Photo Editing Workflow

Lightroom Editing

What Lightroom Presets Actually Do to Your RAW Files (And Why Most People Use Them Wrong)

I named my first preset pack after a Fleetwood Mac album. Not because I’m precious about it, but because “The Dance” captured exactly what that warm, golden-hour edit felt like to me, and naming presets after songs is how I remember what they actually do without opening them. Turns out that’s the least weird thing about how I use presets. The weirder thing is that I spent an entire weekend in 2019 building a 24-preset pack from scratch, decided it was too good to sell, posted it for free, and watched it hit 50,000 downloads in about three weeks.

August 4, 2026

Mobile Editing

Your Phone Is a Darkroom: How to Actually Edit in Lightroom Mobile Without Losing Your Mind

I edited an entire client gallery from a hotel bed in Memphis last spring. Not because I was being lazy, not because I forgot to bring my laptop — I deliberately left it at home. Forty-three portraits, delivered, synced, and client-approved before I checked out the next morning. The tool was Lightroom Mobile, and the result was indistinguishable from anything I would have done at my desk with my usual setup, vinyl spinning in the background.

July 31, 2026

News

TourBox Dynamic Panel V2 Transforms Lightroom Into a Distraction-Free Editing Studio

TourBox Dynamic Panel V2 Transforms Lightroom Into a Distraction-Free Editing Studio When I first heard about TourBox’s Dynamic Panel plugin last year, I thought it was solving a problem I didn’t know I had. But after spending time with the updated V2 version, I’ve completely changed my tune. This is genuinely one of the smartest approaches to Lightroom editing I’ve seen in years. The Full-Screen Dream We’ve All Wanted Let’s be honest: Lightroom’s interface can feel cramped sometimes.

June 20, 2026