Perfect photos in Lightroom for iOS

Discover the advanced camera and editing tools in Adobe’s updated app

Perhaps one of the most compelling features of a Creative Cloud membership for photographers is the tight integration of Lightroom between desktop and mobile devices. The two apps work in harmony, syncing image collections over the internet, enabling you to begin editing a set of images on your Mac, then pick up where you left off on an iPad. You can also work through a collection of images and approve or reject them, as well as assign star ratings. All the changes you make work their way back to Lightroom on your Mac, from which you can export the full-size versions to get the best quality.

You’ll need a Creative Cloud subscription. Adobe’s Photography subscription plan – which includes Lightroom, Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop CC – costs $9.99 per month when you sign up for a year.

Not all of the images in your Lightroom library are synced via Lightroom Mobile. To sync just a few images, press to create a new collection. In the dialog box that appears, once you’ve chosen a name, ensure “Sync with Lightroom mobile” is checked. Drag the images you want into the new collection and syncing will begin.

Alternatively, under Catalog in Lightroom’s left toolbar you’ll see a collection called “All synced photographs” – simply drag individual shots or groups of images into that collection to synchronize them.

There are a few organizational tools in the mobile version of Lightroom to be aware of. Tap an image to open it fullscreen, then swipe up to apply a Picked flag to it, or swipe down to mark it as rejected – useful for sorting through a batch of images. You also have the ability to assign numeric ratings out of five. Once you’ve sifted through a batch of shots, tap “Lightroom Photos” (top of the screen) to find controls that filter the images based on the flag or rating applied – useful if you’re working through initial edits of a large collection.