The web version of Adobe Lightroom (now just called ‘Lightroom’ by Adobe), is a very compelling tool for photographers who want to view, edit and share their images across a range of different devices, and to have all their images available everywhere.
It has the same editing tools as Lightroom Classic, so there’s no disadvantage there, and it also leverages Adobe’s Sensei AI for image searches based on subject and image types, reducing the need for a lot of manual keywording.
On top of that it has a much more streamlined, efficient and modern-looking interface than Lightroom Classic – if only Lightroom Classic looked like this!
But before you take the plunge and swap to Adobe’s cloud-based version of Lightroom, there are six things you need to be aware to avoid nasty surprises.
1. Lightroom cloud storage is not optional
Your entire photo library has to be stored in the cloud, and on Adobe’s own servers. You can cache some or all of your images to your desktop computer, but the full set still has to be in the cloud. This means that the free storage you get with the old Photography Plan won’t be enough and you will have to find another $10/£10 per month for 1TB cloud storage.
2. External editors now allowed
Lightroom did not previously support plug-ins or third-party external editors, but that has changed. It’s now possible to round-trip images to external editors both from images stored in the cloud and from Lightroom’s recently introduced Folders view. This is a big step forward, although you can’t currently control the exported image format, currently TIFF files, which take up a good deal of cloud storage space.
3. There are no folders
Lightroom stores images in one giant searchable ‘pot’ without any definite storage structure. Instead, you find images according to their properties, not where they are located. This is fine until you want to ‘move’ images from one album to another. In fact you have to add them to one and delete them from others if you want them visible in one place only.
4. No Virtual Copies
This is a very useful feature in Lightroom Classic because you can create multiple ‘looks’ for the same image file and have them all visible at once. That’s not possible in Lightroom. It does offer image ‘versions’ but these are saved within the image and not displayed separately. They are more like saved snapshots than extra versions.
5. Now with Smart Albums
Lightroom has regular Albums and it has some fairly powerful search tools, and it now offers Smart Albums based on search criteria (Smart Collections in Lightroom Classic). You still hav have to figure out how to phrase your search for Smart Albums, but this is a major step forward for Lightroom and gratefully received.
6. No image grouping/stacking
In Lightroom Classic you can group or stack images together, such as bracketed exposures for HDR merges, burst sequences or panorama frames, but in Lightroom you can’t.
In short, Lightroom is a very slick and streamlined cloud-based alternative to Lightroom Classic that does indeed make all your images available everywhere, on any device. But it comes at a cost in financial terms, the closed nature of its storage system and its relatively limited image organizing options compared to Lightroom Classic.
Adobe Photography Plans
• 20GB Photography Plan: now $14.99/month, no longer available to new users
• 1TB Photography Plan: $19.99/month
• 1TB Lightroom Plan: $11.99/month
* A trial version lasting just a few days is available but requires card details and must be cancelled before the trial expires to avoid automatic subscription
** Note that these are annual plans paid monthly. You may have to pay a cancellation charge if you want to end your subscription before the end of the current year
