GETTING STARTED

The window

One window, three modules, the same shape in each: what you are choosing from on the left, what you are looking at in the middle, what you can do to it on the right.

The Lensmith window: the module rail down the left edge, the catalog column, the grid of photographs in the middle and the information column on the right. — The window as it opens. Every module keeps this shape: what you are choosing from on the left, what you are looking at in the middle, what you can do to it on the right.

The module rail. Import, Library, Presets, Edit, Print and Export, top to bottom, with the catalog button at the foot. The mark above them opens Settings.
The left column — what you are choosing from. Folders, albums and collections here; the montage chain in Edit, the pages in Print.
The centre — what you are looking at. The grid, the photograph, the spread. It is the only column that is never taken away.
The bar above it. How many photographs, which set, in what order, at what size, and as a grid, as tiles or on a map.
The right column — what you can do to it. Information and the library actions here; the tools in Edit, the page inspector in Print.
The foot of the window. Stars and the favourite for whatever is focused, and its name.

The parts of the window

Module rail: The left edge: Import, Library, Presets, Edit, Print and Export, with the catalog button at the bottom. The mark at the top opens Settings.
Left column: Named by whoever hosts it — the catalog in Library, the Montage in Edit, the pages in Print. It is opened and closed from the rail.
Centre: The grid, the photograph, or the page you are laying out. Everything else in the window exists to serve it.
Inspector: The right column: the tools, a layer's settings, a page's settings. Where a module has nothing to put there, the button that opens it is not drawn.
Filmstrip: The bottom strip: the current selection, browsable without leaving what you are doing. In Print it switches between the book's own photographs and the library.

Go to… ⌘K

The command palette open over the Library, listing the Edit tools under a search field. — ⌘K over the Library. One field for every tool, every action and every photograph — it opens the tool rather than telling you where it lives.

The command palette. Every tool, every panel, every layout and most actions are reachable by typing a few letters of their name — faster than remembering which column something lives in, and the way to reach a tool whose panel is closed.

⌘/ shows the keyboard shortcuts, ⌘F searches the photographs, and Esc steps back out of wherever you are: out of mask editing, out of the loupe, out of a full-screen preview.

The three Edit layouts

The Layouts screen with three cards: Beginner, Expert and Full screen, and the shared preferences under them. — The Layouts screen — ⌘E, or the layout button in the Develop header. Switching is always safe: every layout reaches every tool and reads the same edit.

How much of the editor is on screen is a separate choice from which module you are in. The Layouts screen — ⌘E, or the layout button in the Edit header — offers three. Every one of them reaches every tool and reads the same edit, so switching is always safe and always reversible.

Beginner ⌃1: Every adjustment panel in one continuous column, with the five families as landmarks in it and a row of icons that jumps between them. Nothing is hidden: the bar navigates, it does not filter.
Expert ⌃2: The classic three columns — catalog or montage on the left, the photograph in the middle, the tools on the right.
Full screen ⌃3: The photograph takes the whole window and the tools float over it on the leading edge. You leave it by choosing another layout rather than with Esc: one key away from ending is not what you want of the way you have chosen to work.

Note

Settings ▸ Interface also offers two panel styles for the tool column: grouped cards, or the classic accordion. It changes how the panels are drawn, never which ones exist.

The three modules

Library: What you have. Folders catalogued in place, the grid and the loupe, ratings and flags, search, culling, the map, and the merges that make a new photograph out of several.
Edit: What you do to it. Twenty-six non-destructive tools, masking, the Montage stack, presets and profiles, and the on-device models.
Print: What you make out of it. Photo books, calendars, postcards and posters, laid out from the same catalog and exported as a print-ready PDF.

They share one catalog, one selection and one set of filters. A photograph picked in the Library is the photograph the editor opens and the one the book offers you.