Did you know that the photography industry in the United States is valued at around $11 billion?
With the lucrative market for this profession, you’ll want the best equipment to stand out. This will extend to the software you use to edit your photos. But if you’re unfamiliar with the tools, you won’t know which to use.
That’s why we’ve prepared this guide for you.
Dive in, and we’ll compare Adobe Lightroom vs. Lightroom Classic. That way, you’ll know the pros and cons of each. Read on and find out more.
Adobe Lightroom Classic
This is a powerful program to edit and manage your photos.
With this application, you can make various outputs like prints, slideshows, web galleries, books, and more. For a decade, many of the 50,000 photographers in the United States used this application, whether professionals or amateurs.
This software has a steep learning curve, but not at the same level as Photoshop. In exchange, you’ll attain powerful capabilities concerning editing, output, and file management. Lots of aspiring photographers felt overwhelmed and confused by their file management and catalog approach features.
Lightroom Classic is a desktop-based solution. It stores your photos on your computer, and you can manage their location, folder structure, file names, and more. If you want to find success using this program, you must understand your files’ relationship with Lightroom’s catalog.
Do you want to learn how to use Lightroom Classic? If so, read this guide and learn more. With this, you can be far more efficient using Lightroom Classic.
Lightroom CC
This is Adobe’s new photography solution, and their primary selling point is that they’re cloud-based. The software will exist within your computer, but the program will store your photos in the cloud. You have the option to save a copy of this file within your computer.
Aside from its cloud capabilities, it has a set of tools fit for professional editing. Whether it’s raw images or processed, you can make them even better. With this, Lightroom CC only has a few missing features from its predecessors.
With its cloud capabilities, you can open your photos everywhere, as long as you have a stable internet connection.
This is possible for a maximum of two computers with an installed Lightroom CC. This multi-computer feature is seamless, provided you’re using your ID without anyone else working on the same photo.
If you can’t bring your computer outside, there’s the Lightroom mobile app you can use. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using an Android or an iOS device. This is great if your primary focus is portability since your work and photos will be stored in the cloud.
Who Should Use Lightroom Classic?
Lightroom Classic’s steep learning curve makes it better for advanced photographers. If you’re already experienced with picture management software before, Lightroom Classic is the obvious choice. Compared to Lightroom CC, the classic version has a broader set of features.
Lightroom CC has an artificial intelligence keyword search feature. But as a professional, you’ll appreciate features like plugins, developer features, watermarks, catalogs, and more. That means Lightroom Classic has a special place for photographers looking to test their mettle with its in-depth features.
Who Should Use Lightroom CC?
Adobe’s Lightroom CC has lots of new features for the current Lightroom CC application. But they aren’t specifying their target demographics with it. Regardless, its target audiences are casual photographers and professionals with an active social media presence.
Lightroom CC looks overly slimmed-down. However, it has the features most photographers see as valuable for their career. This isn’t a drawback since the trade-off is how easy it is to use.
For example, if you’re a beginner, you don’t need to export your photos to Adobe RGB color spaces or ProPhoto. With Lightroom CC, the best practice is to export sRGB JPEGs instead of TIFFs or PSD files. The advanced features of these file formats sometimes cause you more harm.
With this, Lightroom CC can compete more with Apple Photos compared to its Lightroom Classic counterpart. Its design and features show its consumer-oriented nature. It guarantees a smoother and easier learning curve while maintaining advanced organizational and editing capabilities.
Is Lightroom CC Suitable for Professionals?
The truth is that Lightroom CC offers a distinct advantage for professional photographers. For example, if you’re using social media marketing strategies, Lightroom CC is a good choice. It allows you to edit your videos while on the go since you can use your mobile device for that purpose.
Lightroom CC’s design is for mobile creators, despite its primary target being casual photographers. The only time this Adobe product makes no sense is when you aren’t using your phone as an important part of your brand and marketing tactics.
Pricing
Lightroom Classic has a consistent price tag of $10 per month as part of Adobe’s photography package alongside Photoshop. The best part is that Lightroom CC recently got added as a part of it. The only drawback is that it only offers 20GB worth of cloud storage.
With this limited space, you’re likely to find it lacking, especially if you’re an accomplished photographer. You can upgrade it to 1TB, as long as you’re willing to pay $20 per month instead. You can scale the price back to $10 if you drop Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
Depending on your business practices, you’re unlikely to consume 1TB. After all, most professional photographers won’t host their whole library using Lightroom CC. The best practice is to only store content in the cloud if you plan to edit or export it using your phone.
Choosing Between Lightroom vs. Lightroom Classic
These are things you must consider when comparing Lightroom vs. Lightroom Classic.
Use these tips to ensure that you get the best version of this photo-managing software for your situation. Keep in mind that they function differently, so use one over the other depending on your needs.
Did this guide help you decide on the better software? Are you looking for more tech guides and lists of the latest gadgets? If so, we encourage you to go over more of our posts right here, today!
