How to Flip a Photo in Lightroom

There are times when you want to unleash your creativity as a photographer and create flipped photos for an eye-catching effect. Flipping real estate photos is a great way to transform the orientation of a photo which builds the buyer’s interest. If you want to know how to flip photos in Lightroom, read on to learn the process.

How to Flip a Photo in Lightroom

Flipping photos is a very easy process in Lightroom. However, like many other features in Lightroom, flipping photos too is a process slightly different than other photo editing software. You won’t find an option to flip the photos on the thumbnail, unlike the rotate option. 

Before I begin comprehending the flipping procedure, let’s discuss how flipped photos are being used in the real estate niche to create spellbinding views.

Flipped Real Estate Images

A flipped photo is basically a mirror image of an original photo across a horizontal or vertical axis. It creates a dramatic effect, leaving an impressive visual impact on the viewer. Showing flipped images gives them two contrasting looks of the same view, which seems intriguing. 

In real estate photography, flipped images are often used by photographers as a marketing technique to spark buyer’s interest in a particular property. Mirror images of the interior and exterior views of a residential or commercial property are a great way to show the customers different aspects and angles. 

Sometimes, photographers intentionally capture a reflection of an exterior view in water which they later flip vertically. Other times, you may need to flip a photo vertically if you took it with your camera upside down. 

Flipping a Single Image Using Right Click

If you want to flip a particular image vertically or horizontally, you can do it in the Develop module as well as the Library module. However, you need to make sure you are in the Loupe View, Compare view, or the Survey view  (a single, two, or a group of images being viewed on the interface).

1. Open Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.
2. In the Library Module, click on an image that you want to flip from the Grid View.
3. Press the Loupe View Icon from the toolbar below, or double click on the image. Alternatively, right click on the image and click Open in Loupe.
4. You can also open two images in Compare View or more than two images in the Survey view and flip the active selection using this method.
5. Right click on the image, and look for the Transform option in the drop down menu.
6. Click on Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical to flip the image.

If you are in the Develop module for editing the photo before flipping it, you don’t need to go back to the Library module. Just right click on the image and follow the same procedure for flipping. The right click option for flipping isn’t available in the grid or filmstrip view. 

You can also create a virtual copy of your image and then flip it. Later on, you can stitch both photos to create a captivating original+mirror view. 

Flipping a Single Image Using Photo Menu

Another way to flip your image in Lightroom is by using the above toolbar menu. You can use this method to flip the image in filmstrip or grid view.

1. Select the image from the grid view or the filmstrip view.
2. Go to the Photo menu.
3. Click on Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. And just like that, your image will be flipped.

Flipping Multiple Images 

Thanks to the batch editing capabilities of Lightroom, applying effects on multiple photos is just a matter of a few clicks. The same goes for flipping the images. You can flip multiple images simultaneously.

1. Choose multiple photos from the Grid View of Library or the filmstrip view in Develop module. 
2. Use keyboard shortcuts for multiple selections. On Windows, use CTRL + A to select all photos, or hold down CTRL and click on multiple photos to select them. On Mac, use CMD + A to select all, or hold down the Command key and keep selecting the images.
3. Once your images are selected, go to the Photo menu.
4. Click on Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical.

There are no keyboard shortcuts for the flip command in Lightroom, but as you can see, the process is very simple and quick.

Flipping Versus Rotating a Photo

Image manipulation in Lightroom consists of rotating, flipping, or straightening. All these features can be used to correct a photo or improve its view. When it comes to producing abstract photos, these features are tremendously helpful.

Remember that flipping differs from rotating a photo. When you rotate the photo, you change its orientation. On the other hand, flipping means creating a mirror view either vertically or horizontally. Lightroom also has the rotate feature which you can use to rectify the image orientation.

Both rotation and flipping of an image can be done for artistic purposes to show an enhanced view. 

Why and When You Should Flip Your Photos

Usually, images do not require flipping. A few reasons why you need to flip the photo are instances where the camera was held upside down, or you have scanned a printed image placed back to front on the scanner. 

Mostly, the option to flip photos is used for a creative purpose. If you capture the view of interiors of a property in a mirror, or the reflection of an exterior view in water, you can flip it in Lightroom to show an abstract, eye-catching view.

Mirrored images give a captivating, surreal effect. This is a simple marketing tactic to make the viewer curious. Also, a flipped image gives a unique and enhanced view, so you can stitch it with the original view and create a dramatic mirroring image.

Conclusion

As you may have understood, the procedure to flip images in Lightroom is not difficult at all. You can flip a mistakenly reversed photo or do it intentionally to give a fascinating view. Moreover, you can straighten or rotate your photos in Lightroom Classic to produce a better view.