Fix a Flat, Boring Photo in Lightroom: Scott Kelby's Intermediate Workflow, Step by Step

Fix a Flat, Boring Photo in Lightroom: Scott Kelby's Intermediate Workflow, Step by Step

There’s a specific kind of photo I used to dread editing. Not a disaster shot, not a total throwaway, but the mediocre middle-ground image. Flat light, a blown highlight somewhere it shouldn’t be, colors that look like they were processed through a wet sock. The kind of file where you open it in Lightroom, stare at it for thirty seconds, and then go make coffee instead. I’ve got a whole folder of those from the early years, back when I was editing press photos for my band because nobody else was going to do it.

How to Build a Photo Book Layout in Lightroom's Print Module (Without Buying Fancy Software)

How to Build a Photo Book Layout in Lightroom's Print Module (Without Buying Fancy Software)

Every time a client asks me about photo books, my first instinct is still to recommend some dedicated software with a subscription fee and a learning curve shaped like a cliff. Then I remember that Lightroom has been quietly capable of this the whole time, sitting right there in the Print module while everyone ignores it in favor of flashier tools. Watch the full tutorial on YouTube In this Scott Kelby tutorial, part two of his three-part photo book series, he walks through building photo book layouts entirely inside Lightroom’s Print module, using photos from a trip to Egypt, Istanbul, and Greece as the working example.

The Lightroom Conference 2025 Is Coming — Here's Why I Clear My Calendar Every Year

The Lightroom Conference 2025 Is Coming — Here's Why I Clear My Calendar Every Year

There’s a particular kind of editing fatigue that creeps in after a few years of winging it in Lightroom. You know the one. You’re dragging the same sliders to roughly the same places, your export folder is a graveyard of “final_FINAL_v3” files, and somewhere in the back of your mind you’re aware that you’re probably using maybe 40 percent of what the software can actually do. I’ve been there. I spent years teaching myself Lightroom out of necessity, back when I was editing band press shots on a laptop in a van, and while I got good at it, I also built some deeply inefficient habits that took a long time to unlearn.