Skip to main content
Dan Rodney/3 min read

Working with Quick Develop

Lightroom Editing Essentials

Library Module

Import, rate, keyword, and organize photos across the catalog.

Develop Module

Global and local adjustments — exposure, contrast, color, sharpening.

Presets

One-click looks — save your own or use the built-in presets.

Export

Output to JPG, TIFF, or PSD with size, sharpening, and metadata control.

Master Adobe Tools at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Graphic Design Certificate covers Photoshop alongside the broader Adobe toolkit that complements Lightroom in any photography workflow.

Explore this comprehensive Lightroom tutorial that guides you through making quick edits in the Quick Develop panel and applying those edits to multiple photos.

Topics Covered in This Lightroom Tutorial:

Making Quick Edits in the Quick Develop Panel, Applying Edits to Multiple Photos

Exercise Preview

lightroom preview2D

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, you’ll learn how to make quick edits to a photograph using the Library module’s Quick Develop panel and how to apply those edits to a group of photographs.

Making Quick Edits in the Quick Develop Panel

  1. Make sure you’re in the Library module.

  2. Double–click the fourth lighthouse (and second cliff) image (20090503_YourName_004) to view it in Loupe View.

  3. We are going to make slight adjustments to the photo’s color balance and exposure using the Quick Develop panel located in the right side panels (you may have to scroll up to see it). Expand the Quick Develop panel if it isn’t already.

  4. Before we edit this photo, let’s see what we can do in the Quick Develop panel:

    • Clicking the single arrow will adjust a setting by 1/3 of a stop.
    • Clicking the double arrow will adjust a setting by a full stop.
    • Clicking the name of an attribute (e.g., Exposure) will reset it.

  5. Click the arrow to the right of the White Balance menu to reveal more options.

  6. Next to Temperature, click the double right arrow button video quick develop right arrow 2x once to increase the warmth.

  7. Click the arrow to the right of the Auto Tone button to reveal more options.

  8. It’s a bit too bright. Next to Exposure, do the following to make the photo darker:

    • Click the single left arrow button video quick develop left arrow once. Looks a little better.
    • Click the single left arrow button video quick develop left arrow a second time. Now it’s starting to look a little dark.

  9. Next to Shadows click the double right arrow button video quick develop right arrow 2x once to decrease them.

  10. You’re done! Press the G key to return to Grid View.

Applying Edits to Multiple Photos

  1. Make sure the fourth lighthouse image (20090503_YourName_004) that you just made changes to is still selected. We are going to apply the edits we made to this photo to the rest of the lighthouse images, so we need to make sure it is the first photo that is selected.

  2. Cmd–click (Mac) or CTRL–click (Windows) the rest of the Lighthouse photos to select them all:
    • 20090503_YourName_001B (named 20090503_YourName_001 if you didn’t finish the previous exercise)
    • 20090503_YourName_002
    • 20090503_YourName_003

  3. At the bottom right of the screen, click the Sync Settings button.

  4. In the Sync Settings window, complete the following steps to choose only the settings that were changed:
    • Click the Check None button to clear all selections.
    • Check White Balance.
    • Under Basic Tone, check Exposure and Shadows.

  5. Click the Synchronize button.

  6. You will see the changes applied to all of the Lighthouse photos. Sweet!

    You’re done working with these collections of photos. In the following exercise, you’ll import new photos and learn how to manipulate a photo’s size and rotation.