The Simple Habit That Helps You Stop Forgetting Editing Steps

If you’ve ever had to go back through your edits because you forgot to adjust your HSL or curves (or anything else!)—you’re not alone.

When you're batch editing in Lightroom Classic, it’s easy for things to get a little chaotic. But there’s a simple way to bring order to the process (and speed things up): memorize a consistent editing routine.

Even in a well-organized batch workflow, there are often steps like exposure, white balance, contrast, etc., that might need individual tweaks. Without a memorized system, it’s easy to forget something—and that can mean extra time revisiting images later. Boooo!

Here’s the trick I swear by:

Pick a sequence of steps that works for you—and repeat it every time you edit.

For example:

1. Exposure

2. White balance

3. Healing/masking

4. Final crop

The order doesn’t have to be in a specific order—it just has to be one you can memorize and use every time. Once it’s locked in your muscle memory, you’ll fly through galleries easier and faster.

When you use the same order every time, you’ll feel when you’ve missed a step. It’s like having a super-power!

Want to Edit Smarter, Not Harder?

My free mini-workshop, Shoot to Edit Less, shows you seven ways your shooting choices can speed up your editing—so you're not just saving time at the computer, you're saving time before you even get to the editing part.

Head over to the free workshop and make editing easier from the start.

Happy editing,

Erika