MacFormat UK – September 2019

Some of the more advanced tools include adjustment

brushes, which let you paint changes onto selected areas.

Catalogue and edit images in

all formats including RAW, with

filmstrip view for easy access.

92 | MACFORMAT | SEPTEMBER 2019

B

ack 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

developer has been steadily reintroducing

features via updates since then.

The reason this is important to mention

is that Lightroom Classic CC is still a more

‘professional’ app – and still gets updates –

but will invariably be discontinued, while

Lightroom CC (the new version) will live on.

Priced at £9.98 a month, Lightroom CC is

both slick and streamlined, while providing

more powerful and fine-detailed editing tools

and photo management than Apple’s own

offerings in the Photos app.

On its release, Lightroom CC required you

to store your original images in the cloud, but

there’s now the option to store them locally

(though you do need to be online periodically

for authorisation). Images you add to the

Lightroom mobile app do get uploaded to your

cloud space (which Adobe charges you to

upgrade), but then all your images, tags, and

edits do sync seamlessly between devices.

Solid options

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 colour

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 here with profiles for correcting

distortion and there are preset looks provided

• you can save your own too. Viewing and
  comparison options are good, and you can
  export images, though processing and format
  options are quite limited. For regular users,
  Lightroom CC is great, though professionals
  will likely want to stick with Classic CC for
  as long as they can. HOLLIN JONES

Image credit: Adobe

The developer

has been

steadily

reintroducing

features

Not as powerful as

Lightroom Classic CC

but easy to use with

good editing tools.

++++++

Slick and fast

Syncing via the cloud

Fewer features

than Classic version

Charge to upgrade

cloud storage

VERDICT

£9.98/month FROM Adobe, adobe.com NEEDS macOS 10.12 or higher

Adobe Lightroom CC

Now with more tools for editing and cataloguing images