LIGHTROOM VERSIONS
Confused about what Lightroom versions are on offer and which one you need? Callum McInerney-Riley explains all you need to know
First released back in 2007, Adobe Lightroom has been with me for almost all of my career as a photographer. Once I realised how much easier Lightroom was compared to opening multiple adjustment layers in Photoshop – I was converted. Also, being able to copy and paste the edit to your next image is just brilliant and allows you to develop your own style. Fast-forward to 2024 and Lightroom is my go-to software for everything photo-related.
Lightroom has evolved with technology and as a result, there are now two desktop versions and a mobile app too. The latest versions are bolstered with technological advancements, including AI, machine learning, and processing power trickery that makes the Lightroom experience better than ever. Let’s take a closer look at what each version is, who it’s for, and why it’s useful.
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Adobe Lightroom Classic has been the editor of choice for many photographers who have built extensive catalogues of images. Adobe has made multiple attempts to change things around with Lightroom Classic and they have been met with fierce resistance from photographers who just want it left the way it is. Thankfully, the firm has listened. The main difference between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom is that it is a desktop-based application, with an old, familiar user interface that doesn’t sync images via the cloud. It’s a digital darkroom that houses all our treasured photos on local drives.
The Classic version is designed for editing, reviewing, cataloguing, printing and exporting your images. You can create albums, review all your files, pick, and reject images and then you can edit and make your images look amazing. To name a few specifics – you have exposure correction sliders, saturation and contrast adjustments, colour balancing, colour grading, noise reduction, sharpening adjustments, lens corrections and image perspective adjustments. As you can tell, it’s very comprehensive and replaces Adobe Photoshop in many cases. I now only use Photoshop for very advanced retouching such as skin retouching or removing specific parts of an image.
In October 2022 Adobe added new AI-powered masks that automatically selects people, objects, skies, and backgrounds with just a click. This allows users to adjust specific areas of an image with greater precision. Previously, we only had brushes, radial and linear gradi
