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Adobe Lightroom - Application Menus
Article
24 of 100
Most of the application menus
in Lightroom are just duplicates of commands that are available
by clicking a button or pushing a slider of some sort on the
tool panels of the four main modules in the program, but there
are a few surprises and it is always good to know your way
around every nook and cranny of a new application.
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Adobe
Lightroom Application Menu |
The
Lightroom menu
contains the usual About page, Macintosh Services, Hide and
quit commands, plus the Adobe
Lightroom Preferences and Identity
Plate Setup dialog commands.
The
extended New command
in the File menu
allows you to create New Collections
and New Shoots.
Open
and Open Recent
take me to the same place as the Import.... command.
I
have yet to figure out what Save,
Save As and Revert
do (it seems that they are not implemented yet), but the rest
of the commands in the File menu do what they say.
The
File menu also contains the extremely important
Import... and
Export... dialogs.
Page
Setup... is the standard Page Setup dialog,
and Print...
takes you to the Print module.
The
Edit
menu edits things, pretty straight forward except some
of the commands do not work yet.
Undo
and Redo
do work quite well and will even adopt the name of the
action if Undo is chosen immediately after the action
is applied (for example Undo Set Grayscale and Redo
Set Grayscale).
Cut,
Copy, Paste and Delete
do not seem to serve any function at this time.
Spelling
works on the Keywords and finds misspelled words but
did not correct them for me.
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Special
Characters... allows you to insert any of
a large number of symbols and characters into the Keywords
list and use them to search images just like text.
Select
Only Active Photo I have no idea yet how this
command is used or if it is active or not.
The
Library
menu is only visible in the Library module, when you
change modules (Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print)
the menu name and menu contents change to fit the module
that you are in.
Impromptu
Slideshows
can be created out of a group of currently selected
images and will call the Slide module into play.
Show
and Clear Quick Collection
are commands that select or clear a previously selected
group of images.
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Remove
from Collection is a command that removes
an image or group of images from a Collection.
Remove
and Trash Selected Photos
will remove a selected group of images from the Library
Previous
Selected and Next
Selected Photo brings to the front the previous
or next of a selected group of images.
The
Photo menu
has a wide range of functions and settings that are all used
in the process of editing individual or groups of photographic
images.
Add
to Quick Collection allows you to add an image
to your Quick Collection group.
Open
in Loup enlarges your selected images in the
central viewing area.
Show
in Finder opens the folder your image is in
on your hard disk drive and highlights that image. Simple
and extremely useful.
Edit
in Adobe Photoshop CS2.app will open your
selected image in Adobe Photoshop CS2 for editing, it is also
the only way (currently) to make a copy (TIFF only) of an
image in your Adobe Lightroom Library, so you may want to
use it for that purpose on occasion. A second custom selection
is also available for Edit in....... (your choice of image
editor).
Edit
Keywords... allows you to add keywords to
individual or groups of images, just type them in and hit
return (enter).
The
Rotate and
Flip commands
are self explanatory (I hope).
Set
Ratings allows you to give stars to the images,
this is one time I will go with the key commands, just select
the image and type a number.
As
you can see the Develop Settings
allow you to Copy or Paste Settings
From the Previous
image on the currently selected image. Auto
White Balance, Auto
Exposure and Auto
Tone can also be applied from the extended
Develop Settings menu.
Edit
Capture Time actually allows you to change
the date your image thinks it was originated on, you could
have forgotten to set the clock on your camera or another
image handler mishandled the time setting of the image.
Hide
allows you to hide an image, I am not sure why unless you
are secretly moonlighting as a Playboy photographer.
The
View menu allows
you to change the view you have of your images.
Toggle
Loup View
takes you from the grid to the loup view (full frame, depends
upon size of screen)
Toggle
Zoom View takes you from the grid to the zoom
view (100% pixel view)
Zoom
In and Zoom
Out takes you between two adjacent levels
of view.
Grid,
Loupe, Compare, and Go
to Develop are a natural progression of viewing
choices an image can go through.
A
Sort of the
images can be made by Photo Capture Time, Rating, Ascending,
and Descending order.
Grid
Extras are Show Filenames, Image Ratings,
Index Numbers, Rotation Buttons, and Quick Collection Markers.
Loup
View Options are Background Color (White &
Black, Light, Medium and Dark Gray) and Background Texture
(None and Pinstripe).
The
Window menu
allows you to change the look of the Lightroom application
window and to change from one to another Lightroom module.
Minimize
takes the Adobe Lightroom application to the Dock (Mac OSX)
Zoom
allows you to change the window size from a predetermined
smaller and maximum size on the screen.
Panels
allows you to select individual or groups
of panels and various combinations of panels to use.
Screen
Mode allows you to choose between a normal
floating window and a full screen window with menu bar or
a full screen window with the menu bar hidden.
Lights
Out gives you three levels of darkened screen
background from normal to images on a black background.
Bring
All to Front is a command that is a little
confusing to me since the single window design of Adobe Lightroom
always has everything up front.
Modules:
Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, Go Back to Previous Module.
Show
Activity Window - when a sidecar file is being
written or other work in progress the Activity window gives
you an indicator of how much work still has to be done.
Indicator of module currently in use. (Adobe
Lightroom Beta - Library)
The
Help menu
gives you access to information and help in using Adobe
Lightroom.
Lightroom
Help is not yet available for Adobe
Lightroom Beta 2.
Check
for Updates... checks with the Adobe
site for updates.
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Go
to Adobe Lightroom Beta Website... articles,
forum, news, downloads.
The
Five Rules make for an informative and amusing
read.
Library
Help brings up a chart of keyboard shortcuts
for the Library module. The Help menu in other modules has
a Help chart of keyboard shortcuts for that specific module.
P.S.:
Please do not get upset if your personal experience and views
are different from my own. These opinions are mine exclusively
and do not reflect the views or policies of any of the manufacturers
mentioned in this article...... George
Mann |
