Mac|Life

Adobe lightroom cc

Now with more tools for editing and cataloguin­g images

- holliN JoNes

$9.99/month From Adobe, adobe.com Needs macOS 10.12 or higher In 2017, Adobe rewrote its profession­al photo editing and cataloguin­g software, Lightroom, to bring feature parity to its desktop and mobile versions. In doing so they dropped a lot of features and functional­ity users had enjoyed in the much more mature Lightroom Classic CC (which is still on sale), but the developers have been steadily reintroduc­ing features via updates since then.

The reason this is important to mention is that Lightroom Classic CC is still a more “pro” app — and still gets updates — but will invariably be discontinu­ed, while Lightroom CC (the new version) will live on. Priced at $9.99 a month, it’s slick and streamline­d, while providing more powerful and fine–detailed editing tools and photo management than Apple’s own Photos app.

On its release, Lightroom CC required you to store all your original images in the cloud, but there’s now the option to store them locally, even though you do need to be online periodical­ly for authorizat­ion. Images you add to the Lightroom mobile app do get uploaded to your cloud space (which Adobe charges you to upgrade), but the result is that all your images, tags, and edits do sync seamlessly between devices.

Importing and tagging images is easy, as is creating albums and searching your library. The editing tools have been upgraded significan­tly since the original release, and though still not quite as comprehens­ive as those in the Classic version, provide solid options. There’s the usual stuff like exposure, white balance, tone curves, and selective color editing, as well as detail and now texture — new in the 2.3 update — for enhancing the vivid qualities of an image.

Many camera and lens models are supported with profiles for correcting distortion, and of course there are preset looks provided — you can save your own too. Viewing and comparison options are good, and you can export images, though your processing and format options are limited compared to other applicatio­ns. For regular users, Lightroom CC is great, though profession­als will likely want to stick with Classic CC for as long as they can.

the bottom liNe. Slick, with great syncing features. More powerful than the Photos app but less so than Lightroom Classic CC.

 ??  ?? Catalogue and edit images in all formats including RAW, with filmstrip view for easy access.
Catalogue and edit images in all formats including RAW, with filmstrip view for easy access.
 ??  ?? Some of the more advanced tools include adjustment brushes, which let you paint changes onto selected areas.
Some of the more advanced tools include adjustment brushes, which let you paint changes onto selected areas.

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