My Lightroom Workflow: Import

I've been learning Lightroom over the past few months, after years of using Photoshop Elements Organizer to organize and manage my photos. You'll find many articles online from Lightroom users describing their workflow, and most of them are from the perspective of a professional photographer. I'm not a professional photographer, but I do take a lot of photos and I find that Lightroom meets my needs better than Photoshop Elements Organizer these days.

With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to describe my Lightroom workflow process, from the perspective of a non-professional. I've also included useful shortcuts and tips for each step of the workflow.

Import

During the import process, I add my copyright information to the metadata and apply any keywords that pertain to the entire batch of photos I'm importing. I append a prefix for the camera model to the front of the file name (because I've had so many Canon cameras over the years, it helps to avoid duplicate file names). I put the pictures in a folder - one folder for the year - on my local hard drive, with the date and a few words describing the import batch. So for example:

2011\2011-01-06 New Haircut
2011\2011-01-19 Park
and so on...

My import settings are saved as a preset so I don't have to re-enter them every time I import from my camera.
Useful Shortcuts:

• Import = Ctrl-Shift-I

My Lightroom Workflow: Cull

Cull

After importing my pictures, the very next thing I do is a quick review to delete the bad pictures. Usually these are out of focus, or the subject moved out of the frame while shooting in continuous mode, etc. Basically, it's anything I don't care to keep. To prepare for this, I hide the side panels and filmstrip by pressing Shift-Tab. This allows me to see the pictures as large as possible. Next, I'll "dim the lights" by pressing L twice.

This blacks out everything on the screen except for the pictures. From the Grid, I double click on the first image to open it in loupe view.
Then I use the arrow keys to scroll through the batch, pressing X (flag as rejected) for any photos I don't wish to keep. If there are similar photos which I want to compare side-by-side, I flag them as a pick by pressing P and come back to them later. Rejected photo will display a black flag in the top left corner of the thumbnail, picks will display a white flag. After this first review, I press G to return to the Grid, L for lights on, then Ctrl-Backspace to immediately delete the rejects.

Useful Shortcuts:

• Hide Panels and Filmstrip = Shift-Tab
• Cycle screen between dim, off, and on = L (light)
• Cycle view between thumbnail, fit to screen, and 1:1 = Enter
• Reject = X
• Pick = P
• Remove all flags = U
• Delete rejected photos = Ctrl-Backspace

My Lightroom Workflow: Compare

Comparison

If I flagged any picks for comparison in the previous step, I will then filter the grid to only show the picks, then switch to compare view (C) or Survey View (N) and refine the selections using the reject flag or ratings. If any were rejected, I delete them with Ctrl-Backspace. I remove the "pick" flag from the remaining photos. I usually do this with the filmstrip and toolbar showing, but the side panels hidden.
Useful Shortcuts:

• Compare View = C
• Survey View = N
• Rate = 1-5
• Reject = X
• Pick = P
• Remove all flags = U
• Delete rejected photos = Ctrl-Backspace

My Lightroom Workflow: Keywords

Keywords

At this stage I am left with all my keepers. Adding keywords is very important to me, so I add keywords to all the remaining photos, paying particular attention to making sure all the known people in my photos are tagged with a keyword.
For keywording, I usually use the Grid view of the library module, but use the + key to enlarge the grid thumbnails to quite a large size. It helps to hide the left side panel and filmstrip, but I keep the right side panel open with the keywording and metadata sections expanded and all others collapsed.

In the keywording section, I find that keeping the Keyword Set on Recent Keywords is most efficient for me.

When adding keywords, I pay particular attention to people, but also add keywords for the event, location, subject matter, and anything else that jumps out at me. If I think of a caption while adding keywords, the metadata panel is open and I type it in while I am thinking about it.

Useful Shortcuts:

• Enlarge Grid thumbnails = + (plus)
• Reduce Grid thumbnails = - (minus)
• Toggle Left Panels = F7
• Toggle Right Panels = F8
• Add keywords = Ctrl-K (puts cursor in the box so you may begin typing)

My Lightroom Workflow: Stacks

Stacking

After keywords, I create stacks, if necessary. Personally, I don't use stacks very often--I use them primarily for panorama sets and multiple exposures for HDR work. For this I use the "Auto-Stack by Capture Time…" command under the menu Photo > Stacks. I create stacks after adding keywords because when photos are stacked, they keywords are only applied to the top photo unless you remember to expand stacks.
It's also worth noting that you can only work with stacks if you are viewing pictures by folder.

You can't work with stacks when viewing a collection.

If you do like to work with stacks, it's worth learning the keyboard shortcuts since all the stacking commands are buried in a sub-menu.

Useful Shortcuts:

• Stack selected photos = Ctrl-G (group)
• Un-stack photos = Shift-Ctrl-G
• Collapse/expand stack = S
• Move selected picture to top of stack = Shift-S

My Lightroom Workflow: Rating

Rating

Next I filter the view for unrated images and make a second pass, quickly assigning a rating from 0 to 5. Anything with a zero rating is something I want to keep, but not necessarily show to others. From there it is just my own judgment as to how much I like each image, but in general I use 3 or higher for pictures that I am likely to share or use in a project.
After rating, I will sometimes filter to show all the rated pictures and create a collection from them.

This just depends on what I have planned for the photos and whether I think I will want to come back to them as a group later on.

Useful Shortcuts:

• Rate = 1-5 number keys
• Create new collection = Ctrl-N

My Lightroom Workflow: Color Labels

Labels

During both the keywording and rating process, I will also assign labels. Not every picture will get a label, only those I want to flag for some reason. I use the following designation for labels in Lightroom:

• Red - Needs Extra Work (Requires more than my normal develop processing.)
• Yellow - Part of a Panorama Set
• Green - Good
• Blue - Review (Could be for any number of things. I use this as a catch-all for those images I want to be sure to come back to. Sometimes I will add a note in the caption or use a keyword to remind me why I labeled it for review.)

• Purple - Ready to Publish

These labels can be easily assigned with the number keys 6-9. To customize the meanings of your color labels, go to Metadata > Color Label Set > Edit…
Useful Shortcuts:

• Red = 6
• Yellow = 7
• Green = 8
• Blue = 9
• Purple does not have a shortcut.

My Lightroom Workflow: Picks

Picks

Now, from the rated pictures, I flag the ones I plan to use somewhere. In my case, this usually means uploading to some online sharing site, but it could also be for a project such as a slide show or a photo book, or for sending to a printer. Depending on the size of the batch I will filter for 1, 2, 3 stars and higher, then go through these and flag the ones I definitely want to share as a pick.

Depending on the circumstances, I may or may not create a collection containing just the picks.
Useful Shortcuts:

• Flag as Pick = P
• Create new collection = Ctrl-N

Developing

Before publishing any pictures, I will go through them in the develop module. I only develop those pictures I plan to work with. Some may not need any developing, but I always review them for possible cropping, tone and color adjustment, noise reduction, and so on. This is usually the most time-consuming portion of the workflow, which is why I only do it for the pictures as I use them. Creating presets and copying develop settings from one photo to many can significantly speed things up during the develop process.
After developing, I may change labels on a photo, for instance, removing the Red label if it no longer needs work, or adding the Blue label if I think of something else I want to do with the image.

Useful Shortcuts:

• Auto-Tone = Ctrl-U
• Reset any adjustment slider = double-click on its label.
• Crop = R
• Rotate Crop Aspect Ratio = X
• Constrain Crop Aspect Ratio = A
• Spot Removal = Q
• Adjustment Brush = K
• Paste Settings from Previous = Ctrl-Alt-V

Captions

Depending on what I'm doing with the pictures I have chosen as picks, I may review them once again in the Library module and add captions to those which I have not already captioned. This way, if I am posting the photos online or using them in a project, the captions will appear with the photos.
Useful Shortcuts:

• Click on the "Title" or "Caption" labels of the metadata panel for a drop down menu of recent entries. Even if you don't use identical captions, it can often save you some typing if you edit a recent caption.

Conclusion And that's it! It sounds like a lot of steps, but most of them are pretty quick, and every step is not always required. From this point, the photos will be exported from Lightroom or published using one of Lightroom's publishing services. I rarely use the Slideshow, Print, and Web modules of Lightroom.
I hope this has helped you develop a Lightroom process that works for you.