Evolving with Lightroom
Learn how to get on board with a new modern working in Lightroom. It’s simple, easy to use, fast, and best of all doesn’t require you to give up anything in your existing Lightroom Classic photos. Just plug this workflow in to any photo shoot that makes sense.
Watch the Intro & Tutorial Below
Watch the Intro
⬇️ Watch the Full Workflow Video Below ⬇️
(Includes LR Classic at the end too)
Full Workflow Video
Simplify Your Workflow
No More Import!
Instead of Importing photos, we can simply browse photos directly from our hard drive. It’s the Lightroom we’ve always wanted.
No More Catalogs!
The catalog has long been a frustrating point of Lightroom Classic. If you switched computers, moved something outside of Lightroom, or renamed a hard drive, your photos lost their connection. In Lightroom, there is no catalog or connection to lose because you’re just browsing photos on hard drives.
Simple… Lightweight… Non Complicated
Get yourself to the point where you’re editing fast and easy. Just browse to a folder, click on a photo and you’re editing in no time flat.
Easy, Like Adobe Bridge… But Better
Adobe Bridge is a favorite tool for photographers who just want to browse to a folder of photos, look through photos with basic rating/tagging and then edit them in Adobe Camera Raw. With the Local tab of Lightroom, you get a much more seamless browse/edit experience.
“This is the Lightroom
I’ve Always Wanted!”
No Catalogs…No Import… And No “Cloud” Needed
This is the Lightroom I’ve always wanted.
I’ve been teaching Lightroom since the first beta version back in 2006. I believe that back then, if there was a choice between a version that used Catalogs and required an import, and a version that simply let you browse photos on your hard drive, look at them, organize them, and edit them… the latter would be the version most people would have chosen.
Well, we didn’t have that choice back then, but we do today…
For years, I’ve answered countless questions asking “Why can’t I just look at my photos in Lightroom and edit the ones I want without having to do something first”. The catalog, the import, losing photos, and the dreaded ?’s were a huge source of frustration for most people. Well now you can just edit photos that are on your hard drives where ever they are and not worry about any of those things. And the best part about it is that it’s simple, fast, and using the same editing controls you’ve always known – so there’s very little learning curve.
Even better, this workflow doesn’t require you to change, delete, or migrate anything. I’m not telling you to migrate your catalog, or move years of work over from Lightroom Classic. I’m showing you a simple workflow moving forward. Just open, browse the folders that already exist on your drives, and edit / share. Lightroom Classic will still contain everything that it always has, and none of your work will be lost.
Misconceptions about Lightroom vs. Lightroom Classic (5 min.)
You Already Have This Version of Lightroom
We have had two versions of Lightroom for years now… Lightroom Classic (which is what most of you use) and Lightroom (which has typically been the cloud version). Whether you knew it or not, you got both of these versions as part of your Adobe subscription.
Before now, Lightroom was all cloud based. But recently there is a new feature that doesn’t require us to use the cloud and makes it a great, fast and modern alternative to LR Classic.
Matt… I don’t agree with this and I’m worried I can’t follow your tutorials anymore!?
I’ve seen this message a lot and I’d like to pose a question back to you…
The only thing I’ve shown in this workflow is simply a different way to browse and organize your photos. Since I only teach editing in 99.9% of my tutorials, how does this impact you?
Whatever edits I do in Lightroom are identical to the edits in Lightroom Classic. The Develop Module and Edit settings are THE SAME. So why can’t you follow me anymore? Haven’t you ever watched a tutorial in Camera Raw and used the same idea in LR Classic? This is no different.
Not to mention, I realize the vast majority of people still use LR Classic and that’s probably where all of my editing tutorials will still happen in. All I did here is show you a simple way to browse and organize that works for me and I’m excited about.
I teach photo editing because that’s where I spend my time – not on organizing or digital asset management.
And that photo editing process and adjustments are the SAME in LR Classic, Lightroom, and Adobe Camera Raw. Trust me, regardless of what edits I do and where you’ll always be able to follow along with my tutorials.
Watch Online or Download
You get both options as part of your purchase. You can watch/stream the course online (always the best option), or you can download to your computer and keep forever.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL COURSE OULINE
Lessons
Minutes
Pricing
Evolving With Lightroom
- All Course Videos (approx 90 minutes)
- Download Instantly
- Or Stream Online
- * Free Bonus! PDF Shortcut Guide
Is Adobe getting rid of Lightroom Classic?
No. Not at all. I just believe this workflow is finally better than Lightroom Classic which is why I’m teaching it. It’s what I’ve moved my workflow to and it’s what I feel most people should do. It requires no permanent changes on your part, it doesn’t hurt your existing photo library and every photo you’ve edited in Lightroom Classic will not be touched an always available in exactly the same way it is today.
Why do you keep referring to Lightroom as if there are two versions?
Because there are two versions. There is the Lightroom we’ve used since 2006 called LIGHTROOM CLASSIC. And the Lightroom that was introduced back in 2017 which is now simply called Lightroom. It has commonly been referred to as Lightroom Cloud, but it is really just called Lightroom. The easy way to figure out which version you have is to look at the icon. Lightroom Classic (the older version) has LRC on the icon. Lightroom just has LR.
I already use Bridge and Camera Raw. Is this for me?
Absolutely. If you like the Bridge/Camera Raw workflow you’ll fit right in to this one because it’s almost identical… but better. The missing ingredient to Bridge/ACR is that browsing and editing photos are seperate processes and not easy to move between. With Lightroom Local editing, you get the best part of Lightroom and best part of Bridges simplicity in one place.
Will this workflow / course require me to use the Cloud and/or Pay more money each month?
Absolutely not. There is a part where I do show you a cloud feature, but it’s not something I use and your existing plan will still give you plenty of space to let you use it if you do choose to. But nothing about this workflow requires the cloud.
I heard that Lightroom requires me to store everything in the cloud and I’ll need a very expensive Adobe plan?
You heard wrong, or your information is dated. There is a new feature in Lightroom that makes what you’ve heard in the past incorrect.
What features are missing from Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic?
Here are the list of “main” features that Lightroom does not have, that LR Classic does.
- It has keywords but not heirarchical keywords. If you don’t know what those are, you don’t need them.
- No Map, Slideshow, Book or Print Modules
- It has an Edit in Photoshop feature but doesn’t have the option that opens multiple photos at the same time, or Smart Objects.
- Plug-in Support – easily fixed by just going to PS first. Plus it’s better because it’s on a layer.
- Dual Screen Support
- Virtual Copies (Sync’d to cloud does, but not local)
- Tethered shooting
- Smart Collections
- Export Presets
- Color labels
Are you not teaching Lightroom Classic anymore Matt?
Of course I’ll continue to teach LR Classic. But if you’ve followed me, you know I teach about photo editing. Not organizing, or slideshows, or books or anything like that. So the good news is that Lightroom Classic, Adobe Camera Raw, and Lightroom are all identical in their editing controls. So no matter what program I teach, the editing tutorials I do are the same. I have, and will continue to let some one else take care of all the organization and other non-editing stuff.
Why is nobody else talking about this Matt?
I have no idea. I can’t tell you why anyone else does what they do. I can tell you that if you’ve followed me, and trust my workflow advice, I think you’ll love this. I would never teach anything that I don’t use and I haven’t personally used Lightroom Classic for my photos since I first installed the Beta of Lightroom back in August.
Also, remember that nothing you do in Lightroom is permanent or harmful to your existing workflow. And there’s a 30 day guarantee if you want your money back because you don’t like it.
Will this course show me how to get my Lightroom Classic catalog in to Lightroom?
No. My course is not about migrating your LR Classic Library to Lightroom. I don’t believe you should. This course will show you how to use Lightroom moving forward, for a simpler workflow. It will also showing you how you can get your favorite photos from LR Classic in to Lightroom as well, but not your entire catalog.
Will this show me how to use my tablet while traveling?
No, this course has nothing to do with teaching you how to use a tablet while traveling. Put simply, we’re just not there yet. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but for most people shooting large amounts of photos while traveling, a laptop is still by far the best way to go. In order to really make this workflow work, you’d need a tablet with Terabytes of storage, in which case I’d suggest getting an inexpensive light laptop instead.