Confused by Lightroom lately - Don’t worry you’re not alone.

Confused by Lightroom lately - Don’t worry you’re not alone.

Recently Adobe launched another Lightroom and Photoshop update. If you are a Creative Cloud subscriber than the upgrade happens automatically and is part of your subscription fee.

Judging by the number of phone calls I have received this latest upgrade hasn’t been at all straightforward. 

At the same time as the upgrade Adobe released a completely new version of Lightroom and called it Lightroom CC. Yep, the old name we have all become accustomed to.

They also upgraded the old Lightroom CC and called it Lightroom Classic CC. Confused yet?

The naming protocol is a little strange and has, no doubt, caused a lot of confusion. Many people have inadvertently installed the new Lightroom CC and found themselves faced with something completely different. Collections gone, import completely different, folders gone etc. etc. Instant panic for many.

So to quickly set your mind at ease, if you have been using Lightroom CC you can continue quite happily on Lightroom Classic CC. Your catalogs will be updated and everything will be as it was before but with some new features.

So what is this NEW Lightroom CC. It is a fully mobile editing platform, quite powerful, but for most photographers who take and store large numbers of images the old / new Lightroom Classic CC will remain the standard editing go to.

The NEW Lightroom CC is a cloud based solution that stores your images on Adobe’s Cloud server. You receive 20gb included with your subscription but for most people that will be no where near enough. An upgrade of your subscription to 1tb will set you back around $10.00 month extra. If you run out of cloud space the images will be stored on your device until you run out of space or buy more Cloud space from Adobe. 

Lightroom CC is actually rather good. If you are used to using Lightroom on your computer you’ll be familiar with the tools available although they are arranged differently. However there is no plug-in support, no HDR, no Panorama stitching, no camera calibration, no file renaming, no print module, no mapping or geotagging, no sync settings and a number of others.

If you presently only use Snapseed, Pixomatic, Google Photos, Apple Photo or any of the myriad of editing apps available then Lightroom CC could suit you well. The icon has rounded corners.

If you presently use Lightroom on your desktop and love the ease of use, the powerful editing tools, multiple Hard Drives referenced in your catalog, the brilliant print module, integration with Photoshop etc. then you need to stay with Lightroom Classic CC. The icon has 90 degree corners.

Keep a lookout for my next Lightroom / Photoshop Post -Processing weekend in Caboolture, Melbourne or the Hunter Valley.