Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Digital Photography > Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

This chapter is from the book

One-Click Sorting by Using Collections

When you’re sorting your photos, there are going to be plenty of times where you just want to focus on a particular group of images. Maybe it’s all your best shots from a shoot, or maybe it’s all your black-and-white shots, or maybe you want to decide which photos you want print. Luckily, you can make all of these groups of photos just one click away by using collections (which are there every time you fire up Lightroom) or Quick Collections, which are temporary collections you use just when you need them.

Step One

Another way to quickly separate out your best photos is to create a Quick Collection of just those photos. Here’s how it’s done: As you’re looking at your photos (in any view—Grid, Loupe, or Compare), when you come across one you like, just press the B key on your keyboard and that photo is added to your Quick Collection (it’s like flagging your best photos). If you have the Quick Collection Marker checkbox turned on in the View Options panel, you’ll see a black dot appear in the upper-left corner of your thumbnail (circled here in red) to let you know that it was added to your Quick Collection.

Step Two

Now, to see just the photos you’ve flagged, click on Show Quick Collection (as shown here), which appears in the Photo Library panel on the top-left side of the Lightroom window (or just press Command-B). To remove a photo from your Quick Collection, just click on the little black dot again, or click on the photo and press the letter B again, or just click on the photo and press the Delete key on your keyboard (don’t worry, this only deletes the photo from this Quick Collection—not from your Library of photos).

Step Three

Quick Collections are great for helping you quickly rate your best photos. Now that your best photos from your shoot are in this Quick Collection, you can instantly give them all a 5-star rating by simply pressing Command-A to select all the photos, then pressing the number 5 to assign a 5-star rating to them all. Another cool thing about using Quick Collections is that once you’ve got one, you can create an instant slide show of just those photos by going under the Library menu and choosing Impromptu Slideshow. In just seconds, you’ll see a full-screen slide show with transitions (to cancel this slide show, press the Esc key).

Step Four

Once you’ve used the trick above to quickly rate your best photos, you can then clear your temporary Quick Collection (so you can use it later for sorting other photos). You can do this by either clicking on Options, in the bottom-left corner of Lightroom’s window, and choosing Clear Quick Collection from the pop-up menu, or just pressing Command-Shift-B. You can also use the Options pop-up menu to add photos to your Quick Collection, but using the keyboard shortcuts is just so much faster.

Step Five

Quick Collections are temporary collections—just a tool to help you temporarily sort your images or to make an impromptu slide show. But if you’ve come up with a Quick Collection that you’d like to keep for future reference, just transfer it to a regular collection so it’s always just one click away. Here’s how: Go to the Browse Collections panel (it’s in the group of panels on the left side of Lightroom) and click on the large + (plus sign), as shown here circled in red. This brings up the Create Collection dialog where you can name your new collection (as shown). Enter a name and click the Create button.

Step Six

Now, if you’re not still viewing it, press Command-B to jump back to your Quick Collection. Press Command-A (the shortcut for Select All) to select all the photos in your Quick Collection. Next, click-and-drag on any one of those photos and they all drag together as a group (you’ll see a tiny thumbnail appear as you drag that shows a stack of photos, as shown here circled in red). Click-and-drag this group of photos over to the Browse Collections panel and drop (release the mouse button) them right on the collection you created in the previous step.

Step Seven

Now, just to make sure that the transfer from your Quick Collection to a permanent collection worked, it’s not a bad idea to quickly click on Show Entire Library in the Photo Library panel (so you see all your photos). Then, in the Browse Collections panel, click on your new collection (as shown here), just to make sure your photos really made it in there. I know, it’s kind of paranoid, but just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. But I digress. Once you’ve confirmed that your photos made it into your new collection, you can clear out the Quick Collection by pressing Command-Shift-B or by choosing Clear Quick Collection from the Options pop-up menu on the bottom left of the Lightroom window.

Step Eight

There are a few things you’ll want to know about collections. First, as long as you’re in the Grid view, you can add photos to your collection by just dragging-and-dropping them right onto your collection. To remove a photo from your collection, click on it and press the Delete key. This only removes the photo from your collection—not from your main Library. If you do, in fact, want to remove a photo both from the collection and from your Library (meaning you’re going to move the photo to the Trash and delete it for good), then press Command-Delete. You’ll get a warning dialog (as shown here) just to let you know this photo is really going away for good. To delete a collection, click on the collection, and then click the – (minus sign) on the right side of the Browse Collections panel. To rename a collection, just double-click directly on its name in the Browse Collections panel.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020