So you just finished uploading and culling a wedding, or a general portrait family session. Chances are, you have several images within the same setting and with the same lighting/exposure. Did you know that you can edit one, then have it applied to a batch of images within Lightroom to speed up your process? GAME CHANGER! This is a quick and easy way to expedite your editing process and gain you more time, which is something we all need more of, amiright or amiright?

Let me tell ya how to do it:

1. Edit one of the images, then select it
2. Control/Command + select any other images that you want to have the same editing styles set to
3. Now that you have your images selected, go to the top menu and choose Settings, then choose Sync Settings. (Another way to do this is click the Sync button in the lower right area of Lightroom)
4. Next, make sure that the settings you for sure want synced up are checked – you might not want a certain radial or graduated filter selected if it isn’t appropriate for each image and brushes will likely not always match up from image to image so pay close attention to only select which settings you want i.e., exposure, shadows, vignette)
5. Viola! The changes should now be applied to all of your photos!
6. Go back through and do any touchups to those images that you see fit, but the biggest part is DONE! Yay!

Another time-saver step that is super important to know, is to have Lightroom set up to import all new photos with your favorite / go-to preset! This will save lots of time as well!

1. When you select Import from the Library module, there will be new menus on the far right side.
2. Select Apply During Import
3. Next, select your favorite preset from the Develop Settings drop down menu.
4. Under this, you can also select the Metadata option that you want which will add specific copyright information into your images. (I’ll talk more about metadata and watermarks on another day!)

So there you are, my friend! Go forth and get your time back!

Magan Ward

Magan Ward is a photographer, wife, mom of 3, and educator to fellow photographers. She has an unhealthy obsession with Chick-Fil-A mac and cheese, and has a bit of a love affair with dry shampoo – something she tried to avoid for years until the pandemic of 2020 occurred rendering her dependent upon the waterless revelation that saves her time, something now used to instead apply nutella to waffles for tiny humans.

Putting that Masters in Education to good use, Magan enjoys teaching her fellow photographers and online entrepreneurs the ins and outs of building a business that they love…and occasionally sprinkles in some encouragement for Mamas, because life with littles is just plum hard sometimes.

You can grab her free list of favorite tools for entrepreneurs here.