9 quick tips for batch editing in Lightroom (speed up your workflow)

It’s no secret that I’d rather be photographing than editing, so if there’s a way for me to speed up my post production workflow, you can be sure that I’ll use it! That’s why batch editing in Lightroom is without a doubt the best thing since sliced bread!

Batch editing photos speeds up post production workflow so much, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this Lightroom Classic feature.

What is batch editing?

Batch editing, also called batch processing, is a quick way to process photos by applying the same edits to multiple photos at once.

You can apply just one or several edits across all selected photos with just a couple of clicks.

When can’t you use Lightroom batch editing?

This might be stating the obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. With most of these batch editing tips, you need to bear in mind that they apply to similar photos taken during a shoot.

It makes sense that if you edit an image for a particular setting and lighting, it’ll have a particular set of edits. So you can sync the edits only to other images taken in that setting, with that lighting.

The exceptions are post-crop vignetting and batch editing presets. We’ll get to how and why later.

My 9 most used Lightroom batch edits are:

1. Tone curve
2. Basic – white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, texture, clarity, dehaze, vibrance, saturation
3. Color – color profiles, HSL (Hue Saturation Luminance), color grading, calibration
4. Masking and spot removal
5. Cropping
6. Post-crop vignetting
7. Noise reduction
8. Sharpening
9. Batch apply presets

Yes, you read it right – you can apply a preset to all your photos at once! It works a little differently from the other batch processing methods, so I’ve put steps on how to do it at the end.

How batch editing in Lightroom works – the steps

Once you know how to use batch editing for one aspect of post production, it’s really easy to do it for the other editing functions, because the method is largely the same.

Steps for batch edits in the Develop Module:

1. Process the first image in a series of similar photos
2. In the filmstrip, select the processed image
3. Hold down shift and click on the last image in the group of photos you want to copy settings to
4. All the images in between will now be selected
5. At the bottom of the right hand panel, click on “Sync” (if in the Develop Module) or “Sync Settings” (if in the Library Module)
6. Click “Check None” (it’s good practice to clear any possible check boxes this way so that you don’t accidentally copy across other settings)
7. Select the setting you want to copy
8. Click the “Synchronize” button

If the images you want to batch edit aren’t next to each other, it’s just as easy:

1. Click on your processed image
2. Hold down Command (or Control if on a PC) and select the similar images you want to batch edit
3. Then follow steps 5 – 8 above

Further reading: How to copy settings in Lightroom Classic in 4 steps (plus 2 unknown tricks)

Now let’s get into the details of when, why and how to use each of these Lightroom batch editing tools as part of your editing process.

1. Tone curve

I used to edit photos in the order that the panels appear in the Develop Module, starting with basics, but I now apply a tone curve first. So it’s also the first bit of batch editing I do when processing a shoot.

It’s also one of the easiest batch edits you can do in Lightroom.

2. Basic panel batch edits

This is a game changer for speeding up workflow.

If you do no other type of post production, the Lightroom Basic panel batch edits are essential for speeding up the editing process after culling photos in Lightroom. Especially for wedding photographers, who take a large number of photos over the course of the day and evening.

Just make sure that the light and exposure are the same for the batch of photos you select.

This is also why you shouldn’t use Auto White Balance – it’ll change from one photo to the next. You can’t batch edit the white balance in a bunch of photos with different white balance settings.

You don’t need to check every one of the boxes under a main one to sync settings just check the main box.

Also, if you want to batch edit, for example, just the highlights and shadows settings across a group of images, then select only those boxes.

3. Color settings

I’ve grouped the color settings together, because you need to be aware of the same things for all these settings, but you definitely don’t have to do them all together.

Light and image colors are the big things to watch out for before syncing any color settings. So make sure that they’re the same across your series of photos before you batch edit color.

Further reading: What is color grading – Lightroom color grading

4. Masking and spot removal

Again, I’ve grouped these two specific settings together, because you need to be careful with both of these types of edits.

Masking batch processing

Creating a mask in Lightroom and syncing the adjustments across similar images is ideal when your subject doesn’t move around too much. If they do move, however, it’s still faster to batch edit a set of images as a starting point and then adjust fine tune custom edits per image, than to start from scratch for each image.

The brush mask (used to be called adjustment brush) is a bit more specific for local adjustments, so there aren’t many situations where I find this useful when I batch edit photos. The only exception is if I’ve adjusted something over a broad area (instead of using the radial or gradient masks).

Spot removal batching

Copying the same spot removal edits across images is most useful for removing something from the background when you’ve photographed with your camera on a tripod. It’ll be in the same place in each image, so syncing the local adjustment over the series of images makes sense.

I wouldn’t use it in any other situation to batch edit photos.

5. Batch cropping images

Cropping photos is one of the more fussy batch editing tools, unless you photograph with your camera mounted on a tripod. If not, you’ll have moved slightly for each frame, making copying the exact crop across a set of images less effective.

BUT, aside from just cropping a little tighter than shot, I actually batch crop images more than I realise to:

• Change orientation of a series of similar images by cropping from landscape to portrait (and vice versa)
• Straighten a set of photos

In this series of images the model’s shirt doesn’t look good (untucked on one side camera right), so I cropped to change the orientation from portrait to landscape on a single photo and then applied the edit across the batch of images taken in the series. The cropped images are below.

I have a bad habit of over-rotating the camera when photographing in portrait orientation, especially if I’m photographing in an odd position, like lying on the ground. Plus I’m fussy about images being straight!

The fastest way to fix a series of wonky images in Lightroom is to batch edit cropping.

After cropping the first photo in a series I sync the setting across to the entire set of images. Then I slightly adjust individual images if necessary.

It’s a bit of a fiddle, but it takes less time than cropping each image from scratch.

6. Post-crop vignetting

I use this Lightroom batch editing technique a lot! I often put a very slight vignette on my images to draw the eye in to the subject.

In the example below, I’ve gone heavy on the vignette so that it’s easy for you to see.

The beauty of this technique is that, as the name says, it’s applied post-crop. So, regardless of what you’ve done to the images and whether they’re portrait or landscape orientation, the same vignette settings are applied across all selected images.

Could not be easier and saves a ton of time.

7. Noise reduction

Batch editing noise reduction in Lightroom is also a breeze!

Just make sure that you select photos needing the same amount of noise reduction.

8. Sharpening

I leave sharpening for last, because how much I sharpen an image depends on if I:

• Cropped it
• Applied noise reduction

Sharpening is a bit more fiddly than most Lightroom batch edits, because how much your subject fills the frame will determine how much sharpening you may want to apply. If you examine the edge detail of the below screenshots from the sharpen tool you can see that the close up one has more detail (naturally) than the other.

So make sure to select the same type of images (in terms of how much they fill the frame) to batch edit sharpening.

9. How to batch edit Lightroom presets

This one will save you a ton of time if you regularly apply Lightroom presets in post production. It’s so easy!

Instead of working in the Develop Module, to batch edit Lightroom presets you need to go to the Library Module and use the Quick Develop panel.

• In the library grid view select all the images you want to apply the preset to
• At the top of the right hand panel under Quick Develop you’ll see Saved Preset
• Click the two triangles next to the first box to open up a drop down menu
• From the drop down menu select the preset you want to apply

That’s all. It’s that simple!

Best way to speed up your workflow

If you’ve read to the end, I imagine you’re very interested in speeding up your workflow and presets are a great way of doing just that. So I think you’ll find my article on how to create your own Lightroom presets really helpful.

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