30 Days of Lightroom
Thirty free tutorials that take you from setting up your workspace and importing your first catalog all the way to advanced masking, color grading, and batch editing. Along the way you will edit portraits, landscapes, weddings and food, build your own presets, and finish with a complete start-to-finish workflow.
What You’ll Learn
Most photographers use maybe a fifth of Lightroom, and usually the wrong fifth — heavy on sliders, light on the organizational work that actually saves time. This series runs thirty days from importing your first catalog to finishing and exporting for print and web, one lesson a day, in the order the work actually happens.
- Set up a catalog properly Import, folder structure, keywords and collections — the part everyone skips and later regrets when they can’t find a photograph from three years ago.
- Develop with intent Exposure, contrast, white balance, tone curve and the HSL panel, taught as decisions rather than slider positions.
- Master local adjustments Radial and linear gradients, the brush, and the AI-driven subject, sky and background masks that changed how local work is done.
- Handle color Color grading, calibration and the difference between correcting color and creating a look.
- Fix real problems Noise reduction, lens corrections, perspective and transform tools, and spot removal on genuinely awkward images.
- Build and use presets Making your own, applying them intelligently, and why a preset is a starting point rather than a finish.
- Work faster Sync, auto-sync, virtual copies, snapshots and the batch habits that turn a day of editing into an hour.
- Export correctly Sharpening for output, color space, sizing and file format for print, web and client delivery.
Who This Series Is For
Anyone who opens Lightroom and pushes sliders until the photo looks acceptable. That works, up to a point, and then it stops working — usually when you have four hundred images from one shoot and no system for getting through them.
It suits complete beginners, because it starts at import and assumes nothing. It also suits people who have used Lightroom for years without ever learning the catalog properly, which is more common than anyone admits.
If you already work in Photoshop, this fits alongside it rather than competing. Lightroom handles volume, organization and global adjustments; Photoshop handles the images that need real intervention.
What You Need
- Lightroom Classic The series is built around Classic. Most techniques translate to the cloud version, though the catalog lessons are Classic-specific.
- Your own photographs Sample files are provided, but the series is far more useful applied to your own catalog.
- A reasonable GPU Optional, but AI denoise and AI masking are noticeably faster with one.
- Thirty short sessions Rather than a handful of long ones.
A calibrated monitor is worth considering if you intend to print. It is not required to follow along.
How Long It Takes
Thirty days as designed — one lesson per day, each short enough to finish and immediately apply to a few of your own images before the next.
The daily structure is doing real work here. Lightroom skills are habits, and habits form through repetition spread over time rather than through one long sitting. People who binge the series generally report remembering the develop lessons and forgetting the catalog ones, which is precisely backwards from what saves you time later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this series free?
Check the badge next to the title at the top of this page — it shows whether this series is free or included with a PRO membership.
Lightroom Classic or the newer Lightroom?
The series is built around Lightroom Classic, which is still what most working photographers use for volume and catalog management. The develop and masking lessons apply almost identically in the cloud version; the catalog, folder and import lessons are Classic-specific.
Do I need Photoshop as well?
No. Everything here is done in Lightroom. If you do have Photoshop, the two complement each other — Lightroom for organizing and global work, Photoshop for images needing detailed retouching or compositing.
Do I have to do it in order?
It is built to be followed in order, and the early catalog lessons genuinely underpin everything after. If you already have a working catalog you can start at the develop lessons, but the organizational days are the ones people most often wish they hadn’t skipped.
Will presets do this for me?
Partly, and the series covers building and using them. But a preset applies the same adjustment to every image regardless of how it was shot, so it gets you a consistent starting point, not a finished photograph. Knowing what the preset did is what lets you correct it.
Where to Go Next
Start the Series
Thirty days, one lesson at a time. Begin at the introduction and work forward.
On This Page
PHLEARN PRO
Hundreds of tutorials on Lightroom, Photoshop and photography, with sample files throughout.
Welcome to 30 Days of Lightroom! Join us on a journey of the basics, master powerful tools and techniques, and even learn how to create stunning presets for consistent edits, craft compelling black and white images, and expertly retouch portraits for a professional finish.
It’s day 7 of 30 Days of Lightroom! Learn how to refine image composition with Lightroom’s cropping, straightening, and perspective tools. Utilize AI for advanced crop expansion. This tutorial includes a RAW file so you can follow along!.
Lightroom | Workflow | Medium | 15 mins | 1 video
1 Sample Image (RAW File)
Craft unique Lightroom presets! Day 12 covers adjustments, masking, and color, empowering you to create and share your own unique presets. We’re even including 2 RAW files and a Lightroom preset to help you practice your new skills.
Lightroom | Workflow | Medium | 15 mins | 1 video
2 Sample Images (RAW Files) | 1 Lightroom Preset (XMP File)
Day 26 is all about Lightroom Mobile! This tutorial introduces the app’s intuitive interface and powerful features. Learn to edit and share stunning photos, all from your phone. We’re even including a RAW file, so you can follow along!.
Lightroom | Workflow | Medium | 30 mins | 1 video
1 Sample Image (RAW File)
