Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from a new book called the Photofocus Guide: Develop Great Images in Lightroom. This book is almost done and we’ll be giving away free copies soon to all our readers thanks to Mosaic. Be sure to check out the Lightroom Learning Center.

When it comes to processing photos, Im typically very thorough and like to take my time. However, there are occasions when I need to view a photo and quickly add some exposure, or even adjust the white balance. For these occasions I prefer to use the Quick Develop panel, located inside of the Library module.

This panel allows you to make very quick adjustments to a photo or a group of photos without having to jump into the develop module. Want to share a set of proof images with a client or friend so that they can see how their photos turned out? The Quick Develop panel is a great way to make quick adjustments to your photos.

Heres how:

  1. If youre not there already head over to the Library module inside of Lightroom. Then, make sure that you can see the Quick Develop panel over on the right side of the window.

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  2. Next, select one image and press the E key to view the image in Loupe view. Then, use the settings in the Quick Develop panel to make your adjustments.
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  3. You can also access several more features by clicking on the dark gray arrow to the right of each setting. This will allow you to do things such as quickly change the crop ratio, or make even more adjustments available than what you originally see with the default panel.

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