Adobe just released a sneak peek of some MAJOR changes coming to Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw. Up until this point, I’ve always thought that the introduction of the brush and gradient tools in LR 2 were big.
After that, there was the radial filter which was also big. And of course, over the years, there were a number of nice features added here and there. Then… 3 years ago we got Profiles which (to me at least) was the biggest change since the introduction of the brush.
But now I think I have a new winner to classify as THE biggest change that I’ve seen in Lightroom in 10 years. The way masking and your local adjustment tools (brushes and gradients) work is getting totally redefined.
Complicated… but Much Needed
At first glance, I’ve had a lot of people ask me if this is going to change what they know about Lightroom. Lightroom at its core won’t change. Everything you’ve done today will work the same. How you import and organize and edit your photos will be the same.
Everything except the Brush / Gradient / Masking tools. Those are undergoing a big change. Existing edits will be fine and won’t be adjusted.
But the way you USE these tools and the power behind them is pretty major. Heck… it took me almost 2 weeks of fiddling with it to really understand what you can do, and how powerful it is.
Don’t freak out though… if you want to use them in a simple way, I actually think that will become even easier. As a teacher first, I’m most excited at how approachable this will make brushing / masking to dive in to. It will be much clearer for new people. But to really unlock the power of what they’ll offer is definitely going to take some practice.
Stay tuned because I’ll be releasing videos to help out once the new version ships. But in case you want a sneak peek, I did a quick live session the other day and it talks a little more about it.
Oh, and if you want to read the article from Adobe and watch their short video, click here to watch.
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.
Thank you, Matt. You’re so good at easing us veterans of Lightroom into a brave new world of possibilities. I use all three of your favorite tools, so I’m looking forward to figuring out what works best for me in the new upgrades.
Blaine
Your excitement makes us excited to learn all about it and I can’t wait to use it!
Matt,
My question is….if we are used to right clicking and doing any mask work in PS, and then simply saving it back….will this be a big deal? I guess for one thing it remains completely non-destructive, but does it provide more capability than I can get with masking in PS? I realize there’s a time savings in NOT having to go to PS, but I guess after these years it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to mask in PS. Maybe there’s more to it than that.
Hi Michael. It may not seem like a big deal to you because you know Photoshop. It is perhaps the most complicated program in the world and a lot of people reading this simply don’t or won’t use it. I’d say a large portion of LR users don’t ever leave LR so the more things they can do well in it the better. But in my opinion it’ll never be as good at Photoshop for masking. Thanks.
Hi,
I’m still using release 10.1 because of so many issues with LR working on Mac OS updates. I’m currently still on Mojave 10.14.6.
will I have issues upgrading to the new version of adobe since I might be so far behind?
Hi Kenny. Not sure how I would/could answer that. I guess try it and see.
Hi Kenny,
I’m a long time Mac user and currently using macOS Big Sur 11.6. I have zero issues using any of the LR releases including the latest which I believe is 10.4. Apple is pretty good about helping with these technical issues. Don’t hesitate to give them a call.
The issues with 10.x have been resolved months ago, I have zero issues using LR Classic 10.4 with Mac OS Big Sur. Looking forward to Mac OS Monterey soon.
The new masking features look great. I’m just wondering how precise they will be: will difficult selections leave halos or miss areas? How easily can the new masks be edited to correct an imprecise selection? Any idea?
Hi Jim. I don’t know any masking tool in the world that does a perfect selection with a difficult and complex edge (hair, fur, trees, etc…). They all require some user intervention at some point, and I don’t think this will be any different. That said, so far it has exceeded my expectations. Thanks.
Hi Matt:
If you frequently move between lightroom and photoshop will the masks created in Lightroom move to photoshop ot vice-versa or is Photoshop just going to accept the adjusted image in total. What if you then save back to LRC will you lose the masks that you had prior to moving to photoshop?
Hi Paul. While the masking is more organized and powerful, the actual mask itself and the way it works will remain exactly the same as it is today.
Hi Matt, I don’t know how masks (nor brushes) in Lightroom work now (I only use masks and brushes in Photoshop). ** So what is the answer to the very good question: do we lose masks going from LR to Pshop, back and forth? How does each program deal with masks in that situation? Thanks!
Hi Jenny. Keep in mind I’m talking about a feature that has only been “sneak peeked” by Adobe and not much detail has been mentioned. So at this point my suggestion would be that if “it works the same as today” isn’t enough, then maybe just wait until it actually comes out and you can dive in more. Thanks!
The new masking features look great. I’m just wondering how precise they will be: will difficult selections leave halos or miss areas? How easily can the new masks be edited to correct an imprecise selection? Any idea?
Thank you for the short video. You do a good job of easing a person into the changes. If I had to figure out them on my own it would take me a while. Like to have the visual! Excited to see them.
Matt,
Are you planning an updated LR course in the near future?
Hi Stan. Yes, I’ll be updating it for January 2022. Thanks
Looking forward to your new course.
Oh Wow, wow, WOW!!! I can’t wait. I love Lightroom.
You’ve got to be kidding. I do not understand any of this – I don’t use Photoshop. I use the profiles, crop, level and adjust whites, blacks, shadows, highlights, sharpen, etc. I hope there will be simplistic training videos that are understandable. I really hope that the basic editing features are not changed. I want my photos to look like what I saw, not overly processed.
Wow! LRC is growing up! Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be looking forward to more tutorials when this is released. Thanks Matt!
It’s great to see that feedback drove the innovation/software coding loop on a shorter timeline than I’d imagined. That said, there’s plenty here to instruct. Other vendors are more aggressively integrating machine learning into their photo processing apps; Lr had to do this to remain relevant. However, more work remains. I look forward to watching your instruction on this Lr evolution.
I spent a lot on brush presets.
Where will they be?
Same place as always.
Thanks Matt, great review
Thanks Matt. Can’t wait for it to come out and look forward to your training video on these new updates.
Thank you Matt. I really enjoy all your work. Cheers
Wow! This is a major advance! Really looking forward to to it.
This sounds great, but I really wish Adobe would add an opacity slider to the preset panel and not just profiles but I’m not holding my breath on that one.
I find Photoshop too complicated. I use ON1 to combine layers and produce a finished shot. Will Lightroom ever have layers to go along with masking? It would be nice to be able to combine multiple images using layers within Lightroom and not have to use Photoshop or ON1.
Hi Jeff. Personally, I sure hope not. I don’t need another Photoshop… I need LR to stay simplistic so I can get in and out easily. If I want more, jumping to photoshop takes seconds and is no longer than it takes ON1 to render layers when you click on them or make changes.
I love it. You look SO happy it makes me happy
Matt, I have to thank you and other great educators for keeping me sane during this pandemic. Granted I have not been able to get out and do the type of shooting I prefer but my knowledge of LR & PS has increased by leaps and bounds. Looking forward to Adobe Max
Glad to help Jack!
will the masks be exportable to photoshop?
Fine job, Matty. You’re getting the hang of this interweb review thing.
Matt,
You praise profiles but I’ve never even understood them. Can you give me a few sentence top view and point me to a tutorial? This change to masking looks great.Thanks.
Tom
This has been available for everyone to play with in their LrC pre-release program through CC.
Thanks so much!
As Always. Great presentation. Thanks. N Ross de St Croix
I think Lightroom needs to update the Book Module to include the new Mohawk layflat papers.
BTW, Matt you’re the best! Always enjoy your videos.
Thanks Matt! I look forward to the late October update!
On another note – when do you think that Adobe will modify their white balance range so infrared images can be easily opened without having to employ user-made profiles? Just extend the WB range to encompass IR! MS file explorer reads and displays the correct WB, why can’t Adobe products? I’ve written to Adobe about this – maybe you can prod them too!
So looking forward to the late October release! Your video will generate lots of excitement, I’m certain! The new ‘masking’ will be a true asset to LR users.
Quantum leap! Looking forward to seeing this update.
This sounds like Adobe’s approach to giving results similar (or better than) the Nik “control points” tool. I’m hoping this is the case as I have no desire to purchase third party plugins to accomplish effects that should be handled in PS or LR.
This really excites me. I never liked the tools that are getting replaced so I would just take my work to PS. So this is great news to be able to mask in LR. Excited
Well I can’t wait to see this, kuddo’s to Adobe for getting this done! I’m a big brush adjustment user, so thanks for putting a smile on my face and giving me something to look forward to.
quick question Matt – it seems to me that an adaptation of the “sharpening mask” could also become a good way to create a mask to be used in the brush and other tools… what do you think?
Great Video Matt, thank you!
Will there be a refine brush?