When you spend a lot of your editing time in Lightroom it makes sense to learn how to work the interface so it behaves as you need it to. In a previous post I listed some of my favourite Lightroom interface features. Here are my next favourite five, most of which have earned a place in my repertoire courtesy of spending far too much time editing on a 12″ laptop where screen space is at a premium.

1. Learn the F keys

The function keys F5, F6, F7 and F8 can clean up the Lightroom screen very quickly. F5 controls the top panel, F6 the bottom, F7 the left and F8 the right panel. Pressing any one of these keys will hide or display the appropriate panel. It’s an easy way to get rid of …

Actions are a feature of Photoshop that allow you to automate tasks. So you can record your steps as you work as an action and then play them back to make repetitive tasks more simple to perform. You can also find actions on the web that others have created and download them to use yourself. In this post I’ll explain how to find, download, install and play an action.

To find actions on the web, search for “Photoshop Actions” in your favorite search engine. You can also go to Adobe Marketplace and Exchange site at: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/ where you can find a lot of actions for downloading. These are rated by other users so it is a good place to find good actions. ?

The action I will show you how to install and use is a filmstrip action for the PC that you will find at http://www.photoshop-action.no/specialfxgallery.htm. Download the filmstrip action to your computer and then unzip the file to expand the contents. Although this action states that it’s suitable for Photoshop 6, 7 or CS, it works in versions up to CS4. As a rule of thumb, most older actions work just fine in later versions of Photoshop.?

I took this photo of my daughter last night and it needed a lot of rescuing. I wanted to share the method I used to fix this shot with you all because – let’s face it – even the best of us need a little rescuing from time to time!

{How I Took it}

I took this in my very dimly lit front room using my Canon 7D and a Lightscoop. Camera was set on auto due to laziness. The settings were:

• ISO400
• 18-200mm lens at 40mm
• f/4.5
• 1/60th sec.

{How I edited it}

LIGHTROOM

• Imported RAW into Lightroom
• Adjusted exposure (up)
• Clarity (up)
• Brightness (up)
• Temperature (cooler, but still keeping it warm)
• Cropped
• Lightened shadows
• Lessened blown-out highlights (using both the recovery slider and the highlights slider)
• Used

…

One of the annoyances most photographers encounter from time to time is sensor dust. This is dust that you get on the camera’s sensor and which shows up in your images as dark marks or flaws on your photos. Most often you’ll see this in the sky but it can appear anywhere in an image and it will appear in the same place in all your images – the tell tale sign that you have problems.

Of course, the only way to get rid of the dust is to clean your camera either using its dust removal option or by physically cleaning it. However, chances are that the reason you know you have a dust problem is that you see it on your photos. For these images, at least, cleaning the camera won’t help. Instead, digital removal is required.

If you’re faced with a series of photos that have dust problems, Lightroom can simplify the process of fixing them. Its Spot Removal tool can be used to fix sensor dust and, the benefit of doing the work in Lightroom rather than Photoshop, for example, is that once you have one image fixed, you can automatically fix most of the others.

Have you ever erased someone’s moles only to get a “oh…um….ok” response? I have.

We might think we’re doing someone a favour by removing imperfections from their features but when does is go too far? What are the rules about removing blemishes?

The first thing I would consider is whether I know the person personally or not. Sometimes I ask if they’d like me to remove a mole. Sometimes they say yes, sometimes not. If I know that something bothers them, I sometimes remove it and then show them to see what they think. I might even email a proof over and let them see a before/after.

Of course, I always remove pimples, lipstick from the teeth, etc. No one has EVER asked me to keep their zits intact I think it’s a …