Last Updated: November 21, 2025
Basic Adjustments
Light → Exposure
Overall brightness adjustment
Light → Contrast
Increase/decrease tonal contrast
Light → Highlights
Recover blown-out bright areas
Light → Shadows
Lift dark areas, reveal detail
Light → Whites
Adjust brightest tones
Light → Blacks
Adjust darkest tones/shadows
Light → Curve
Advanced tonal control via tone curve
Color Adjustments
Color → Temperature
Warm (yellow) or cool (blue) the image
Color → Tint
Add green or magenta color cast
Color → Vibrance
Smart saturation boost (protects skin tones)
Color → Saturation
Overall color intensity
Color → Mix
Adjust individual color channels (HSL)
Color Mix → Hue
Shift specific colors (e.g., change blue to teal)
Color Mix → Saturation
Target specific color saturation
Color Mix → Luminance
Brighten/darken specific colors
Effects & Details
Effects → Texture
Enhance medium-sized details
Effects → Clarity
Add midtone contrast and punch
Effects → Dehaze
Remove atmospheric haze
Effects → Vignette
Darken or lighten edges
Effects → Grain
Add film grain texture
Detail → Sharpening
Enhance edge detail
Detail → Noise Reduction
Reduce digital noise/grain
Selective Editing
Masking → Select Subject
AI-powered automatic subject selection
Masking → Select Sky
Automatically select and edit sky
Masking → Brush
Paint adjustments on specific areas
Masking → Linear Gradient
Gradual adjustment from top/bottom
Masking → Radial Gradient
Circular adjustment area
Healing Tool
Remove spots, blemishes, objects
Red Eye Tool
Remove red eye from flash photos
Presets
Presets → Yours
Access your created and saved presets
Presets → Recommended
Adobe AI-suggested presets for your photo
Presets → Premium
Adobe's curated pro presets (subscription)
Three Dots → Create Preset
Save current adjustments as preset
Three Dots → Copy Settings
Copy adjustments from one photo
Three Dots → Paste Settings
Apply copied adjustments to another photo
Preset Amount Slider
Reduce preset intensity (0-100%)
Crop & Transform
Crop → Aspect
Choose crop ratio (1:1, 4:5, 16:9, etc.)
Crop → Straighten
Rotate to level horizon
Crop → Flip Horizontal
Mirror image left-right
Crop → Rotate
Rotate image 90 degrees
Geometry → Upright
Auto-correct perspective distortion
Geometry → Guided
Draw lines to correct perspective
Camera & Profiles
Pro Mode (Camera)
Manual controls: ISO, shutter, WB
HDR Mode
Capture high dynamic range images
RAW Capture
Shoot DNG for maximum editing flexibility
Profiles → Adobe Raw
Standard Adobe processing
Profiles → Camera Matching
Match camera's in-camera JPEG look
Profiles → Creative
Artistic color and tone profiles
Sync & Organization
Cloud Sync
Automatic sync across devices via Creative Cloud
Albums
Create collections to organize photos
Star Rating
Rate photos 1-5 stars for sorting
Flag
Mark photos as flagged/picked
Keywords
Add searchable tags to photos
Search
Find photos by keywords, date, camera, rating
Version History
View and restore previous edits
Sharing & Export
Share → Save to Device
Export JPG to camera roll
Share → Export as
Choose format, quality, size
Share → Social Media
Direct share to Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Export Original + Settings
Export DNG with embedded edits
Watermark
Add text/logo watermark on export
Resize Options
Custom dimensions, long edge, megapixels
Advanced Features
Sensei AI Edits
Adobe's AI auto-adjustments
Best Photo Selection
AI picks best shot from burst
Enhance Details
AI super-resolution for RAW files
People View
AI organizes photos by face recognition
Compare View
Side-by-side before/after comparison
💡 Pro Tip:
Shoot in
RAW (DNG)
mode for maximum editing flexibility. Use
Copy/Paste Settings
to batch edit similar photos. Enable
Cloud Sync
to seamlessly continue editing on desktop Lightroom.