First look: Adobe Lightroom CC with HDR and panoramic photo merging, facial recognition, more

Posted:
in Mac Software edited April 2015
Adobe on Tuesday announced a major update to its Creative Cloud Photography suite with the launch of Lightroom CC, which boasts powerful enhancements like HDR and panorama photo merging, facial recognition and Filter Brushes, along with other improvements.




With a bevy of new features and true cross-platform compatibility, Adobe saw fit to tag "CC" branding onto the latest Lightroom version, meaning the app joins tentpole Creative Cloud imaging titles like Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC.

One of the most significant additions to Lightroom is photo merging with support for raw image handling. Using advanced algorithms, users can combine multiple photos taken with different exposure settings to create high dynamic range (HDR) tapestries. Images output as DNG files that can be further tweaked in Lightroom's Develop nondestructive editing module.




Merging also works to stitch multiple photos into a single panorama. As seen below, Lightroom CC intelligently built a panorama image from a series of five sample photos. The app offers spherical, cylindrical and perspective projection options, while an automatic cropping feature can be used to chop off unwanted white space.




Also new is a facial recognition engine that can be accessed via a face icon located in the Toolbar. Clicking the button automatically weeds out faces from photos in a given collection and lets users assign each person a name. Named subjects are placed in a list, directly above candidates the app believes are visually similar.

Faces can also be manually tagged if Lightroom only finds partial matches, for example when a subject has their face turned away from the camera.




In practice, facial recognition works as advertised, easily picking out and determining people from a crowd. The technology is fairly powerful, finding facial landmarks through lens blur and low contrast photos. The feature is a fast and easy way to collate, manage and search through large photo libraries.

Finally, Lightroom CC folds in support for Filter Brushes, which are used to hand-shape graduated and radial gradients, either removing or adding the effect to photos before sending it off to Photoshop. Users can add or subtract filter effects using a paintbrush tool, quickly masking out areas for a custom look.

Like other Develop features, Filter Brushes are nondestructive, meaning changes are preserved and can be reversed or edited at a later time.




As with past editions, Lightroom CC comes with unparalleled cross-device photo syncing and management, a hallmark of Adobe's Creative Cloud platform. New photos can be imported via iOS device, Mac and the Web, with edits, flags and file management changes synced across all platforms.

Adobe's Lightroom app for iOS also got an update today, bringing new file organization options, copy and paste improvements, a presentation mode and improved cropping capabilities.

Additionally, Adobe Lightroom photos can be sent directly to apps like Slate for iPad or Voice. Alternatively, today's Mac update allows users to create rich slideshows directly from Lightroom itself.

Adobe Lightroom CC is available now as part of the Creative Cloud Photography suite, which comes as a $9.99 per month annual plan that also includes Photoshop CC and full feature access to various iOS apps. A number of other subscription options are available through Adobe's website.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 61
    What about the non-subscription Lightroom 6?
  • Reply 2 of 61
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    woodworks wrote: »
    What about the non-subscription Lightroom 6?

    Yeah, I don't do rentware.
  • Reply 3 of 61

    Stand-alone Lightroom 6 is available on Adobe's website for $149.00. Unfortunately, you have to dig through the pages to find it. Here is a link to their Compare Lightroom 6 page. It is for desktop only and will not automatically update new features, but that's fine by me. I don't rent software either.

  • Reply 4 of 61
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member

    Very disappointed in the writer / editor of this article that they completely fail to mention that Lightroom was released as a dual-license product: Lightroom 6 (purchase) and Lightroom CC (subscription).

     

    If Lightroom ever goes CC-only, goodbye!

  • Reply 5 of 61
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MagMan1979 View Post

     

    Very disappointed in the writer / editor of this article that they completely fail to mention that Lightroom was released as a dual-license product: Lightroom 6 (purchase) and Lightroom CC (subscription).

     

    If Lightroom ever goes CC-only, goodbye!




    The features in CC not in LR 6 are not that important in my opinion. All the features in this article are in LR 6.

    http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/versions.html

  • Reply 6 of 61
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Yeah, I don't do rentware.



    It doesn't bother me at all. I like how we get updates all the time not once a year like before. Plus we get the entire Adobe suite which was really expensive before. Also you can install it on two machines even if one is Windows and the other Mac. Personally I have it on two Macs though.

     

    I look at it just like any other reoccurring bill of which I have many. If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer.

  • Reply 7 of 61
    I 've got already a subscription with Adobe. As an Aperture fan, I hope they finally did something great with their file organisation. Otherwise I'm forced to go to Capture One Pro ...
  • Reply 8 of 61
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Yeah, I don't do rentware.

     

    I had your exact same mentality six months ago.  Then I tried it after Apple discontinued Aperture and I became a believer of the concept.  When it comes to very expensive software like Photoshop, having both PS and LR together for $9/mo was a no brainer in the long term.  It would take 10+ years for me to pay the amount for one license of Photoshop, if not longer.  This way, I'm always current.  The math just worked better for me.  For heavy-duty applications like PS, and now LR, staying current for a couple cups of starbucks coffee per month just made sense.



    On the flip side, I hate Office365 subscription model. I don't want to pay monthly (or yearly) for a word processor. 

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     



    It doesn't bother me at all. I like how we get updates all the time not once a year like before. Plus we get the entire Adobe suite which was really expensive before. Also you can install it on two machines even if one is Windows and the other Mac.

     

    I look at it just like any other reoccurring bill of which I have many. If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer.




    I agree.  Having PS alone and always staying current on it is a good deal on its own.

  • Reply 9 of 61
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    mstone wrote: »

    It doesn't bother me at all. I like how we get updates all the time not once a year like before. Plus we get the entire Adobe suite which was really expensive before. Also you can install it on two machines even if one is Windows and the other Mac. Personally I have it on two Macs though.

    I look at it just like any other reoccurring bill of which I have many. <span style="line-height:1.4em;">If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer.</span>

    renting software bothers me quite a bit -- it's more expensive than owning (imagine that...just like in the real world). i get many years of use out of a version of software, so im still running LR 4, which came out over three years ago -- which would be $360+ at $10/mo. id much rather upgrade it for $80 or even buy new for $150.

    likewise my current client (a Fortune 100 company) is running Office 2007 on our desktops -- does what they need it to, so there's been little reason to updade annually, or monthly.
  • Reply 10 of 61
    According to Kelbyone.com Lightroom FAQ:

    Can I still buy Lightroom or do I have to subscribe?
    You can still buy it; the purchased version (which will not include access to Lightroom on your mobile devices) is called %u201CLightroom 6%u201D and will not receive any future feature updates. New features or enhancements will only be added to Lightroom CC.

    I'm done with Adobe.
  • Reply 11 of 61

    From the Kelbyone.com Lightroom FAQ:

    Can I still buy Lightroom or do I have to subscribe?

    You can still buy it; the purchased version (which will not include access to Lightroom on your mobile devices) is called “Lightroom 6” and will not receive any future feature updates. New features or enhancements will only be added to Lightroom CC.

  • Reply 12 of 61
    lewklewk Posts: 25member
    "If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer."

    So when you've paid your house off, you aren't going to stay there anymore?

    I prefer to pay once and use it as long as I like. They don't even give you a price break if you pay a year at a time!

    I don't know of any schools that are going with CC. We have two Adobe CS6 site licenses and the CC versions would cost us $59,940 a year for what one of our site licenses covers. That isn't going to happen. Maybe public schools can raise the taxes to cover that but we're a private school.
  • Reply 13 of 61
    danielswdanielsw Posts: 906member

    We've been happy Creative Cloud subscribers for years now and feel the $50/mo is well worth it for access to virtually all of Adobe's software, which includes the latest Acrobat Pro DC, by the way, as well as more frequent updates. We also get free 24/7 tech support which we've used a number of times and has been competent.

     

    I'm also very happy that Lightroom comes in iOS, as well, which syncs smoothly with my CC storage and desktop app.

     

    I've already downloaded today's iOS updates to phone and iPad, but still haven't seen the desktop update appear.

     

    Yeas ago, I bought one of the first Canon DSLR digitals, the 10D. Though I got a lot of use out of it at the time, my later need for it or any DSLR waned and I didn't upgrade it until a couple weeks ago with the 6D. I like it a lot, and now with Lightroom I have a great app with which to edit and catalog all of its RAW images.

     

    So life is good with Apple, Canon, and Adobe.

  • Reply 14 of 61
    lewklewk Posts: 25member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer.


     

    So you aren't going to live in your house after you pay off your mortgage?

     

    They don't even give a price break for paying a year at a time instead of monthly!

     

    I don't know of any school's going with CC.  One year costs 10 times than what we paid for a 500 seat license of Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium!  Maybe public schools can get a tax increase thru, but Adobe is misusing their monopoly position in my opinion.

  • Reply 15 of 61
    It is good to see Adobe trying to catch up to Capture One Pro. But I'll keep on using that a lot of the serious pros use from Phase One. Sorry Adobe.
  • Reply 16 of 61
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NolaMacGuy View Post





    renting software bothers me quite a bit -- it's more expensive than owning (imagine that...just like in the real world). i get many years of use out of a version of software, so im still running LR 4, which came out over three years ago -- which would be $360+ at $10/mo. id much rather upgrade it for $80 or even buy new for $150.



    likewise my current client (a Fortune 100 company) is running Office 2007 on our desktops -- does what they need it to, so there's been little reason to updade annually, or monthly.



    Photoshop was too expensive for me to buy outright a couple years back.  I don't recall the amount but $1,500+ was what I was looking at.  At $10/mo it would take 13-14 years to pay that.  Lightroom is just a scaled-back version of PS that's geared mainly to photography.  I use both packages constantly.  That area changes a lot over time so yeah, I still think it's a deal.  I don't want to be "stuck" with an old version of PS or LR that doesn't have support for a new lens I have, or is just outdated in its capabilities, or no longer on support.  Been there, done that too many times that it just gets old.



    We have shops that are still using Office 2000 and 2003.  It's a catch-22.  They don't see the need in upgrading, yet are constantly complaining to us (IT) about why they can't open new version of .docx or why the MS Office previewers don't render a new document properly, or why their old Outlook emails don't interface with our iPad email outputs... the list keeps going on and on.



    So while I think MSOffice for someone's house is fine to stay old, for business purposes, most needs to stay current.  It's a pain in the ass dealing with so many outdated versions of software, yet people complain as to why certain things don't work.  For better or for worse, it's a necessary beast.

  • Reply 17 of 61
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    mstone wrote: »
    I look at it just like any other reoccurring bill of which I have many. <span style="line-height:1.4em;">If I quit paying my mortgage, I don't get to live in the house any longer.</span>

    Freedom is to save and buy, partial freedom is to take a loan and pay it off.

    Slavery is being blackmailed and being put in a hostage situation such as to extract eternal recurring payments regardless of service quality or utility gained.

    Adobe and all the other "in the cloud subscription" services are slavery, holding your work and data hostage, with your monthly budget at the whim of the provider, your data accessible without your consent, etc.

    If people aren't realizing what they are giving up by walking into this trap, they deserve to be slaves.
  • Reply 18 of 61
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    sflocal wrote: »
    Photoshop was too expensive for me to buy outright a couple years back.  I don't recall the amount but $1,500+ was what I was looking at.  At $10/mo it would take 13-14 years to pay that.  Lightroom is just a scaled-back version of PS that's geared mainly to photography.

    Photoshop was never that expensive, and Lightroom even less. The price you have is for an entire suite of Adobe products, something that now costs you $50/month or $600/year, so after less that 2.5years you're in the black owning the software. Major updates (every 18-24 months) were in the $600 range for a full suite, and generally it was wise to do such upgrades only every second round. So maintaining owned software was $600/36 months for a full product suite, i.e. a third of the cost of renting, and Adobe was forced to offer useful new features if people were to spend that sort of money.
    Now people have to pay just not to lose access to their work and data, and most new features are just to tighten the cloud integration (i.e. make the chains of slavery stronger)
    Lightroom could be bought for a couple hundred bucks and upgrades were less than current accumulated rental costs, too.

    Further Lightroom isn't a scaled back version of Photoshop, Photoshop LE is/was that.
    There is some overlap between Photoshop and Lightroom, but they are quite different beasts.
  • Reply 19 of 61
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by rcfa View Post





    Freedom is to save and buy, partial freedom is to take a loan and pay it off.



    Slavery is being blackmailed and being put in a hostage situation such as to extract eternal recurring payments regardless of service quality or utility gained.



    Adobe and all the other "in the cloud subscription" services are slavery, holding your work and data hostage, with your monthly budget at the whim of the provider, your data accessible without your consent, etc.



    If people aren't realizing what they are giving up by walking into this trap, they deserve to be slaves.



    Oh please.. get off your milk carton Mr. Preacher.



    They do not hold your work or data hostage.  That's flat-out nonsense propaganda you're making up.  I should know.  My data and files all reside on my workstation.  I don't have to save my work to their cloud service.  Nice of you to "conveniently" leave that part out.



    Even if I stop paying for the subscription, Photoshop continues to work, it just reverts to read-only so my files still work.



    So get off your "Slavery" nonsense.  This is what is called the cost of doing business.  If you want to live in a cabin in the mountains and live your life off-the-grid like Ted Kaczynski, you go right ahead.  This option works for me, it works for countless others, and for better or worse, it is the direction this aspect of the software industry is heading.



    Go back to watching your "Vendetta" re-runs you wannabe.

     

  • Reply 20 of 61
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by rcfa View Post





    Photoshop was never that expensive, and Lightroom even less. The price you have is for an entire suite of Adobe products, something that now costs you $50/month or $600/year, so after less that 2.5years you're in the black owning the software. Major updates (every 18-24 months) were in the $600 range for a full suite, and generally it was wise to do such upgrades only every second round. So maintaining owned software was $600/36 months for a full product suite, i.e. a third of the cost of renting, and Adobe was forced to offer useful new features if people were to spend that sort of money.

    Now people have to pay just not to lose access to their work and data, and most new features are just to tighten the cloud integration (i.e. make the chains of slavery stronger)

    Lightroom could be bought for a couple hundred bucks and upgrades were less than current accumulated rental costs, too.



    Further Lightroom isn't a scaled back version of Photoshop, Photoshop LE is/was that.

    There is some overlap between Photoshop and Lightroom, but they are quite different beasts.



    A brand-new user license (not upgrade, or student edition) was going to run me $1,500.00.  I gave up trying to find someone that could get it for me at some discount, or buying some outdated version off of craigslist.  So it was going to cost a penny.  $50/mo is for the entire suite.  $10/mo is for PS and LR which is what most people will use.  It's a deal.



    Even if LR could be had for for $200... that's still a couple years, and most folks will rinse-and-repeat and buy the upgrade at whatever the cost and continue the cycle.  So whether one "rents", or continues to upgrade ever couple years (or less), one is still sucked-in.



    If keeping LR for years works for you, great.  For many, we want to remain current for a multitude of reasons. 

     

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