Adobe Lightroom is not one program but three. You could easily call it an ecosystem. At heart, it’s a tool for both organizing your photos and editing them. So how do you get it, what does it cost, and which version do you need?
Cloud storage
Where you store or share images online as well as or instead of storing them on your computer. Cloud storage offers the advantage that your images are accessible everywhere as long as you have an Internet connection, though displaying and downloading images is of course slower than opening them on a hard drive, and uploading images in the first place is slower still. Examples include Apple iCloud, Dropbox and Google Drive.
Is Adobe trying to retire Lightroom Classic?
As of January 2025, Adobe is no longer offering its regular 20GB Photography Plan subscription to new users at its old $9.99/month price tier. Existing subscribers can continue to use it, though at an increased cost of $14.99/month. But for new users, there is now only the 1TB Lightroom Plan (now $11.99/month) and the 1TB Photography Plan ($19.99/month – as before).
Topaz Labs Cloud Rendering credits are a brand new way to charge customers
At the moment, Topaz’s Cloud processing is optional. You can still use your own computer for processing. But will there come a point where Topaz’s AI processing becomes so ‘powerful’ that it can only be done in the cloud? Convenient, huh?
Adobe Lightroom review 2023
Verdict: 4 stars Lightroom is Adobe’s bold vision of a cloud-based photo organizing and editing tool where all your images can be organised, edited and viewed anywhere on any device. For mobile users and content creators it’s a clever and effective proposition, but for regular photographers, while its editing tools now include AI masking, A lens Blur and the rest of Adobe’s latest Lightroom features, its restrictions, the closed nature of its editing ecosystem and its cost remain a major barrier.
ON1 Photo RAW 2024 regular and Max editions: what’s the difference?
When ON1 released ON1 Photo RAW 2024 it also switched around the products and license tiers. Previously, you could buy ON1 Photo RAW as a standalone package and individual components like ON1 Effects or Portrait AI as standalone ‘pro’ plug-ins. Now, though, these are all rolled into the Max edition so how does this work?
Swapping from Lightroom Classic to Lightroom: 6 things you need to know!
The web version of Adobe Lightroom (now just called ‘Lightroom’ by Adobe), is a very compelling tool for photographers who want to view, edit and share their images across a range of different devices, and to have all their images available everywhere. But before you take the plunge and swap to Adobe’s cloud-based version of Lightroom, there are six things you need to be aware of to avoid nasty surprises.
Cataloguing software explained
Cataloguing software can organize your entire photo collection, but how does it work and what do you look for?
Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic: same name, very different workflow
The name is the same, but despite the apparent similarities, these are two very different programs. So what are the key differences between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC, and how do you choose which one to use?
How to use Lightroom online: work on your photos in your web browser
If you’ve got Lightroom CC or Lightroom Classic you’ve got an Adobe Creative Cloud account, and this means you can synchronise photos between the Lightroom catalog on your computer, your Lightroom online web space and your mobile device. You can do this with either version of Lightroom, but Lightroom CC is built to do this […]
Cloud storage for photographers: Can you access all your photos everywhere?
Sharing our portfolio online is easy, and there are plenty of file sharing sites to make our photos accessible to you and others online. But if you want to edit and organise your photos on any device, anywhere, the choice is much narrower. Of course, you could just get an old-school portable drive.