If You Want to Learn How to Use Lightroom, Check Out the New ‘Discover’ Feature From Adobe

If You Want to Learn How to Use Lightroom, Check Out the New ‘Discover’ Feature From Adobe

One of the new features included in the latest batch of updates to Adobe products is the “Discover” tab in Lightroom CC. The insights it gives into the editing process can be incredibly useful for those wanting to learn how to use the software.

Adobe’s new “Discover” tab (currently still in beta) can be found in Lightroom CC (Home > Discover) but you can also see it here on the Adobe website. You can scroll through photographs that users have submitted and hovering over an image will flick between the SOOC (straight out of camera) and the final edit.

In addition, if you want to take someone’s editing process and use it on your own photographs, you can simply click “Save As Preset” and add have it available in your own Develop panel.

Scrolling presents a bit of a mixed bag (one assumes that it’s curated but there are clearly a number of photos that have been placed in the wrong category), but there are a few well-known individuals such as Peter McKinnon submitting their work.

What’s also useful is that you can quickly see the camera settings selected by the photographer (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) as well as which camera and lens were used.

If you want to submit your own image, simply click the share symbol in the top right and choose “Share Edit.” You can choose whether to make your adjustments available for others to download as a preset, and you can decide whether to withhold the geodata.

If you’re like many photographers, you’ll use Lightroom Classic (where there is no Discover tab) for serious editing but will occasionally fiddle with bits and pieces in Lightroom CC. Consequently, there’s a fair amount of chaff to be found while wading through the Discover tab but some of the wheat is worth seeking out, such as this beautiful edit from Nick Fancher, this from Malike Sidibe, or this from Jordan Hammond.

Is this a useful resource for those learning how to process images? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

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4 Comments

It sad to see more of the metal stripped away from the monument. In few years there will be none left

Completely agree. I wish there were the money available to restore and maintain this incredible building. It's honestly the most amazing structure that I've ever visited.

Could be useful if the edits were showing in order, as a way to show your workflow and control the narrative of edits. But it's not the case! You use the feature once and then never again because of it. i makes absolutely ZERO sense to present the edits in the order of the panels. This is not something you want to show.

This might be a game changer -> "if you want to take someone’s editing process and use it on your own photographs, you can simply click “Save As Preset” and add have it available in your own Develop panel."