How to Learn Lightroom Online

If you’re just starting to learn a new skill, you can find dozens of tips and resources online; learning Lightroom is no different.Lightroom is a digital photograph editing and storing application that is most frequently used by creatives to edit photos on the spot to ensure they get the perfect shot. Used by both hobbyists and professional photographers, Lightroom is a versatile tool that can help improve the work of anyone who takes or works with digital photos. If you’ve always wanted to learn Lightroom, there are plenty of options at your fingertips. From free tutorials to live classes, your options are outlined here so you can decide how to learn in a way that works best for you.

What is Lightroom?

Adobe Lightroom is compact photo organizing and editing software that allows users to catalog and edit photographs from any device using the Adobe Creative Cloud. Using Lightroom, users can examine and edit photographs on the fly immediately after taking them without having to leave the site. This makes Lightroom ideal for photographers who want to create perfect photographs for advertising, social media, or personal printing, as Lightroom lets them take a photo and immediately start the process of editing. Lightroom provides tools for color correction, altering contrasts, modifying brightness, and basic editing functions such as correcting red-eye or blurring/sharpening an image. Since Lightroom is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, it is also optimized for photo sharing, letting users work with the same photo across multiple devices and including tools to help users prepare their photos for publication.

Adobe Lightroom is closely related to Adobe Photoshop. The major difference between the two programs is that Lightroom is optimized for mobile devices and on-the-fly photo editing, whereas Photoshop is optimized for desktop use and has more precise and granular editing tools. Lightroom is best suited for users who want to take a photograph and immediately begin editing it to suit their needs, particularly photographers working on-site, away from their desktop computers. Lightroom also lets users create and import preset filters and settings to help them quickly edit their photos.

Read more about what Lightroom is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Lightroom?

Adobe Lightroom is a powerful photo editing tool with a number of features that make it useful for both professional and hobbyist photographers. Whether a photographer is taking photos of models for a series of print advertisements or just taking vacation photos for their own personal social media account, the ability to edit photos quickly and efficiently will greatly improve the quality of their output. This versatility makes Lightroom an ideal choice to learn for anyone who is regularly taking photos as a part of their day-to-day life.

Lightroom lets users make on-the-fly edits to photographs, altering colors, shade, contrast, and other digital details with only a few clicks. Owing to its easy-to-use sliders and built-in/customizable presets, users can begin editing their photos within seconds, easily letting them identify the issues that need to be changed to get a perfect shot. Recent updates to Adobe Lightroom allow users to build and edit rudimentary video animations, opening a whole new world of possibilities for creative photographers.

Lightroom is also a powerful tool for archiving and publishing photos. Linked to the Adobe Creative Cloud, Lightroom lets users easily share their photos across multiple devices and programs. Users can take a picture, edit the basics of the color and contrast in Lightroom, then import that photo into Photoshop to perform more detailed photo editing. Then, they can import the newly edited photos into a program like Adobe XD in preparation for publication on a website or digital advertisement.

Live Online Lightroom Training

Some students may find that they aren’t located near any campuses teaching Lightroom in-person or aren’t interested in commuting, but they still want to learn Lightroom. These students may wish to consider live online training. These courses replicate the experience of an in-person course by letting students engage with live instructors who are teaching in real-time. Students aren’t just watching video recordings of lectures, and they can receive in-the-moment feedback and responses to their questions. The primary drawback to these courses is that, in most cases, students will need to ensure consistent access to the technology required for experiential learning.

Noble Desktop teaches all of its courses with an option for live online instruction. These courses, including Noble’s Adobe Lightroom Classic and their Photo Retouching Certificate program, provide students with hands-on instruction in Adobe Lightroom. Unlike more traditional self-paced online courses, these classes operate like regularly scheduled in-person training seminars. Students will be expected to attend live sessions through teleconferencing software like Zoom and complete additional work outside the classroom.

Other service providers such as Ledet Training and headTrix, Inc. offer live online Lightroom training courses. Students interested in comparing the options available can explore the available live online Lightroom courses using Noble’s Classes Near Me tool.

On-Demand Lightroom Classes

Some students may find that they cannot commit to a regularly scheduled instruction course because of outside responsibilities or work commitments. While this can make certain kinds of training untenable, students also have the option to enroll in self-paced Lightroom courses. These classes let students learn at their own pace and dedicate themselves to learning Lightroom when their lives allow them to dedicate the time. These courses are also ideal for students who prefer self-paced learning instead of sticking to the schedule of a classroom environment, allowing them to move more quickly or double back on ideas that are confusing them. The downside to these courses is that they require a specific kind of self-motivated student, as some students find it hard to work without a consistent schedule.

Students should also be aware of how different self-paced courses are proctored. Some courses are free, some require up-front fees, and some are part of a subscription to training services. Some courses are gated behind modules, and some provide students with all the materials up-front. Some courses make heavy use of pre-recorded videos, while others will use digital (or physical) workbooks.

Students interested in exploring their options can find and compare on-demand Lightroom courses by using Noble’s Classes Near Me tool.

Free Intro Courses & Tutorials

Some students may not feel comfortable enrolling in an immersive skills training course without a background in Lightroom. Those students may wish to take advantage of some of the free introductory courses and online tutorials. Noble offers a free introductory seminar helping students understand the basic functionalities of Lightroom and how it differs from Adobe Photoshop. This seminar is an ideal way to introduce oneself to Lightroom and decide whether to learn Lightroom, Photoshop, or both.

Adobe also provides new Lightroom users with a seven-day free trial of the program. During this time, students can take advantage of the free offers available through Noble alongside the free tutorials and training videos offered by Adobe. Once students have exhausted the free tutorials available through Noble, they may consider looking at the options for free courses available through other service providers such as Udemy or Coursera, both of which offer free tutorials in the basics of Lightroom.

Read about more free Lightroom videos and online tutorials.

Comparing Online Methods with In-Person Learning

Too often, online learning programs are viewed as being second-rate compared to in-person learning experiences. However, while there are significant differences between online and in-person training programs, it is hard to say that one is demonstrably superior to the other. Students should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of both options when they are choosing a Lightroom training course.

The most significant advantage that online learning offers is accessibility and choice. Students who learn Lightroom online aren’t restricted to the courses being offered near them, and they won’t even be restricted to formal in-class instruction, as they can opt for self-paced or on-demand classes. This gives students a great deal of freedom to design their own learning environment, which can be very helpful for students who feel they benefit from having more control over their learning outcomes.

Another advantage offered by online classes is the convenience of learning a new skill from one’s own home on the device that you are most likely to use that application in the future. Since Lightroom runs on so many platforms, having access to the desktop or mobile device you’ll be using to edit photos can greatly help new learners become more comfortable with the program. However, this does come with a drawback. Since students won’t be in-person, they won’t have access to a service provider’s license for Lightroom, meaning they will need their own Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Most users would have access to the program anyway, but it is worth considering as an additional cost of taking an online course.

Another possible drawback to online courses, particularly those that are self-paced or on-demand, will likely require students to be slightly more self-motivated than in-person classes. The lack of a commute and in-person engagement with students and instructors can be problematic for some students, particularly those who require more guided instruction. Many live online courses still meet regularly and still offer students the chance to work with other students and instructors in a small group or one-on-one contexts. Still, if a student feels that they would benefit from that instruction, they should consider live online classes rather than other online alternatives.

Tips to Succeed when Learning Lightroom Online

For students who have committed to an online training program, there are a few ways to prepare themselves to make success more likely. First, students should take advantage of the available free tutorials to familiarize themselves with the basic functionalities of the program. This will help ease students into their instruction and help them avoid falling behind early on in the process. Whether they are only experimenting with the program beforehand, watching YouTube videos, or taking advantage of a free online seminar, these free resources can be vital for helping students at the onset of their learning. These free tutorials won’t replace more immersive online training, but they are beneficial for complementing and improving one’s experience in an online training course.

Next, students should be aware of their environment and how it will impact their learning. One of the advantages of a live in-person classroom is that it is a sealed environment wherein students are more free from interruptions and distractions. While some students may not have a problem working in their own home or office, others may want to make a note of their environment to ensure it isn’t impeding their ability to learn. This may not be possible for all students, but building a learning environment that works for them is essential to succeeding in an online training program.

Finally, students engaging in self-paced and on-demand learning should self-assess their capacity for self-motivation. It can be very easy to fall behind in a self-paced environment, and this creates a compounding effect wherein students lose more motivation and fall further behind. This makes it very easy to drop Lightroom training altogether, which is not a desired outcome for users.

Learn Lightroom with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers a wide range of Lightroom courses designed to fit the practical and professional needs of all students. Participants can take these courses both at Noble’s Manhattan location in-person, or they are available through live, online instruction. Even if taken online, these courses boast small classes taught by experienced instructors who can respond to student needs in real-time. Taking a class online through Noble provides students with the same high-quality instruction and professional skills training as the in-person courses, with the advantage of being available to students from all over the country. Noble’s courses offer a free retake option within one year, allowing students to hone their skills at no cost.

Noble’s Adobe Lightroom Classic course gives students hands-on experience using Lightroom to edit, share, and publish photographs. Students will practice manipulating photos and learn strategies to optimize these photos for different purposes, such as social media advertising, web design, and physical printing. Students will also learn how to utilize the Adobe Creative Cloud integration to share, publish, and archive their photos safely and effectively. This course will provide students with the experience they need to use Lightroom Classic for professional and personal purposes.

Noble also offers Lightroom instruction as part of its Photo Retouching Certificate program. This training program teaches students the skills that they need to take and edit their own high-quality digital photos for professional use. Students will learn the best ways to take a digital photo and then be taught how to edit those photos using both Lightroom and Photoshop. Students will learn how to optimize their photographs by taking advantage of Lightroom’s editing and sharing capabilities alongside learning how to make more advanced and complex manipulations in Photoshop. Completing the course provides students with an industry recognized certificate of completion, and participants are also eligible for a free retake within one year to continue honing their retouching skills.

Key Insights

• Adobe Lightroom is a photo-editing and storage application used by both creative professionals and amateurs alike. It is an accessible program to learn, and there are many options available to learn Lightroom online.
• Many service providers offer online versions of their in-person course offerings, and these online classes are an ideal way to learn Lightroom. They have the advantage of being far more accessible to students from anywhere in the country rather than being restricted to students who can commute.
• Training programs also offer on-demand and self-paced courses alongside free services and tutorials. These courses require more self-motivation on the part of the learner, but they have the advantage of allowing students with less flexible schedules or less predictable studying time to learn Lightroom.
• Since there are so many options available for online learning, students should self-assess their strengths and limitations before enrolling in an online course. Online courses aren’t lesser than in-person courses, but because they have their advantages and disadvantages, it will help students to find the right course for them.
• Noble Desktop offers comprehensive Lightroom training in both live online and in-person formats.