Update …

Note – It turns out – thanks to Rick’s comment – that the filter will stick to any subsequent folder you choose. Not as I have described below …

This meant that the next time you selected the same folder only your filtered images would be shown. This could cause problems with people thinking that images where missing, etc.

To see all the images in a folder you had to manually clear the filter every time.

Lightroom 3 no longer has this behaviour and filters are only remembered if you choose to set the lock icon as shown below.

You make your selection, either from the drop down menu or from the filter toolbar, and then choose to have the filter stick to any folder you subsequently choose. the folder.

A big improvement in my view.

Still useful as you can now globally turn the filters off and ensure all of your images are visible.

Lightroom 3 adds a much better way to reset both the Graduated Filter and Selective Adjustment tools. In Lightroom 2 you have to reset each individual slider within the tool.

All you do now is double click on the Effect label and all of the sliders will go to their default positions. Much better..

Lightroom makes it really easy to apply the same edit to multiple images. You could do this to increase the exposure of a whole sequence of under exposed shots. The same method can be used to adjust the white balance of a whole shoot in one go.

You start by working in the Library Grid mode. Select all of the images that you want  to edit.

Now use any of the quick develop tools in the right hand panel. Your edits will be applied to all of the selected images.

This functionality has always been in Lightroom. Simple and easy to use.

If you use the crop tool with a fixed aspect – such as 4×6 – you will have noticed that it is not easy to quickly switch between portrait and landscape cropping modes. You have to select custom and make a new setting of 6×4. Then save and finally select that custom setting.

A quicker way is to first choose your custom crop. The crop aspect will be the same as the image.

Now grab the top right of the crop rectangle and reduce the size of the crop. When the crop area becomes small you will notice that the aspect suddenly switches.

This is much easier than setting up custom aspect versions of the tool!

There is a very handy quick list of Lightroom recently used folders which can be found at the top left hand side of the Filmstrip.

Information on the selected photos will be displayed by default but if you right click on the file information you will get a list of recently visited folders. Saves you having to navigate your way through the folder hierarchy.

When I change the size of the thumbnails in Lightrooms grid view I usually use the slider on the Toolbar.

This is  ok,  but often either the toolbar  is not visible or I have turned off the display of the thumbnail control. I then have to activate the thumbnail slider.

A much quicker and easier way is to use the keyboard shortcut of plus (+)  or minus (-). Changing the size of the thumbnails is one of the most often actions I do in Lightroom so this has really helped me.

A little used function of Lightroom is  “Enable Painting” which can be found under the Metadata main menu item. Enable Paining will activate the Spraycan mouse cursor as well as a series of Paintable options from the Toolbar.

If you now examine the Toolbar at the bottom of the screen you will see a click-able menu next to the word Paint. If you do not see this then try pressing the ‘T’ key as you may have toggled off the toolbar.

You have a lot of flexibility as to what can be painted. Note painted here means applying edits to images by clicking with the Spraycan cursor. Keywords, Settings,Metadata etc.

Note you can further refine the chosen settings with the right hand menu. The example here shows the options available for the Develop Settings.

Once you have chosen your settings just click on an image thumbnail to apply it.

Very simple but not often used I suspect!

If you want the sliders in Lightrooms Develop Module to be more sensitive there is a really simple trick.

Move your mouse cursor over the left hand edge of the Develop Module panel until the cursor changes into a horizontal double arrow. Now drag the mouse to the left which will increase the width of the whole Develop Panel.

You will now have much greater control when adjusting the sliders. Just how effective this is, depends on your screen size, but it works well during fine edits.

One of the easiest ways to move quickly around an examine an image in Lightroom is to use the Navigator panel. Expand the size of the Navigator to it’s maximum and choose the 1:1 magnification from the right-hand top side of the Navigator.

Now position your cursor anywhere in the white square and drag the square over the Navigator thumbnail. As you do so you will quickly view the main image in 1:1 mode.

This is a very quick way to check your image for dust spots, focusing errors and other image problems.

Let me know if you have other better ways to do this …

As of Lightroom 2 you can access all of your collections from within the Slideshow, Print and Web modules. It is easy to forget this if you have worked with Lightroom for sometime as I have.

It is then really useful in the Web module to just click on one of your collections and select and view them all quickly.

What you may not know is that the Web Module remembers the Gallery choice that you made for that collection if you had displayed it previously. The same is true for Slideshow and the Print collections in that the collection selected will have retained the specific settings for that collection.

I hope this helps …

More tips from the Lightroom Tips Library