Adobe released a few updates to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom recently. In this video we’ll go through those updates which include some Generative AI features for Lightroom, as well as a new Upscaling feature and updates to Assisted Culling. Enjoy!
About Me
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 youโve always wanted.
what are credits…. do you have to purchase
Hi Matt, I am preparing to do a large amount of closeup photography and use Lightroom for everything from cataloguing to publishing. The focus is on the natural photographic image. I believe I have everything I need; the latest Lightroom and your Lightroom tutorial upgraded from the original. At this point, I’m not interested in AI. I have a very sophisticated digital camera so the natural quality of the photo is most important. Am I good with your tutorial or am I missing something? Best, Ken ken@goodfoodworld.com (Helena, Montana)
Hi Ken. You’re not missing a thing. The nice part about all of the AI tools is that Adobe has not removed any of the previous tools. Everything still works exactly the same as it always did and you have the same software you always have. In short, you have plenty of tools to get what you need. Thanks.
Hi Ken. I would say use whatever adjustments you think you need for your photo. The nice part about any new ai settings are that all of the tools that we’ve used before those features came out are still there. So no change to your workflow is required if you don’t want to. Thanks.
Re: credits & partner nonsense
Completely agree!
We also need to be careful
re: copyright rules.
Hey, Matt, thanks so much for keeping my life simple by summarizing what’s going on! Also for updating the Lightroom Classic course.
I agree 100% with many below – and I love the new word “enshitification,” because that’s exactly what it is. Just like the airlines, looks like Adobe is going to the “nickel and dime you to death for millions in profit to them” model. Guess it’s the way of the world in 2026, but I’m not ashamed to say I HATE it and wish there were a way to fight it. Guess my only option is to email Adobe support and complain. Maybe if enough of us do that it will at least be recognized.
Thanks for the info and opportunity to rant.
Good afternoon, Matt
Are you still running $100 for monthly sessions? If so, let me how to get in?
David Clarkson
Here you go David: https://mattk.com/the-portfolio-group/
Hi Matt
what is the difference between upscaling in topaz and super resolution which is offered in Lightroom. I donโt understand super resolution
in Lightroom even though I use it. When I have a JPEG, I definitely use it a the images come out larger however, when I go back to the library and I look at the original dimensions, it seems like the super resolution dimensions are still the same. If you can shed light on any of this, I would be much appreciative. Thanks for another great educational video.
Jules
Hi Julie. They all upscale. Some do it worse or better than others. Super Resolution, to me, was never better than just exporting the photo at the size you want in my opinion. Thanks.
Well, Adobe appears to be putting paywalls in their products that go beyond the subscription price. Seems just about making more money, and unfortunately, they’ll probably expand this as necessary. I just don’t like it.
On your website, I do not see the LRC course with 10 sections that you mention in this video update. There is one called “Evolving with LR”; is this the same one? Thanks
Hi. Hereโs the link. Itโs under courses as well
https://mattk.com/lightroomsystem
Unfortunately, this link = https://mattk.com/lightroomsusytem – is not valid
Hi. I mistyped it. It’s /lightroomsystem
Or just click on the COURSES menu and look for the Lightroom System. It’s always on the courses page too. Thanks.
I’m a Topaz user since more than 10 years, since the first release of Topaz Clarity 1.0 and of course Denoise. They then launched Topaz Denoise Ai and Topaz Sharpening Ai. I still have them. They become Topaz Photo Ai and now Topaz Photo, an application that costs us an arm and a leg. I’m using Denoise, I’m also using often Sharpening, but for all the rest, dust and scratches, lightning, color balance I do not need Topaz Photo. Adobe, Lightroom or Photoshop, are doing a better job and I’m already paying for that. So why should I continue with Topaz ? DXO Pure Raw is offering denoising and sharpening at a very attractive price and with a lifetime license. I also have Topaz Gigapixel that I don’t use a lot except for some very few old images. And now Lightroom is giving access to Gigapixel. Ok, we do have access to any control, but that’s more than enough for my use. I think also like you Matt that we are already paying a lot to Adobe for the use of their softwares and that denoising, sharpening and upscaling are core photography features and we should not need to have to use third party softwares that cost a fortune year after year. It seems that they all consider photographers as cash cows. I will leave Topaz, change for DXO and hoping that Adobe ears what you say.
I can understand your concerns Matt – maybe even frustrations. This is almost the ‘Microsoft’ way of “improving” product by adding software from somewhwere else (and its not just Microsoft btw – internal licences between corps are proliferating on a plague like basis), it is more that this is not the direction I want my money to pay to go. I too am a great fan of Topaz, for a long time, and was concerned when the original payment method changed and I have great fears this is the way that Adobe sees for generating more revenue from what is a captive group of dedicated photographers (and more).
Is it another part of the enshitification of the software world? Maybe.
Thanks for your honest views, much appreciated as well as all the vids and training you put out there.
do you have a course on lightroom cloud NOT lightroom classic
I don’t know anyone who doest not have both PS and LR (whichever version). I have used Firefly from PS from day 1, I have had Topaz as a plug in as well. The only benefit I can see is that I may not need to spend more money on Topaz ongoing. I feel that Adobe are going in the wrong direction with this marketing strategy. They should develop these products in house or purchase a share of the product and market it as an Adobe version. Adobe cannot be all things to all men. It would be interesting to run a survey to validate my first statement about PS and LR.
copy paste preset settings is having issues again. getting an error #20190613b
so inconvenient. this is ridiculous.
this has disrupted my production process
Please go ahead. Looks like it will be useful
I love and appreciate your honesty and easy to understand explanations in all of your videos. Thank you for producing them! Keep on keepinโ on!
I agree with your comments. I would prefer Adobe spend the development time into making Lightroom Desktopโs interface to lol exactly like Classic. I donโt like the catalog complication, but I just canโt navigate Desktop. Perhaps you have a training video on this?
I laughed when I saw your credit balance. I have 4000. But that is because I have Topaz Photo Ai so I don’t do denoise in Photoshop or Lightroom. I like sharpening, denoising and upscaling to exactly 2048px on the long size all in one step.
Nice job with your presentation at Adobe Foundations!
I have a slightly older version of AI Gigapixel and recently used it to upscale an image and it did a much better job than Photoshop. Gigapixel will also let you make the image a lot bigger than you can make it using the model within Photoshop.
Matt – Your assessment is spot on. Gen AI is not really a core feature of LR so I have no problem with going to the browser if I need to use it (which I won’t as I’ll use PS).
I agree that Adobe should be focussed on the continual improvement of core LR functions like denoise, sharpening and upscaling. The plug in process for 3rd party apps works fine, so it’s a mystery why they have gone down the route of implementing stripped down versions of them and adding the complexity of credits.
As a aside, as a subscriber to the 1TB Photography plan the monthly allowance of 25 credits is pitiful and means I avoid any feature that requires credits.
Hi Matt, what is the difference between super resolution and upscaling? When might one use one over the other?
Thank you Matt, great review and comments! I completely agree with you. I’ve been using On1 more lately and have it to be a worthy competitor to Lightroom. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks Matt, well said! I agree with your assessment 100%.
It is a sad fact that with expensive programs that should already allow noise reduction… . And what does a photographer actually do with these forced additional capabilities? The feeling of real photography is slowly being lost. Sad.
I wish everyone good luck.
I totally agree with you on partnering with Topaz Gigapixel vs just updating the existing PS technology for upscaling, sharpening, and denoising.
I guess since I’ve been a Topaz user for several years now, I pay less than $100 for the updates to their programs. Topaz, PS, and LRC make it easy to switch between the programs with plug-ins, so why would Adobe need to include Topaz Gigapixel, especially when purchasing credits are involved? Who is making money off of it, Adobe, Topaz? I don’t get it. Or is it just to get folks excited about using AI, without caring that it is not reality… after all, it is ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE.
Well put. Adobe is giving a lot of focus to the world of social media. It seems to be a major player in everything many people do.
I have the Topaz apps. They are good. Just go buy the apps and be done with credits. I use LR and PS. I evolved thru PS. I am giving into the LR platform little by little. Old dog new tricks.
In the good old days if you wanted a plug in you just bought it. This seems to be a workable plan even today.
Enough with the whole credit thing.
I appreciate your honesty in your input. This is a valuable part of your work. Keep it up.
I totally agree with you regarding what should be encompassed within the main program; sharpening, denoising and upscaling should not cost extra when we already pay for PS, LR and LRC, just improve what is already there instead of adding costly credit use features.
I haven’t used LR or LRC for quite a while, I use Bridge, ACR and PS, those three run stable on my machine although Bridge can be twitchy once in a while, but a quick shut down and restart of Bridge sorts it out. I do think that Adobe has done well on the Denoise in LR, LRC and ACR but I bought DXO Pure Raw 2 years ago and use it instead, I have way more control in Pure Raw over settings than Adobe offers me.
If Adobe would work on fixing the existing AI stuff to where it is actually giving good results it would make the cost/credit model easier to swallow. I gave up on Gen AI and went back to content aware fill, the clone/stamp tool, the patch tool, healing brush tools and sometimes I use frequency separation inside PS; they give predictable results when I remember to check my settings.
The removal tool and selections in PS is where Abode has done great things and yes in those instances AI is my best friend for editing, but when they don’t give good results I can always fall back on older tools to get the work done.
I wish Adobe would put out a survey of what photographers wanted, they may be surprised at what we consider vital, but then maybe I would be surprised at how many people want the added AI stuff lol.
Thank you for this Lightroom update summary. I find these types of aid videos very helpful even if I don’t get to the new feature right away, or decide not to use it. At least I am aware it exists and can explore when ready. I appreciate both your time and thoughts on the feature updates.
What Upscaling feature? I just installed the made the new upgrade to 15.2 and see no Generative Upscaling in either the Photo dropdown menu or the right-click/Edit In menu. All I see is Generate using Firefly as expected.
Why don’t they just come out with Photoshop AI that has all the bells and whistles a person who uses AI would want and leave Photoshop alone. That way you don’t have to worry about credits, if you want all that you pay for that program. I personally will not use AI. It really sucks that everyone is moving to subscription base now. If you want Topaz Gigapixel you have to pay a monthly charge. Before you know it you are paying a mortgage every month just for software. You have to pick and choose wisely to what works in your workflow and stick with it.
Am I alone in beginning to think that Generative AI capabilities (Firefly, NanoBanana, etc) have to be separated from what you call the “core photographic” processes of Lightroom and Photoshop? Yes, we all love Remove and intelligent masking and accept their AI basis, but I have no interest in generating images – I have plenty of my own. Perhaps, then, LrC and Ps have to be stripped of their Generative AI capabilities and marketed as basic, photography-oriented editors. The Generative AI-based models can made available as an add-on to be purchased separately by those who need it.
Bert,
I like the way you think! At some point one has to ask โWhen is a photograph not a photograph?โ
Do I get credits by default?
Hi. Yes you most likely do. Check your Adobe account or contact Adobe support to find out how many. Thanks.
Do I get credits by default?
I have decided to move to DxO. I do not like the way Adobe is going.
Informative as always! Totally agree about the AI denoise and AI sharpening comments. It would be nice to see them spending our subscriptions on engineering these things (and upscale) rather than outsourcing them and charging credits for it.
the most new feature for me in LRC (I edit my pics there) would be a way to add text without going to PS.
Thanks Matt,
I think your critique is exactly on point. Iโm old enough to remember when color television was first introduced, and every show had a very colorful scene or two which more often than not had nothing to do with what the show was about. The AI developers seem to be in a similar place. They have some powerful new tools, but connecting them to human needs and interests is still a challenge.
In defense of Adobeโs โcreditโ model I like the fact that it doesnโt require me to pay for features I donโt use. I prefer that option over a more generic subscription increase.
“Generate using Firefly”,,,,,,,I wonder how many photographers they asked if they really want this feature.
I tried both the generative upscale and sharpening in Photoshop (and trie the upscale in LrC). The results were……crap.
JMHO – Adobe is fixated in adding more and more GenAI stuff and and charging more and more. Add in, both LrC and Lr have become bloated and sluggish. Adobe needs to focus moe on squashing bugs, improving performance.
I use Capture One as my main RAW editor and catalogue,. It runs faster, produces nicer results IMHO than LrC/Lr.
I would like to see Adobe focus its energy on improving its already existing basic functions. For example: (1) in the print module, for making custom layouts the grid is hard to see. Why can’t they provide an option for users to adjust the prominence of the grid? (2) Masking – the Sky mask always over-reaches the sky, Why not give users the option to tame its scope of operation so it won’t do that? (3) Tools available within masks: why not provide the the HSL toolset within masks? (4) The remove tool: this still works more accurately in Photoshop – can’t it be improved in Lr to avoid a trip to Ps for this? (5) Would it be possible to build a magnetic lasso tool within Lr masking? One could go on with these. General point: improve what is already there and deserving improvement rather than striking out on arcane new features few people will ever use.
Guess we’re moving to Pay As You Go
Hi Matt,
Always look forward to your videos. In your recent one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aeuYeFtO-w, you say “I think there’s going to be a lot of comments on these features”, but you have the comments switched off.
Regards, Dave
Hi Dave. Yep… But they’re turned on here and I even refer to that in the description of my videos.
Some of your followers – me – don’t use Light room but would appreciate PS instructions.
There’s usually no difference between LR and PS instructions. I don’t use LR, but Matt’s advice usually translates easily to PS.
Hi. You clicked on a Title that read “What’s New in Lightroom”. These are not new features in Photoshop, but when there are I do videos on that too. Just scroll through my previous videos. Thanks.