that wasn't corrected automatically.

Defringe

The Defringe controls can correct chromatic aberration, often seen as color fringes along the edges of high-contrast subjects.

Purple Amount and Green Amount: These sliders control the removal of unwanted purple and green fringes at the edges of objects in your image.

Purple Hue and Green Hue: Accompanying the 'Amount' sliders, these two sliders adjust the range of hues that the defining targets. Each comes with two range markers to fine-tune the specific range of purple or green hues you want to address.

You'll want to adjust this slider if the default range isn't effectively removing the chromatic aberration or is affecting other colors you don't wish to change. These sliders allow you to target problematic hues more precisely.

Vignetting

Manual vignetting lets you add or remove edge darkening/lightening.

Vignetting Amount Slider: This slider adjusts the strength and direction of the vignetting. Moving it to the left darkens the edges (adds a vignette), while moving it to the right lightens the edges (removes a vignette or compensates for lens-caused vignetting). For example, if you want to draw attention to the center of the image or create a mood, you might add a vignette. Conversely, if your lens has introduced unwanted dark corners, you might lighten the edges to achieve a more uniform brightness across the image.

Vignetting Midpoint Slider: This slider controls how far the vignette reaches into the center of the image.

For example, adjusting the midpoint allows you to control the transition and extent of the vignette effect, whether it's subtle and wide-reaching or more pronounced and closer to the edges.

31. Transform panel

The transform panel lets you adjust the perspective and alignment of your image.

Upright modes

These are automatic and semi-automatic perspective correction options.

Auto upright mode

The auto-upright mode analyzes the image and automatically applies a balanced level of perspective correction. You'll select this mode when you want a quick fix for noticeable perspective issues without getting into manual adjustments.

Guided upright mode

The guided mode allows you to draw up to four lines on your image, indicating which lines should be vertical or horizontal. Lightroom then adjusts the image based on these guides. This is useful for images where you need more control over the correction, like aligning the sides of a building or the horizon.

Level upright mode

The level mode corrects only for the level (horizontal axis) of your image. You'll use this if the image is tilted to the side and you want to level the horizon or another reference line.

Vertical upright mode

The vertical mode is correct only for the vertical perspective. This is great for images where vertical lines, like the sides of buildings, appear to converge due to the camera's tilt.

Full upright mode

The full mode applies both horizontal and vertical perspective corrections. You'll want to use this mode when the level and vertical perspectives need adjusting. This can sometimes lead to aggressive corrections, so it’s best to check if the result looks natural.

32. Post-crop vignetting

Post-crop vignetting darkens or lightens the corners and edges of an image, which can be used to draw attention toward the center or give photos a specific mood.

Post-crop vignetting amount

This controls the strength and direction of the vignette. A positive value lightens the corners, while a negative value darkens them. You'll want to use this to emphasize the subject in the center of the frame or to create a vintage/moody feel.

Post-crop vignetting midpoint

This determines how far the vignette spreads towards the center of your image. You can adjust this based on the size and position of the main subject to ensure your vignette complements it effectively.

Post-crop vignetting roundness

This slider adjusts the shape of your vignette from a circle (positive values) to a rectangle (negative values). You'll want to use this depending on your composition. For example, you might want a more rounded or squared-off vignette effect.

Post-crop vignetting feather

This slider controls the transition between the vignette and the center of your image. Higher values create a smoother transition. For a soft, subtle vignette, increase the feathering. For a more defined and dramatic effect, decrease it.

Post-crop vignetting highlights

This slider protects the highlights within the vignette area, allowing them to shine through even if the edges are darkened significantly. I've found this is useful in scenarios where you want the vignette effect but don't want to lose highlight details, like a sunset near the edge of the frame.

33. Grain

Grain is a textured, filmic-like quality added to photos that can be seen as speckles.

Grain amount

The grain amount slider controls the intensity of the grain effect. Depending on your personal preference and style, you'll want to use this slider to introduce a film grain texture or a pronounced, gritty effect.

Grain size

The grain size slider adjusts the size of the individual grain particles. Depending on the desired effect, you can opt for fine grain (resembling higher-quality film stocks) or coarse grain (mimicking lower-quality or more artistic film types).

Grain roughness

This slider changes the uniformity and distribution of the grain. Higher values make the grain more uneven and clumpy, while lower values provide a more uniform distribution. You'll want to use this slider to achieve a specific aesthetic, either a more random and natural grain or a smoother, more consistent texture.

34. Calibration

Calibration, often referred to as the Camera Calibration in Lightroom, lets you adjust the color interpretation of your image.

While it's a more advanced tool, it's invaluable for photographers who want to achieve specific color grading looks or correct certain color shifts that may arise from your camera sensor.

Calibration process

This dropdown refers to the underlying algorithms and processing engine that Lightroom uses to develop photos. Over the years, Adobe has released new process versions with enhancements and changes in how image data is interpreted.

I don't recommend selecting a different one from the default because it's generally recommended to use the latest process version to benefit from the latest image quality improvements and bug fixes. However, if you're revisiting an older image and want to maintain its original look, you might choose an earlier process version.

Calibration shadow tint

This slider adjusts the tint of the shadows between green and magenta. You'll want to use this as a subtle adjustment to counteract unwanted color casts in the shadows or introduce a creative tint.

RGB hue calibration adjustments

These sliders modify the base hue of each primary color. This is useful when you want to subtly shift colors for a more accurate representation or creative color grading. For instance, adjusting the primary red hue can affect skin tones.

RGB saturation calibration adjustments

These sliders control the intensity of each primary color. This is useful in enhancing or reducing the prominence of certain colors in your image. For example, boosting the saturation of the blue primary can make skies more vivid.

35. Crop

The crop tool allows you to trim or reshape your image to improve composition, eliminate distractions, or fit specific aspect ratios. You should use the crop tool whenever you want to change the boundaries of your photo, emphasize certain elements, or fit it into a particular format (like Instagram's square format).

36. Aspect ratio

The aspect ratio is the ratio of width to height in the cropped area of your image. Lightroom provides presets like 1:1 (square), 4:5, 16:9, etc. Depending on your final output (print, web, specific social media platforms), you might need to conform to certain aspect ratios.

37. Spot healing tool

The healing tool allows you to remove unwanted blemishes, spots, or objects from your image.

The "Clone" option duplicates one part of your image onto another, while the "Heal" option blends the selected area with surrounding pixels. You'll want to use this tool to clean up distractions like sensor dust, skin blemishes, or unwanted objects in the scene.

Choose "Heal" for a more seamless blend and "Clone" for a direct copy.

38. Red eye correction

The red eye correction tool identifies and corrects the red-eye effect, which is caused by the reflection of a flash in the eyes. I've found this tool useful for portrait photos taken with flash, especially in low-light conditions where pupils are dilated, leading to the red-eye effect.

39. Masking

Masking refers to the method of selecting specific parts of an image for isolated adjustments; in Lightroom, the concept has been expanded and enhanced.

Masking brush

The masking brush tool allows you to paint over areas of your image where you want specific adjustments to apply. You'll want to use this tool when you want to make localized adjustments to specific parts of your image, such as brightening a face or enhancing the saturation of a sky.

Gradient masking

The gradient tools have both linear and radial options. These tools apply adjustments gradually over a region. The linear gradient affects a image strip, while the radial gradient affects an elliptical area.

These tools are useful for scenarios like darkening the sky (linear gradient) or creating a vignette or spotlight effect (radial gradient).

Color and luminance range masking

These two allow you to refine your masks based on color or brightness. For instance, you can adjust only the blues in a sky or only the shadows in an image. This is useful when adjusting to target specific colors or luminance levels within your selected mask.

40. Flag

The flagging system is used to identify and categorize photos quickly. Images can be flagged as "picked", "unflagged", or "rejected". Flagging is useful during the initial review process.

Flagging can help you quickly sort through a shoot, keeping the best shots (picked) and marking the ones to be deleted or ignored (rejected).

41. Star rating

The star rating system in Lightroom allows you to assign a rating of 1 to 5 stars to an image. I've found this system valuable for ranking photos based on quality, importance, or any other criteria, aiding in the organization and culling process.

42. Metadata

Metadata is the information that describes various attributes of your photo, such as the camera used, exposure settings, date taken, copyright info, and more. Reviewing metadata can help you understand shooting conditions, organize photos, or filter them based on specific criteria.

43. Collections

Collections are virtual groupings of photos that can be organized by theme, project, or any other criteria. Unlike folders, a single photo can exist in multiple collections without duplicating the actual file. You'll want to group photos from different folders/shoots together based on thematic or project-based criteria.

44. Snapshot

A snapshot is a saved state of all the adjustments made to an image at a particular point in time. This is useful if you want to create a reference point or to experiment with different editing directions on a single image without losing previous adjustments.

45. History

The history in Adobe Lightroom is a list that records every adjustment made to an image since it was imported into Lightroom. This is useful to track or revert to a previous state of editing.

46. Virtual copy

A virtual copy is a non-destructive duplicate of an image that allows for different edits without affecting the original. You'll want to use this when you want to create multiple versions of an image (e.g., one in color and one in black and white) without duplicating the actual file.

47. Sync

Syncing in Lightroom is a feature that allows you to apply the same edits from one photo to multiple photos. This is useful when editing a batch of photos taken under similar conditions to ensure consistent post-processing.

48. Smart previews

Smart previews are smaller, stand-in files of your photos that allow you to edit images even when the original files aren't connected to Lightroom. They are useful for editing on the go, especially when the high-resolution originals are stored on an external drive or another computer.

49. Presets

Lightroom presets are saved settings that can be applied to photos with a single click. They can range from simple adjustments, like exposure boosts, to complex color gradings. They are useful for speeding up the editing process or achieving a consistent look across multiple photos.

50. Tethered capture

Tethered capture is when you're shooting with your camera directly connected to Lightroom, allowing photos to be imported instantly into the software as they're taken. It's useful in studio settings or when immediate review and editing of photos are necessary.

51. Keywords

Keywords in Lightroom are descriptive or identifying words added to photo metadata to make searching and organization more efficient. They are useful when you want to categorize, search, and manage your photos more effectively, especially in large catalogs.

52. Grid view

Grid view is a viewing mode where multiple images are displayed as thumbnails in a grid. This view is useful for seeing and selecting from a collection of images, especially during sorting or culling processes.

53. Loupe view

Loupe view is a viewing mode in Lightroom where a single image is displayed prominently, allowing for closer examination. This view is useful when focusing on one image, especially during detailed editing or review.

54. Survey view

Survey view is a view mode that allows users to compare multiple photos side-by-side to choose the best one. You'll want to use this view when deciding between similar shots to determine which is best for editing or delivering to a client.

55. Reference view

The reference view is similar to the survey view. In this view, you can view a reference photo alongside an active photo, aiding in matching the look between the two. You'll want to use this view to ensure consistency in edits, especially when trying to match the look of a photo to another.

56. Stacking

Stacking is a method of grouping similar photos together in the Library module so they occupy a single grid cell. This reduces visual clutter. You'll want to stack when you want to organize photos from burst shots, bracketed exposures, or any group of similar photos.

57. Soft proofing

Soft proofing simulates how your photo will look when printed on specific paper or displayed on other devices. This is useful before printing or exporting for specific devices to ensure color accuracy and desired appearance.

58. Catalog

A catalog is a database where Lightroom stores information about all your photos, including previews and the edits you make. The catalog is there to organize, manage, and track all your edits and photos in one central place. Beginners should understand the importance of not losing their catalog and backing it up regularly.

59. Navigator

The navigator is the small preview window in the top left corner that shows which part of your image is currently visible, especially useful when zoomed in. It's used to navigate to different parts of a zoomed-in image quickly.