Adobe just added a fully local option for photos in Lightroom.
Every folder/drive available to your host operating system (e.g. windows or macOS) is available in a “local” section in Lightroom.
You can immediately edit/tag/favorite photos without needing any database or catalog or “importing” of the photo.
Doesn’t use any cloud storage (or costs) and you have all your photos local on your system, including edits, and can backup/copy/archive anyway your want
(Specifically, Lightroom is NOT synching to the cloud and not doing any file management on your behalf.)
Makes Lightroom an interesting choice for photo editing/management without having to buy-in to their cloud syncing architecture any more.
Compared to Apple photos, for example, no limitations on having photos on the system drive versus external or network/NAS drives, no constant exiting and restarting photos to switch catalogs or photo database, etc.
All photos are fully local so easy to grab the photos with any archive or file utility to copy and backup to any destination without worrying about whether the photo is fully downloaded from cloud or not, etc.
Makes managing one “master” family photo library across multiple users a lot easier. For me, I can merge my wife’s photos with mine as I am tasked with backup and archiving - tasks she ignores and simply assumes her camera roll is taking care of it all.
I am confused by this thread. There are two Lightrooms, “Lightroom Classic” which is the original design program, and “Lightroom” which the Creative Cloud App shows as “Lightroom for web”. I use the former and it doesn’t use the Adobe cloud unless you specifically use it (and I don’t). The latter program I don’t use and seems to have fewer features and saves everything in the Adobe cloud. I started using Lightroom, now Lightroom Classic when Apple dropped Aperture.
Really??? Does it have the full power of hierarchical keywords, a mapping module, print module, web module, and more? Or are you just referring to the bits for cataloguing and editing?
ACR is the bit that converts a RAW file to ‘regular’ image data. It’s got quite a few sliders but it is not a photo editor per se. It’s the first step in Lightroom Classic and the first step, only from a RAW file, in Photoshop. ACR, for instance, has zero concept of masks or watermarks or cropping.
Good grief! Good on Adobe for further muddying their product portfolio. I stand corrected.
So ACR is actually only a (visible) part of Photoshop and After Effects. Yes, the same technology underpins Lightroom but it is not exposed as ACR because it doesn’t need to be — that’s what Lightroom is. Which is how it should be in your products, Adobe.
ACR used to be just the ‘extra bit’ in Photoshop that appeared when you opened a RAW file, in order that you could a) get the RAW decode, and b) process with suitable controls for RAW (much like the basic Lightroom controls).
Now they’ve turned it into a Franken-app that is a complete editor except you can’t get it unless you own… a complete editor. Oh, you can use it from Bridge, too, but only if you have Photoshop or After Effects installed.
In any case, for me I guess it’s moot, as I just cancelled my Adobe subscription. Though I will still use Lightroom Classic for catalogue management. No, I won’t need to pay for that.
Having been a Photoshop pro from 1992 until I retired in 2020, I actually dumped Adobe products and went with CaptureOne Pro.
But then Lightroom actually caught up and superseded C1. So I switched back. And it was a big relief to have all the new features Adobe has been introducing this past few years.
Lightroom and Photoshop may have nearly the same capabilities, Photoshop still has tools that Lightroom lacks, but for most people they won’t notice. Still Lightroom has made allot of things more accessible than Photoshop, and can do so many things so brilliantly that I rarely even bother to fire up Photoshop any more.
What I refuse to use is Adobe’s cloud. It is so ridiculously overpriced for so little storage that I choose to keep my stuff local and back it up on Backblaze B2, the least expensive cloud storage around. And I use Chronosync to keep my B2 buckets in sync with my local G Drive.
I use Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw (with access to Photoshop if I need it) on a MacBook Air. With this paid subscription, I already have the benefit of local storage and great raw editing without the overhead of a Lightroom Classic catalog.
The Creative Cloud looks like a sync service to me and not backup at all. If something goes wrong in the Creative Cloud, it seems likely that it would corrupt my local storage, too.
I am an amateur photographer and will always be an amateur photographer. A couple of years ago I rage quit Adobe Lightroom Classic , spent a lot of money trying alternatives, and then came back to Adobe.
Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw are a sweet spot for me. I still prefer Affinity Photo to Photoshop when I need something more than ACR.
(Note to future self: Get at least 24GB of memory in my next Mac. Adobe photo software works well enough on my 16GB M1 MacBook Air, but I would prefer not having to use my internal drive as swap space.)
I really wish Lightroom Mobile had the ability to work with photos stored on an external drive. I take a lot of RAW photos on trips, but I don’t have enough space on my iPad for them. I usually wind up bringing my laptop on vacation just so I can organize and edit my photos. It would be nice to be able to copy photos off my camera onto an external SSD and work with them in Lightroom Mobile.
Yes, you can use local folders with Lightroom, and I can see a real benefit to using the cloud to move files to and from my iOS devices. But it’s still not what I would use when Lightroom Classic still is a more capable application. And I find Adobe’s iOS apps unusable.
Hey I’m retired. I don’t need (or want) to learn new stuff.
Adobe Lightroom, with its brand new “local” tab, is a capable and useable raw photo editor with a clean, uncluttered, interface and should be easier to approach for new users. I had high hopes for it, but Lightroom is still missing a few features and is weak in some of the features that it has. And it is designed to work best if all photos have been uploaded to the cloud.
At some point, Lightroom might catch up but, for now, Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw give me the full range of capabilities that I want and need. (Note that, if you are willing to go a more complicated route, you can also get to Adobe Camera Raw via Photoshop.)
Lightroom Classic is off the table for me since I walked away from it a couple of years ago. I don’t want its fiddly import and catalog considerations.
Wow, I remember that site as a great resource many moons ago when I was a heavy Lightroom user. Good to hear it’s still going strong.
There is no denying that, with some exceptions in the ‘bleeding edge’ technologies like AI, Photoshop can do anything. I agree it does mot things quite simply, and I think people who are scared of it need to get brave to find this out.
When I first started using it, I had no idea what I was doing. I now use Affinity Photo the same way. I know how to use essentially the same set of tools I used in Photoshop, until I need to do something I don’t know how to do, and so I go research that and add one more tool to my repertoire. It’s the only way to approach tools like Photoshop and Excel. Over many years I have built quite the repertoire of knowledge (though still well short of everything they can do) one small step at a time.
You are absolutely right that Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is the underlying code powering any and all of Adobe’s raw photo editing.
Where Adobe’s offerings differ is in their front ends, their approach, and the inclusion of specific features and modules. First, I am not trying to convert anyone, but Adobe does offer four approaches and folks can choose the one that suits them best.
Lightroom Classic is the old stalwart used by professional, commercial, and enthusiast photographers for its capabilities as a Digital Asset Manager. It requires an import process so that photos, their locations, and their metadata can be filed away in the somewhat fragile and finicky database called the catalog. It nicely integrates with Adobe Photoshop and even has some cloud abilities.
Adobe Photoshop uses ACR as its front end for processing raw photos but goes way beyond with destructive editing of pixel-based images. It has none of the built-in file management capabilities of Lightroom Classic. Photoshop is notoriously difficult to learn.
Lightroom, the new kid on the block (although it is seven years old), wants you to put all your raw and mobile phone photos in the Adobe cloud. Although, three months ago, Adobe released a way to work with some of your photos locally without having to upload them (let’s call this selective sync). It is still early days, but many suspect that Adobe considers this the way of the future.
And finally, Adobe Bridge is a capable local file browser for raw photos and other design resources that (I think) integrates nicely with both Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop. Its best features are that it does not require cloud storage nor does it require a fiddly import process or having to baby a temperamental catalog. Although some people would describe this collection of apps as “clunky,” it suits the way I work.
That is indeed what I meant. Some of their implementations of AI are not what I would hope, but the fact remains they have deployed something useful. However, being an Affinity Photo user rather than Photoshop these days, I do wish Serif would get a move on. I don’t need ‘fancy’ or ‘clever’ AI tools in my photo workflow (LrC’s masking tools were a big letdown) but they could be darned useful in my graphics workflows!
I’ve been using LightRoom for decades and I’ve NEVER had to “buy in to their cloud system” at all.
I love and use LightRoom Classic. Which has far superior editing and publishing and cataloging tools compared to even the new version of LightRoom CC app with a local only option.
, spent a lot of money trying alternatives, and then came back to Adobe.