Adobe Lightroom for macOS, iOS adds editing tutorials & inspiring photographs
Adobe's latest updates to Lightroom CC for iOS and macOS could help photographers improve their image editing skills, with the introduction of new tutorials and inspirational photos alongside new collaboration options and a new "Texture" tool.
The May updates to Lightroom aim to make the users better at taking and editing photographs, Adobe insists, by inspiring users to make changes via a series of lessons. Starting with iOS and arriving soon on macOS, a new Home view will contain a user's recent photographs, as well as the tutorials and specially selected images.
In both the tutorials and inspirational images, Adobe advises the software will reveal all of the edits that have been made to a wide variety of photographs, so users can see how the tools can be used to their full effect. More lessons will be provided every day to the app, expanding the range of what it can teach.
The tutorials will offer a hands-on approach to lessons, where users are provided access to a photograph and are walked through each edit, adjusting the sliders themselves. For inspirational photographs, tapping on a Discover post will show the step-by-step edits made to an image, including what exact settings were used.
The tutorial images and lessons are all contributed by photography educators, including Matt Kloskowski, Katrin Eismann, Kristina Sherk, and Nicole Young.
For Lightroom for Mac, the Help menu has been expanded to include searchable help options, and built-in tutorials that are already available on the iOS version.
The collaboration enhancements include being able to invite others to add photos to albums, which can include raw format images. Links can also be shared to people when they request access to an album.
Under new tools, Texture will enable users to accentuate or smooth medium-sized details, like skin, bark, and hair. The tool has the ability to smooth skin without affecting pore details, or to accentuate bark or hair without increasing noise or affecting bokeh.
On macOS, Defringe will help minimize purple and green fringes caused by lens chromatic aberrations. Along with a Remove Chromatic Aberrations checkbox, users have access to an eyedropper to select areas of an image with a fringe, to select the color hue that needs to be reduced across the rest of the image.
The updates for Lightroom for iOS and macOS are available to download now, from the App Store and the Creative Cloud desktop app.
The May updates to Lightroom aim to make the users better at taking and editing photographs, Adobe insists, by inspiring users to make changes via a series of lessons. Starting with iOS and arriving soon on macOS, a new Home view will contain a user's recent photographs, as well as the tutorials and specially selected images.
In both the tutorials and inspirational images, Adobe advises the software will reveal all of the edits that have been made to a wide variety of photographs, so users can see how the tools can be used to their full effect. More lessons will be provided every day to the app, expanding the range of what it can teach.
The tutorials will offer a hands-on approach to lessons, where users are provided access to a photograph and are walked through each edit, adjusting the sliders themselves. For inspirational photographs, tapping on a Discover post will show the step-by-step edits made to an image, including what exact settings were used.
The tutorial images and lessons are all contributed by photography educators, including Matt Kloskowski, Katrin Eismann, Kristina Sherk, and Nicole Young.
For Lightroom for Mac, the Help menu has been expanded to include searchable help options, and built-in tutorials that are already available on the iOS version.
The collaboration enhancements include being able to invite others to add photos to albums, which can include raw format images. Links can also be shared to people when they request access to an album.
Under new tools, Texture will enable users to accentuate or smooth medium-sized details, like skin, bark, and hair. The tool has the ability to smooth skin without affecting pore details, or to accentuate bark or hair without increasing noise or affecting bokeh.
On macOS, Defringe will help minimize purple and green fringes caused by lens chromatic aberrations. Along with a Remove Chromatic Aberrations checkbox, users have access to an eyedropper to select areas of an image with a fringe, to select the color hue that needs to be reduced across the rest of the image.
The updates for Lightroom for iOS and macOS are available to download now, from the App Store and the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Comments
How is this any good for consumers? For the time being when pushed to find alternatives to Adobe's products one still may find a good substitute from a smaller software company..... until Adobe buys that company and eliminates that choice. Oh free market, blah blah blah.... monopolies are illegal for a good reason stop siding with the wanna-be monopolies, join the side that is looking out for consumers like you and me.
I totally understand that some do not feel the same way. For them there is Pixelmator and Affinity Photo. I don't begrudge you your choices.
Regarding the other subscriptions in our moderns lives: I decided to cancel Netflix and Hulu recently. I've been so busy with my professional life and raising my daughter that TV isn't a priority right now. But I did activate HBO for the final season of Game of Thrones. It will be deactivated after the finale. I have opted to subscribe to iCloud & Apple Music at the Family level so I can share with other people and get the service for significantly less than it would cost otherwise. My point being that it is just as possible to be an intelligent purchaser and find good value in the subscription model as it is in the perpetual license model.
I'll probably regret getting involved on this part of the conversation since I find the "outraged internet user" mentality frustrating, which is probably obvious by the tone of this comment. I apologize for my frustration and lack of artful persuasive argument but not for my thoughts.
Adobe's switch to the subscription model gave a lot of people a reason to look for other solutions and the competitors, which were pretty weak at the time, got revenue and feedback and that's led to them improving over the last few years.
Adobe is going to own the professional market for a long time to come but if you're an amateur who needs raw processing and editing tools which do most of the things amateurs need, the alternatives out there are affordable and very credible. Perhaps we should thank Adobe for its switch to subscription which made the alternative products viable.