There is no doubt that a lot of photographers have strong opinions about Lightroom, but it remains the standard application for cataloging photos and performing basic global edits for a lot of creatives. This great video discusses three things one photographer loves about the program and three things he hates.
Coming to you from Anthony Morganti, this excellent video features him discussing three things he loves and three things he hates about Lightroom. Personally, one thing I appreciate about Lightroom is its organization features and construction. Despite having tens of thousands of images in my catalog, I have no problem pulling up a photo I need without much effort or hassle, and I have multiple structures in place for different needs, making it easy to do things like update my website or send out a set of photos for a client. On the other hand, I really wish the program had some sort of basic layers functionality. If I have to go into Photoshop for a full-fledged, intricate edit, I don't mind, but I really hate having to hop over there for just a few small things, especially when I can get 90% of the edit done in Lightroom.
What do you love and hate about Lightroom?
I have no problem with Lightroom, it's Adobe that is sitting back getting paid for nothing. When was the last groundbreaking update? When they added the erase function to filters? Photoshop got a new background removal button cause we need more bad guessing selection tools. Or Maybe Lumetri in Premiere that is still dodgy as hell. After Effects? SLOW and ridiculous linking to Premiere unless you like rendering all the time to get a video to play.
I could go through all the other programs but nothing big to report there either. This is what happens with a monopoly. Even phones have to do something to justify an upgrade and Adobe used to have to do the same. The whole subscription model was them realizing they weren't going to do anything else and they knew nobody would upgrade each year so now they don't have to.
Agreed. I really want to get rid of Lightroom and Photoshop. But still didn't find a program I like.
I never really gave many of them a try because of time issues, and no with 2 very young children the quarantine made sure I have absolutely no time now thanks for closing schools and can't even send them to my parents now and then to have time to work.
For now Adobe stays because re learning everything in another program takes too much time.
Yep! Nothing out there that does what I want it to do better than LR/PS. Lumnar is a good plugin, but that's where it ends for me.
I agree. And the subscription model is the biggest fkup of all. Okay, they offer a photography plan. Why on earth do they no offer a Design plan? Or a Video plan? I mean seriously WTAF! It’s either the Photography plan or everything.
A Design plan could consist of Ps, IL, Id, and Acrobat for a price point which sits somewhere between the photog plan and everything.
Why haven’t they done this? Because they have a monopoly. They do not give a flying fk about creatives. Look at their net profits last year. We are all being fking robbed.
There is not a single company I hate more than Adobe.
"In fact the C1's advanced colour and skintone editors are the only things missing from LR."
Not the only thing. Local adjustments are far superior in C1 compared to LR both in terms of organization and tool availability. The ability to customize the UI is also pretty nice.
I jumped to Capture One a while ago
Lightroom lost its way when it stopped being a RAW editor, and started trying to be Photoshop
The whole plethora of plugins, extras, integrations missed the point of what a RAW editor is, and at the same time, Adobe wasn't developing things like improving work flows or image quality
Jumping ship is a big deal for a busy photographer
However Capture One at the same time improved a lot, and the speed difference was enormous. However image quality and the way colour is dealt with in Capture One was the clincher
We haven't looked back
Capture is starting to put major updates against a pay wall though. I had bought 10 but only a week before 11 and didn't know that was coming out. I emailed and asked if I could get the 11 update for free since I was so close. The answer was a big no. That was the end of my interest in using the software.Also, cataloging photos is a must with editing software thats designed for just photos. There shouldn't be any reason it doesn't do that.
On Jan 1st 2020 I started a new catalogue in Capture One, deciding to run it alongside my LR catalogue until I was up to speed. So when a client needed the pictures quickly I just went straight to LR and did the work, then would go into C1 in my spare time trying to replicate the workflow.
It was going ok so since the lockdown I’ve been able to REALLY polish up my C1 work flow and now I also round trip my skin retouching in Affinity, it’s so much easier now..!
Also C1 automatically shows the edited tiff file straight away in the catalogue.
So now LR is not used much at all and when I do go there, it’s just slow. It does have features I may need like pano stitching and hdr etc but the difference is Phase One are investing heavily in C1 and the software gets better and better, Adobe are not.
My next task is to nail down Davinci Resolve and that’s me done for the most part with Adobe.
Very Nice. I dream of the day I can stop paying monthly.
I would agree with the three likes, Print, Export and Ease of Use. His big dislike, no layers or sophisticated masks simply indicates that he has moved beyond this software, like many. Adobe's response is of course, go to Photoshop. Unfortunately that knocks the Ease of Use like out of the door, and because PS is not a catalog, you can't have one or the other, you have to work with both.
I would have put the subscription model as a dislike, not because of the monthly cost necessarily, but because the product has matured and you won't see any ground breaking editing features that would essentially cannibalize PS. The subscription keeps money rolling in for a product that now has minimal resources put towards development. It's a shrewd move by Adobe, but opens the market up for others like On1 and C1. These companies have great products and because they do it in one package, they have plenty of room to grow and justify the cost of updates with real feature adds. Adobe may have boxed themselves in by having two distinct, but mature photo apps that can only step on each other. They have the same problem with Premiere and AE.
Why would they be scared to cannibalize PS though? $10 a month gets me both PS and LR. If I decide in the future that I no longer need PS, is there a cheaper plan that gets me only LR? Not that I’m aware. So, it’s not like their revenues will go down if some people decide they no longer need PS. Besides, most people will always have a need for PS for the really complicated edits. It’s just that it would be nice if you didn’t have to use it for some of the simpler edits still, and could stay in LR for those. LR really needs better portrait tools and improved clone/heal tools IMO, and yeah, the ability to add layers for adding things like sun flare overlays, etc. would also have me going to PS much less. I guess the big question is if LR can can do these things with any amount of speed should they be added?
Hello Luke. I suppose it's a matter or perspective. To add the desired features to LR would be to encroach on what PS does already. For some, perhaps yourself, it may simply represent a different point at which you go from LR to PS in your edit, but for many it may be a point at which they are subscribing to a package where one element is redundant. They don't use or need all the other features of PS, yet are paying for it. Given the cost, which for some isn't that much, it may not really matter. I still use LR Classic (pre subscription build) for one niche reason, but otherwise moved away from the LR/PS combo because there are options that short of any graphic needs, do everything I want in one package/workflow.
I would totally agree with the catalog complaints—although, it's kind of the point of LR. That said, it's frustrating to have these huge preview files get generated and eat up so much storage which I have to periodically delete (the 'discard 1:1 previews' function does not seem to do anything for me). Also, it adds a huge layer of complexity to the process... Previews vs. smart previews for example. Adobe might break a few eggs, but would do well to simplify the whole catalog mess. Oh wait, they already did with the new Lightroom! So to simplify things, they added a second app, also called Lightroom... 🤦🏻♂️
For me, LR is a tool to catalog and process raw files. It's like, a hammer. When you need a hammer you use it. There are many different kinds of hammers from big to little with all different shapes and sizes. Lightroom is like having an electronic darkroom. I still used a chemical darkroom up until 2013. LR makes it possible to simply process my raw files and make prints. It has more options than I will ever use. There were things about my darkroom that were more convenient than others. Nevertheless, I processed film and made prints all of which required days and weeks. Lightroom does it in minutes or hours. Let's face it, the love/hate relationship with LR all centers around the way Adobe charges for it.
I would love to see something akin to Capture One's layer support in LR, or even better, a layer system where you can actually layer other images together for compositing! Speaking of Capture One, my biggest complaint about Lightroom is that images just don't look as pleasing to me as they do in Capture One. No amount of tweaking the calibration panel or profiles (which I don't actually want to spend my time doing) seems to change that for me. I stick with LR because I prefer the workflow and I need Photoshop for compositing.
That’s funny, I know you’re not alone in your opinion, but that was the reason I could never really bond with C1 - I thought the images always looked kind of dull in comparison to LR, and I could never get them to look as pleasing to my eye using the controls in C1. LR always had this sheen/gloss look that just couldn’t be brought out in the C1 renders. Each to his own I guess.
That is funny... lol
Anyone have a decent way to have 2 people working on one catalog at the same time?
I used to complain about Lightroom's performance but I've upgraded my computer to a level where it's doing fine.
But the one thing that I hate the most is basically paying the subscription for camera support to Adobe Raw.
You can piss off now spammer. Say hi to your mother for me.