home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

please forgive the questions and please don't give me grief for asking
What tutorials would you recommend?
Is there a workflow you would recommend for nikon raw?
What little i remember is I have to
1. rotate a photo if required in library
2. maybe use auto in develop
3. make further adjustments in develop
4. do all photos benefit from sharpening?
5. at what iso on the d500 should I use noise reduction.
6. crop as required
7. export to save the changes if I want to post or print the photo

I currently do not use the supplied presets.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Are you asking how to do 1 through 7? Or are you listing your workflow?

For tutorials, there are so many to recommend. Do you want short, one topic tutorials? Or more of a class with start to finish episodes?

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

The basic concepts and workflow of Lightroom hasn't changed much in the past year. The changes are additions of powerful new features such as masking. Based on the list of steps you provided I think you should start from scratch by finding a tutorial for beginners. There are tons on the internet but I suggest preview a few and find an instructor whose style feels most comfortable to you. I prefer the tutorial/video style of Matt Kloskowski but that's me. The LR workflow is still: Import, Rating/Sort Library(keepers/trash), Develop (a little or a lot based on image), Print or Export. Remember changes done in LR are non-destructive, you can re-edit in any sequence.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

If you got through a year, you can probably get through the rest of your life without it.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

If that’s your goal almost any free raw editor will suffice.

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Point made about easier to use software; I had been using ACDsee and got tired of the limitations. In the last year I spent my time laying 1500 brick, 200 block, using 200 80 pound bags of concrete to build terracing, finishing the rebuild of an E-TYPE, yardwork, playing with our 4, 5 and 8 year old grandchildren 2 to 5 times a week, 1 1/2 hour each day at the gym and spending quality time with my wife of 50 plus years. Serious camera work fell to dead last of things to do.
We just got back from a 6 week vacation in Slovenia, NE italy and Istria and I may have some shots that need a little post processing.
I hoped I could get good without much work (joke).
Thanks to those few that responded with meaningful comments.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I didn't do the brick work or restore a car. But, the rest is not to far off for me. I'm not sure what part do you want help with?

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

1. rotate a photo if required in library
Ctrl (Command) + [ to rotate the image counterclockwise and Ctrl (Command) + ] to rotate the image clockwise.

2. maybe use auto in develop
It has become quite good with updates in the last year or so. I use it a lot.

3. make further adjustments in develop
Auto can come close. I frequently find I like to reduce the Exposure.

4. do all photos benefit from sharpening?
All JPEGs are sharpened in the camera. RAWs are not and Auto doesn't either. My choice is to usually add some sharpening.

5. at what iso on the d500 should I use noise reduction.
I don't have any Nikons. The current LrC version has two denoise choices. The newest uses AI and is effective with extremely high ISOs. 800 might be about the upper limit with the older slider.

6. crop as required
Yes?

7. export to save the changes if I want to post or print the photo
Export a JPEG for sharing, but not for printing. The Print module will handle RAW after using the Develop module.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Where Develop (i.e. adjustments) for raw files is concerned, the tools are best used in the order they appear in the Develop section (except perhaps lens corrections that are best done early). I would also recommend getting any cloning done early. If you clone over areas that have had adjustments applied via the Adjustments brush it can produce funny effects, such as stuff below the patch showing through even at 100% opacity.

Also, if you've added a lot of sharpening it can affect how the brush works when in Auto Mask mode, so it's a good idea to get brushwork done before sharpening.

If you use Auto in the Basic section to get the light levels adjusted, see that as a starting point. Further tweaking may well be required, especially where highlights and contrast are concerned. Typically, Highlights will be well to the left and Contrast at least half way to the right.

If adding contrast causes the darks to be crushed (too dark and solid) use the Blacks slider to lift the darks - and do that by eye - ignore the Shadow Clipping warning (if it's switched on in the Histogram - top left hand corner). However you should use the Whites slider together with the Highlights Warning (top right hand corner of the histogram) to set the white point (to avoid clipping).

Use the Clarity slider sparingly (typically less than 8) at the end after you've made all of the other adjustments. Likewise with the Saturation slider. Any problem colours can be worked on in the HSL section.

Where sharpening and denoise are concerned, if you don't feel confident about doing them by eye, have some default settings that you can use for all of your shots. Fairly safe options for a raw file would be:-

Sharpening:-

Amount - 60.

Radius - 1.7.

Detail - 22.

Auto Masking - 60.


Noise Reduction:-

Luminance - 4. Detail - 65.

Color - 20. Detail - 65.

Extreme noise would require more extreme adjustments. Those above should be good for ISOs up to about 1600 with your D500. Very bad noise requires either a re-shoot or an AI denoise package.

photoman43

Check out the tutorials offered at Tim Grey Learning. But there are many others too.

If you have the Adobo photography suite, you can also use Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw in lieu of Lightroom. And there is always Photoshop too. When I use Adobe, I use Bridge and ACR and not LR.

I also recommend any video by Robin Whalley at Lenscraft.


https://lenscraft.co.uk/photo-editing/

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I use LR every single day for something. You should to. As mentioned earlier, just 'start over' mentally and get some new-user utube training. LR will come back to you quickly.

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

Anthony Morganti on You Tube has many very useful tutorials, but as noted there are many others available.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Agreed that they are very good. But they are random. Morganti has a $100 course that is organized into a series of connected lessons.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

No one should pay a single US cent for Lightroom training until they've first exhausted all the Subscriber-only training at Adobe.com, and all the free videos on u-tube.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

You are right when one is looking to learn a specific technique or enhance a specific skill. You may also be right where a person has little or no discretionary income to spend.

Your word "exhausted" makes a point. One can get that way by scouring endlessly to find the pieces that put all the knowledge in place. If time has value, it can make sense to take a structured course or class that explains how it all works in an organized fashion.

My personal most recent class experience had the purpose of me passing the FAA's Remote Pilot Certificate test. I paid Pilot Institute to teach me what I needed. My best guess is that it would have taken me three or four times longer if I had randomly searched for the collection of pieces to make up the whole knowledge base I needed.

Historically, I learned Lightroom when it was version 4. Julienanne Kost, provided the structured online class.