For those of you that are using Lightroom (or considering it), I put together a video with 5 features that you may not have known were there. Even if you’re a hardcore LRC user, I think at least one of these features is something that just about everyone can use. Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
After two weeks with LR, I see nothing that would replace LRC. I’m not bothered by the catalog in LRC. Classic is working fine for me and I see no advantage to LR. I’m going to “hang on” to LR for a while longer, but I don’t see myself switching. To me, at least, finding functions in LR that are interchangeable with LRC is not as simple as some have described it.
Hi Bill. I’d suggest this… if you open LR and don’t start to feel “yes this is what I always wished LRC was” then it’s probably not for you. If you have never had the urge to use Bridge or Photo Mechanic to view your photos or work between multiple computers because the LRC catalog is clumsy… this probably isn’t for you. That’s totally ok because editing is editing and they’re the same. How you get there is where they differ, and that’s a personal preference which is sounds like yours is LRC. The good news is it won’t make your photo look any better or worse than anyone else’s. Thx
Thanks, Matt. Another excellent and clear video. I’m considering this move because, as you say, it makes so much sense from a workflow perspective. I’m getting a new laptop in the next few months, and I’m dreading the transfer of all my LRC catalogs, backups, etc.. My one concern about LR: I’m a macro photographer and I do a lot of stacks (mostly by moving them to Photoshop, doing the stack there, and moving the completed file back to LRC). Is that something that can still be done with LR?
Matt, Thanks, this video was really helpful.
Q: you occasionally pop-up a horizontal panel that shows the various Adobe Apps. How do I call this up?
Thanks again.
Bruce
WOW! Finally an easy way to look at larger previews. And with the automatic keywording you can possibly find a photo you know you have but don’t know/remember where it is, it is very likely we could find it with this. Access to community presets, very cool! The sidecar in same location as the file, hallelujah. No catalogues, sign me in!!! Thank you so much for this video. :))
So, Matt, I like the idea of using Lightroom as a photo viewer and maybe as a quick editor (or at least a way to get a better look at something that is underexposed). I have tried to use Lightroom for editing, but frankly don’t find it the equal of Lightroom Classic (at least I can’t find some of the features I like to use in LRC. So, here are some questions.
Let’s say that I open new photos in LR and flag/rate them, add a few keywords, and even trash the ones I don’t like. Maybe I also do some cursory edits on a few of the images. Now I have a folder that has only the images I want to keep, and are worth actually having in a Catalog. If I then take that folder and import it into Lightroom Classic, what will I have? Will it bring in the flags/ratings, the edits, and the keywords? Or will I have to start over with all that stuff? At least I will have deleted all the deadwood before I bring it into the LR Catalog; but it would be nice if all the other work was transported too.
Hi Paul. Editing is identical to Classic so there’s no difference there (only in some names that are pretty easy to figure out after a minute or two). As for what you’ll have… it will bring in the flags, ratings, keywords and edits because (as shown in the video), all of that was saved in the XMP file and LRC will read that upon import even though it’ll never use it again since LRC is catalog based. Give it a try and you’ll see for yourself and it’s a much faster way to learn since you can’t hurt anything. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the explanation, but no, thanks to LRc is still not useful for little me. KISS
Would you consider doing a video on who should stay with Classic and why. This video was very informative.
Hi Matt
thanks for the represent. Very interesting, I did not know that LR could use local storage. For a nature photographer who has well over 20 TB or images, the cloud is not a real option ($ obviously). I would like to an in depth comparison between the LR w local storage and LRC. I don’t mind have a catalog, to my mind the catalog is just the cost of doing business. If I went w/ LR and local storage what would the overhead cost/time be every time I opened my image library (though I suspect that I would need to operate differently). What features would I gain w LR and local versus LRC and what would I loose.
Again I think this would make a great video comparision.
Hi MattI am interested as a loooog time LRC user but I do not see the sale price.
Regards
John
Great video! thanks Matt
I don’t understand how to delete images on LR Web which will also not delete images in LR Desktop. I want to free up space on the web. I haven’t yet full transitioned from Classic to Desktop in terms of the plans, thus am still limited to 20GB.
Many thanks!
Always appreciate your tips. Thank you
Excellent and I learned a number of great features I didn’t know existed in LR but I will be using them going forward.
Thanks Matt!
But, what about all the random XMP files floating around? ON1 does this as well and it creates file clutter in my mind, What can we do other than ‘hide’ the files?
My use of Lr is pretty limited more about Classic. That said watching and listening to this video has prompted me to look closer at Lr.
Your tips are always helpful, as are your courses. I am slowly migrating from LRC to LR. One thing I don’t see in LR is the ability to have “plugins’, e.g., Topaz AI. Am I overlooking this feature? Thanks again!
Hi Matt –
Thanks for this informative video but I’m a bit confused (not unusual). I’ve been a long-time user of LRC but have been thinking about tryout out LR for a long time, so I downloaded it today. I navigated to one of folders shown in the “local” link. I opened a photo but when I clicked on the presets and selected “recommended” and message came up saying “disabled for local images”. Do I have to upload the photos to the cloud to see recommended presets??
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much Matt. I have been wanting to try this version, and I just did. Your instructions are easy for me to learn by.
You’ve done it once again, Matt. Pulled me out of something I am familiar with{LRC}, into something I have no understanding{LR}. However, this has considerable appeal to me and possibly has some “new tricks for this old dog”. I have spent $$$$ on external HD’s for backup and this looks like it could stop this. Other features provide some appeal as well. I’m giving LR a hard look. Will require your new course.
Matt,
I believe that LRC stores my photos with the edits in a “separate” file? How does this version of Lightroom compare to that?
Bob Haines
Hi Bob. LRC by default does not do that – and even if you turn that option on, it’s not using them to work from. It will still always use the catalog and there is no option to change that. This version works the way I showed it in the first tip. Thanks
Thanks Matt, very useful! I am still a LRc user and proud of it (and yes, I have ALL my photos catalogued), but the new local Option is indeed very tempting. There is one thing, though, that needs clarification: how to proceed in order to save „old“ edits from LRc? I could not find a menu item in LR that let me read the xmp files! So If I edit a Photo in LR and then Return to LRc, I can read the xmp but not vice versa, I.e. LR will ignore and overwrite them (after a warning).
Thanks
Gerhard
Thanks Matt, excellent as always, very helpful
Great information in this video – thank you Matt for sharing.
Once you do the edits in the local mode, what’s the next step to save that, do you have to import that photo into the LR Catalogue or just leave in that hard drive that you originally saw it in. Your explanation wasn’t clear.
Hi. There is no saving.
File > Export and choose your format just like PS and LRC. Thanks
Thank you, Matt. Learned all sorts of helpful and interesting things from this. And sorry you have to call out bad actors.
No worries. They’re fun to call out 🙂
I admit to having been in the LrC only camp, but this video DID get me thinking. Though I do not do any social media, I do share photos with friends. They get exported into an “Image Exports” folder, … that is admittedly a bit chaotic. Having access to a separate from LrC photo browser with editing capabilities for dealing with these exported files is VERY appealing. Thank you, Matt, for taking my thinking outside the box was in.
Very informative, thanks
Thanks for more info on LR! I’ve used LRC for so long my instinct is to go to what I know best. However, I love this new LR and not having to deal with catalogs. So all of your videos and classes on LR help me to get more familiar and I’ll be using this LR going forward!
Hi Matt,
Thank you for the video.
As a LRC user I found your video explaining some of the features in LR very interesting, especially #5 The Presets.
I upload Collections from LRC to Adobe cloud. However, following your LR tips, the recommended preset feature appears to work on collections I’ve uploaded. As you mention, there are some very good ones to choose from.
Again, thank you for the great work you do.
Kind regards, Neil
Your original piece on printing some years ago was terrific, how about an updated one,