Learn how to create a web gallery in Lightroom, including importing new photos, changing the web gallery's appearance, creating a watermark, and saving a template as a preset in this comprehensive tutorial.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Lightroom training materials and is compatible with Lightroom updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Lightroom, check out our Photo Retouching Certificate and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Note: These materials are provided to give prospective students a sense of how we structure our class exercises and supplementary materials. During the course, you will get access to the accompanying class files, live instructor demonstrations, and hands-on instruction.
Topics covered in this Lightroom tutorial:
The Web module, Changing the web gallery’s appearance, Creating a watermark, Saving a template as a preset
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
In this exercise, you will create a collection for a new set of photos, create a web gallery, establish a personal watermark and identity plate, and save the web gallery for online publication.
Importing New Photos
Make sure you’re in the Library module.
At the bottom of the left panel, click the Import button.
On the left side, under Source, navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Lightroom Class and select the Publish folder.
If the photos don’t all have checkmarks to their left, click the first photo and Shift–click the last photo to select all the photos.
On the right-hand side, in the text box under Keywords, type: Washington DC
At the top, make sure Add is selected (highlighted).
On the bottom right, click the Import button.
Creating a Web Gallery
Press Cmd–A (Mac) or Ctrl–A (Windows) to select all the photos you just imported.
Expand the Collections panel on the left if it isn’t already expanded.
Click the New Collection icon
and select Create Collection.- In the Create Collection dialog box that appears:
- Next to Name, type Washington DC.
- Check on Inside a Collection Set and from the menu select USA.
- Under Options, make sure only Include selected photos is checked.
- Click Create.
Press Cmd–D (Mac) or Ctrl–D (Windows) to deselect all.
Drag the Lincoln Memorial photo (_CAS2230) so that it’s the last photo in the grid.
Drag the third photo (_CAS2190) into the second position.
At the top-right corner of the screen, click on the Web tab to enter the Web module.
Lightroom is initializing a web gallery. Notice on the left side, under Template Browser, an assortment of various preset templates are available.
From the Template Browser list, expand Track Gallery Templates and select Track gallery (default) if it isn’t already selected.
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Expand the Site Info panel on the right if it isn’t already expanded. Then set:
Gallery Title: Washington DC Gallery Author: YourName Gallery Author URL: YourWebsiteURL (or temporarily use https://www.nobledesktop.com if you don’t have a personal website)
Styling the Web Gallery’s Appearance
Expand the Color Palette panel on the right if it’s not already (you may need to scroll down to see it).
Next to Background, click on the color rectangle
to set the color of the gallery’s background.At the top, select the fifth gray from the left (the darkest one), and in the top-left corner click on the X to close the color dialog.
Next to Text, click on the color rectangle
.Click at the top of the Hex color column’s to view the full color spectrum.
Select any shade of red you like, and then click on the X to close the dialog.
On the right, expand the Appearance panel if it isn’t already.
Notice that we can change the row height and row spacing within the gallery. Let’s not do it though.
Watermarks
Expand the Output Settings panel on the right if not already expanded.
From the menu next to Watermarking, select Edit Watermarks.
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In the dialog box that appears, type in the text box: © YourName Year.
To type the copyright © symbol, use Opt−G (Mac) or Alt−0169 (Windows).
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In the Watermark Effects section (scroll down if necessary), set the following:
Opacity: 50 Size: 20 Anchor: Set to the bottom-right circle as shown below: 
Click Save.
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In the New Preset dialog box that pops up, type: © YourName Year.
The © symbol is Opt−G (Mac) or Alt−0169 (Windows).
Click Create.
At the bottom-left corner of the screen, click Preview in Browser.
After Lightroom has finished building the preview, it should launch a new browser window with a preview of what your web gallery would look like.
In the browser window, click on the first photo.
Click the next right arrow a few times.
Notice that the watermark is on every photo.
Click the x in the top-right corner to return to the gallery page with small thumbnails.
Close the browser window and return to Lightroom.
Saving a Template
On the left, next to Template Browser, click the Create New Preset icon
.- In the New Template dialog box that pops up:
- Set Template Name to YourName Gray Gallery.
- Click Create.
The new template is saved under User Templates, at the bottom of the Template Browser panel.
And that’s how you can create a web gallery from start to finish!