As of this writing, Lightroom Mobile is without any doubt the best Photo Editing App available on both Android and Apple iOS app stores. Adobe has been pushing out new updates and features steadily to the Mobile version of the Lightroom. If you are using this app for the first time, it would surely be confusing a bit. Don't worry, follow this simple guide to start editing your photos on Mobile using Lightroom in no time.
Is it free to use Lightroom Mobile? Yes and No. Adobe allows you to use almost all basic photo editing features for free. However, if you want to use advanced features like gradients, geometry corrections, healing tools, etc, you would need a subscription.
File Format
Adobe lets you edit a number of Photo file formats. Your phone camera by default shoots Jpeg (.jpg ) files. There are modern iPhones that shoot HEIF files which are better than older jpg files. Even though you can edit these files in Lightroom and Snapseed, these file formats are not designed to use in editing. If you edit them a bit, it loses information and induces unwanted noise grain and artifacts.
Adobe lets you edit a number of Photo file formats. Your phone camera by default shoots Jpeg (.jpg ) files. There are modern iPhones that shoot HEIF files which are better than older jpg files. Even though you can edit these files in Lightroom and Snapseed, these file formats are not designed to use in editing. If you edit them a bit, it loses information and induces unwanted noise grain and artifacts.
To get the best out of your camera sensor, and get the best quality output, I would recommend shooting dng raw files using the Pro mode. These dng files hold a lot more data in it and naturally are bigger in size. Since these hold a lot more info in them, you can get back much more details from the file and produce a much better-looking photo than the normal jpeg.
Lightroom Mobile Basics
Importing Files
In Snapseed, you can just open a jpg file and start editing it straight away. In Lightroom, it's a bit different. You would need to first import the file to the Library. Once you successfully import them, then you can start editing them. Even after you delete the photo from the phone storage, the imported photo in the Lightroom Library will be available to edit and save.
In Snapseed, you can just open a jpg file and start editing it straight away. In Lightroom, it's a bit different. You would need to first import the file to the Library. Once you successfully import them, then you can start editing them. Even after you delete the photo from the phone storage, the imported photo in the Lightroom Library will be available to edit and save.
Simple Edits
Since this is a beginner tutorial, I am not going to be covering advanced editing methods instead will focus on how to make your photos look much better by just moving a few sliders.
Highlights: Decrease this to get more details in the highlight areas - For eg Sky ( -20 for jpg, -60/-80 for dng )
Shadows: Increase this to get more details in the shadow areas - For eg Foreground area ( don't increase it a lot as it will bring the noise to your image - +20 for Jpeg / +50 for dng )
Vibrance: Increase this to get more punchy colors instead of increasing the Saturation slider
Clarity: Just a touch, maybe +10
Dehaze: Again just a touch +10 ( don't overdo this - it will increase noise grain in your images )
There are a lot more sliders available in the app, but leave them out for now as you are just starting out. Explore those once you are familiar with the basics.
If you are using a DNG raw file, you can increase/decrease the sliders a lot more without bringing too many issues to the image. A jpeg file would break apart easily when doing extensive editing. So be gentle.
Saving an Image in Lightroom Mobile / Exporting
Once you have done the editing, to save the file ( as a jpg ), you can click on the Share icon and simply click on Save to Device.
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