Photo Mechanic – Scott Kelby’s workflow

Sample Lightroom workflow

1. Set exposure for midtone (average) brightness (ignoring whether I am blowing out any highlights)
2. Set contrast for overall punchiness. If this brightens or darkens the image too much, fine tune exposure.
3. Use highlights to recover blown out highlights and set highlight brightness
4. Use shadows to add light into or darken the shadows
5. If needed, use Whites to further adjust the brightest tones (white point)
6. If needed, use Blacks to further adjust the darkest tones (black point)
7. I can then circle back to any slider to fine tune the adjustments.