I
spend a lot of time in Adobe Lightroom. This also means that I spend a
lot of time at my desk, working in a Lightroom catalog. Luckily, that's
about to change. With the launch of Adobe Lightroom mobile,
it's time to take our editing work on the road. I've spent the week
trying out this app on my iPad, and today I'm sharing my experience.
When Lightroom 5 launched, there was a sneaky feature included in the release notes: Smart Previews.
This feature is what Adobe called "representative RAW files" that are
small file size duplicates of your RAW images. Even when you're not on
the same drive as your RAW images, you can maintain your previews and
edits with Smart Previews. Lightroom mobile uses the cloud-based Smart
Previews to reduce the file storage needs.
To get started with
Lightroom mobile, you'll need an iPad running iOS 7 or newer (Adobe says
that an iPhone app is coming soon). From the app's info, it appears
that all iPad iterations except the very first one are supported by the
app. Props to Adobe for supporting my aging iPad 2, by the way.
Launching
alongside Lightroom mobile is the brand new Lightroom 5.4, which is
required for use with the app. To get started with Lightroom Mobile,
make sure you update your installation of Lightroom to the latest version.
You'll
also need an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to use the app. If you
don't already have one, Adobe will provide a 30-day free trial of
Lightroom mobile when you sign in with your Adobe ID.
Getting Started
When
you setup Lightroom mobile, your entire catalog won't sync to the
cloud. Instead, Lightroom will send selected collections to the cloud.
Make sure you are using Lightroom 5.4 and sign in with your Adobe ID
before attempting to start syncing.
To get started with a synced
collection, start by making sure you have a collection of images built.
Then, right-click a collection name in the Collections panel and choose Sync with Lightroom mobile. Make
sure to choose "sync with Lightroom mobile" when creating a new
collection. If you forget, you can always right-click an existing
collection in the Collections panel to turn it on.One
quirk that I noticed right away is that only one catalog can be synced
with Lightroom mobile at a time. Switching catalogs will cause you to
lose the synced collections. Once
you've added images to a synced collection, give Lightroom some time to
complete the sync. The progress of the sync is shown in the upper left
corner.
The iPad App
Let's get this out of the way:the interface is incredible.
Although it's different than the desktop version, the tiled layout is
stunning. This app could definitely be used to show image collections to
clients. The tiled view of the iPad app is absolutely good enough to bring to meetings with your clients.After
entering a synced collection on the iPad, you're presented with this
masonry style layout of your images. Tapping an image brings it into
full view, and after a few seconds, it it sharpened and displayed a
histogram alongside the image.
For Culling
One of the key
parts of a workflow is the culling stage, and I'm finding Lightroom
mobile to be fantastic for cutting my image collection down to the
keepers. In the lower left corner of the image is a flag icon that can
be tapped to toggle an image as a pick.
Even more intuitive is the
ability to swipe up or down on the image to flag it or unflag it.
Immediately, this app is going to find its way into my workflow to cull
image collections down away from the computer. One
of my primary uses for the app will be to cull image sets to the keeper
images. I do this using the flagging system, which I can apply by
swiping up and down on the iPad.Of course, the
value of Lightroom mobile is that once changes are made on the iPad,
they get pushed back to the same images on your computer's catalog. With
no more than a minute's lag from my testing, I'm confident that my
collections will stay usably synchronized.
For Editing
Much
of the editing power of the desktop version of Lightroom is present on
the iPad. Adobe should be applauded for not copying and pasting the
interface of Lightroom onto the mobile app. Instead, they designed an
interface that fits a touch screen device perfectly.
When you tap
to open a single image, there are four icons at the bottom of the screen
that access the editing power of Lightroom mobile. The far left icon
toggles the traditional Lightroom filmstrip of image thumbnails. The
second icon opens the full editing options that you're accustomed to. Tapping the first icon on the far left of what I call the "tools panel" will toggle the filmstrip off and on.Tapping
this icon opens the "editing attributes," like exposure and contrast.
Tapping any of those icons opens new set of tick marks that appear over
the image. Dragging that slider from left to right works the same as the
desktop version of Lightroom. As always, the back and forward arrows
are in the lower right hand corner to undo and redo your changes.
Adobe
should be applauded for not copying and pasting the interface of
Lightroom onto the mobile app. Instead, they designed an interface that
fits a touch screen device perfectly.
Tapping
the second icon on that tools panel opens the image editing options
that we're accustomed to with the full edition of Lightroom.Once
you've picked an attribute to modify like the "whites" level, a new set
of tick marks appears over the image. Grabbing the circle and moving it
left to right is similar to the sliders of the desktop version of
Lightroom.Editing on Lightroom mobile is that
simple. Pick an attribute, slide the point, and your editing changes
will take effect. The mobile app temporarily pauses syncing to keep your
iPad working quickly, but you can always tap the cloud icon and choose
"Sync Now" to accelerate the process. You can force a faster sync by pressing the cloud icon and choosing "Sync Now."Once a sync completes, the changes you made on your iPad will be visible in your catalog on your Mac or PC.
Presets
Finally,
you can also add presets to your images by tapping the third icon on
the bottom of the app. The presets are categorized and you can tap any
preset to apply it. From my testing, I did not find a way to add or use
"user presets", but let's hope that it makes its way into a future
edition of the app. Presets are available for one click edits in Lightroom mobile. Choosing the third icon on the tools panel will open the option.
Cropping
Beyond
the standard editing features, cropping is also available in the mobile
app. You can click the fourth icon from that same "tools" panel at the
bottom of the app to choose cropping options. Choose an aspect ratio
(like square or 4x3) to crop the images to, then tap and drag over the
image to change your crop. You can even twist your fingers to correct
tilt. Cropping
is another essential feature that is in the iPad app! Complete with
aspect ratio selections, custom cropping and tilt correction, this is a
full featured tool.
Edit Photos Taken With Your iPad
In
addition to syncing via the cloud, you can also import images from the
iPad's camera roll. Go out of a collection by pressing the back arrow
several times and you'll be at the home screen of the app. Press the
arrow in the upper right hand corner to create a new collection. When
it's created, you can tap the newly created collection to add images
from the iPad's camera roll.
The best part is that these images
are reverse synced to your cloud collection, and I transferred the
screenshots you see in this tutorial using this option. You can add iPad
images to any collection by pressing the "+" button present in the
corner.
Sharing
Adobe built in a sharing option to make
Lightroom mobile a true portable solution. When viewing an image, choose
the icon in the upper right hand corner to choose the iPad's typical
sharing pane. Social share options are available by pressing the icon in the upper right hand corner when viewing a single image.The
normal iOS sharing options will appear allowing you email or message
your images. You can also configure the app with your Facebook, Flickr
or other social media accounts. Once you've done that, those icons will
appear as well.
Advertisement
My Thoughts
It's
no secret that I'm a Lightroom fanatic. I've tried creating my own
patchwork mobile solutions, but none were good enough to use. I was
bound to like any version of an official app, but I have to be honest,
this app impressed me.
This is going to change the way that I
work, and untether me from the desk more often. I can definitely see
myself spending long car rides culling large collections. The editing
functionality is good enough to use and is more than a gimmick. When I
get back to my desk, I can pick up on my edits without missing a beat.
One
thing that Adobe hasn't made clear is the amount of storage space that
will be avilable to your Lightroom smart previews. The typical Creative
Cloud account includes 20 gigabytes of storage, but it's not clear if
the images go in this same bucket of storage or not. Keep in mind that
because they are using Smart Preview technology, the images take far
less storage space than the RAW files.
The only thing that might
turn some users away is the required tie to Creative Cloud. Personally, I
have preferred buying the boxed version of Lightroom and skipping
Creative Cloud, but this may change my plans.
I think that this
may be a tipping point for many other photographers as well, and the
cloud seems to be the way that Adobe is headed. The fact that this has
essentially been added for free to the collection enhances the value of
Creative Cloud as well.
Wrapping Up
Adobe hit a home run
with the release of Lightroom mobile. It's going to find its way into a
lot of photographers workflow, mine included. I came in with high
expectations and this app met them. I think the power of the app will
only grow with future updates.
Have you tried Lightroom mobile yet? How does it fit in your workflow? Let us know what you think about this new app.
Unknown
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation.
Medical Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this web site is for general information purposes only. Krobknea makes no representation and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained on or available through this web site, and such information is subject to change without notice. You are encouraged to confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE.