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Lightroom is an extremely powerful tool that your business can use in conjunction with a wedding photo editing company, such as ShootDotEdit. We’ve put together Jared Platt‘s Top 5 Lightroom Tips – enjoy!

1: Use a “Master Catalog” in Lightroom

Jared recommends using one “Master Catalog” in Lightroom. With this model, you can work on multiple jobs at the same time within the same catalog. The other option is to have a separate catalog for each job, only allowing you to work on one job at a time. Having a “Master Catalog” is a much more efficient and time effective way to work.

2: Use Lightroom to export for Job Submission

The export function is one of the points where your version of Lightroom matters the most. While we can (and do) accept jobs from older versions of Lightroom, we recommend using Lightroom CC or Lightroom 5 because it allows for uploading speeds that are up to 30 times faster than in Lightroom 4. By using the technology of Smart Preview, it allows us to edit images that are not physically connected to our computers. Meaning Lightroom is able to package a job without needing the full RAW files, saving a ton of space. Jared uses the example of how an 8-hour overnight upload of a wedding has decreased to 15 minutes. You can’t beat that for time management!

3: Add your Signature Style on top of ShootDotEdit changes quickly & efficiently in Lightroom

After our color corrections have been received and uploaded back into the “Master Catalog”, many dive right into the Develop module to make their Signature Brand edits on top of our custom color corrections. If you choose to add these additional style edits, Jared suggests an alternative workflow to save you time: By staying in the Library module and using the Quick Edit or Spray Bottle tool to a group of images, you can make adjustments to all of the ones you have selected. You can also apply presets to the group of images in this way. The biggest benefit is that these changes are made relative to our edits, so you keep the neutral color and white balance that we strive to achieve and can add your signature style quickly and easily.

4: Immediately Save your finished Lightroom catalog when you receive it back from ShootDotEdit

When you receive your email from us stating your job has been completed and the catalog is ready for download, Jared recommends that you SAVE IT IMMEDIATELY! Even if you don’t plan on pulling the files back into Lightroom and working on them at that moment, download the edited catalog and save it in your job folder. Preview images are not sent back with the catalog file, so the download is significantly faster than the upload. No reason not to pull it down and save it as soon as you receive it!

5: Time-Sync your images in your ShootDotEdit Lightroom Catalog

Even if it is already a part of your workflow to sync your cameras onsite, Jared recommends that you should still use Lightroom to check the timestamps and make sure they are the same, and to do this as early in the editing process as you can. When we receive images that are not synced, it slows us down in returning your images to you in the fastest possible way. This is why Jared insists it is easiest and fastest to sync the timestamps through Lightroom when you first upload the files.

Bonus

Of course, we couldn’t keep it to just five! Jared Platt has some other great tips in the webinar, including information about Selecting a color profile (including dot previews & selecting for challenging jobs) and When and why you should rename your images.

Even if you don’t have the time to watch the whole webinar, but are looking to expand on a specific tip discussed here, topics are conveniently broken out by time markers below the video itself.

We hope these tips help, as they are just the beginning of a mountain of information from Jared Platt. For more tips on how you can improve your business this year, download our updated guide, How to Grow Your Wedding Photography Business: 2015 Edition!