How to Choose Which Version of Lightroom to Buy

Buying Lightroom used to be simple. All you had to do was buy the full version of the program, and upgrade (if you wished) every time a new version came out. But ever since Adobe announced the Creative Cloud subscription service, photographers have been faced with two choices. You can still go for the standalone version, or you can buy Lightroom as part of a Creative Cloud monthly membership. But how do you know which is the best option for you? Read on to find out.

Creative Cloud is announced

Adobe's initial announcement of the Creative Cloud licensing concept was somewhat controversial as the price for a subscription to Photoshop ran at $20 a month (all prices in this article are in US dollars). For photographers who had already purchased the full version of Photoshop this represented a significant price increase. Not only was subscribing more expensive in the long run, compared to upgrading Photoshop regularly, but the license to use the software expired once monthly payments stopped.

There's little doubt this was a raw deal, but Adobe listened and introduced a new package for photographers - a subscription to both Lightroom and Photoshop CC for $9.99 a month (or $119.88 per year).

Read about this on forums and photography websites and you will still come across a lot of negativity towards the Creative Cloud subscription model, especially from Photoshop users upset at the loss of a perpetual licence. But today, I aim to cut through this negativity and take an objective look at the differences between the two options.

Two types of Lightroom users

To start, we have to acknowledge that there are two types of Lightroom users.

The first uses Lightroom in conjunction with Photoshop and wants access to both programs. For this user, the Creative Cloud option is the only choice if you want the latest version of Photoshop CC. Alternatively, if you own a version of Photoshop CS and are not bothered about upgrading to Photoshop CC, you can buy the standalone version of Lightroom and use them together.

The second type of user carries out the bulk of their image processing in Lightroom. For tasks Lightroom can't handle, they may use an older version of Photoshop, a less powerful program like Photoshop Elements, or a plug-in such as the Nik Collection or Perfect Photo Suite 9. These users may be wondering whether to continue using the standalone version of the software or to subscribe.

Financial considerations

If you are on a budget, and don't need Photoshop CC, then it is definitely less expensive to buy the standalone version of Lightroom. At the moment a new version of Lightroom comes out approximately every 18 months. At $9.99 a month, the subscription service would cost you $179.82 over that period. If you are new to Lightroom, the full version (priced at $149 from the Adobe website) saves you money, and if you already own Lightroom, then the upgrade (priced at $79) is even less, saving you a little over $100 over the same time period.

As a standalone version user you get free upgrades until a full new version comes out. So, if you upgraded to Lightroom 5.0 when it first came out, you can upgrade to the latest version (5.7) for free, taking advantage of new features introduced since then. But when Lightroom 6 comes out, you will need to pay the upgrade fee to use it. Upgrading isn't compulsory, and you can continue to use your earlier version of Lightroom as long as you want.

Adobe have stressed their commitment to continuing the standalone version of Lightroom for the foreseeable future.

Note: The standalone version of Lightroom is a little hard to find on Adobe's website. You can get there by going to Adobe's home page and clicking the Menu option at the top. Click the All Products button at the bottom, scroll down to Lightroom and click Buy. Or you can also find it here on Amazon.

What the Creative Cloud subscription gives you

The Creative Cloud subscription is more expensive, so what do you get for that extra money? The two headline features are Photoshop CC, a powerful image editing program that you are likely familiar with, plus access to Lightroom Mobile, a mobile version of Lightroom that works with iPads and iPhones (but not currently with devices using the Android or Windows operating systems).

There are several additional features that may interest some people, such as 2GB of online storage space, access to Lightroom Web and the ability to use Photoshop CC and Lightroom on multiple machines (although not at the same time).

What happens when the Creative Cloud license ends?

If you stop paying your subscription fee you no longer have the right to use the full versions of Photoshop CC and Lightroom. Photoshop will stop working completely (or at least until you renew the subscription).

But Lightroom is different. Bear in mind that with Lightroom your Raw files are untouched. The edits you make are stored in the Catalog. If you lose access to the Catalog, you lose access to all the edits you have made to your images, including all post-processing.

Adobe doesn't want that to happen, so it gives you partial access to Lightroom even if you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription. You have full access to the Library, Book, Print, Slideshow and Web modules. The Develop module is severely restricted (you can't make any adjustments using the right-hand panels) and there is no access to the Map module.

Your Catalog remains intact, including any Collections you're created and any changes to metadata, including ratings and keywords. So does your post-processing, and the ability to make basic edits to photo files using the Quick Develop panel. You can also export your photos any time you want.

You need to have Lightroom Version 5.5 or later installed for this to work.

Conclusion

Hopefully you are now clearer about how the two ways of buying Lightroom differ, and which is best for you. If you want to use the most up to date version of Photoshop CC, or Lightroom Mobile, then the Creative Cloud subscription service is the choice for you.

However, if you don't require the latest version of Photoshop CC, or Lightroom Mobile, then buying the standalone version is the least expensive way to go.

What do you think? Have Adobe got it right with the price and services offered for the Creative Cloud Photography plan? Do you use the Creative Cloud version of Lightroom or the standalone version? Please let us know in the comments.

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Mastering Lightroom: Book Five - The Other Modules

My new ebook Mastering Lightroom: Book Five - The Other Modules shows you how to use Lightroom's powerful features to create fun and interesting projects using the Map, Book, Slide show, Print and Web modules. Whether it's geotagging, putting together a photo book, printing your best photos or creating web galleries all the information (and inspiration) you require is right here.

The post How to Choose Which Version of Lightroom to Buy by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Four Under-Used Tools in Lightroom’s Lens Correction Module

Almost every lens changes the way your image looks by warping it in some way. Each lens can create barrel distortion, vignetting at big apertures, chromatic aberration, and more.

Some lenses have more distortion than others. Let's look at four tools in Lightroom's lens correction module that are a lifesaver

1. The easy button - lens profile corrections in one click

Before lens corrections:

Brick wall at 16mm, f/2.8, ISO 1250. You can see the 'bulge' in the middle because the horizontal lines are not parallel. Also notice the dark corner vignetting from shooting wide open at f/2.8

After one-click lens correction:

Same settings as above but with lens profile correction applied. Note the parallel horizontal lines and no more dark corners.

I shot this wall on a 16-35mm f/2.8 lens at f/2.8 to illustrate the 'bulge' in the middle and vignetted corners. These are distortions from the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II lens.

Lightroom is already loaded with profile corrections for this specific lens! Just click "enable profile corrections" in the "Profile" section of the Lens Correction module and Lightroom will fix the distortion for the lens you used!

Finding your lens profiles on older versions of Lightroom

As Lightroom keeps rolling out newer versions, it rolls out profiles from newly released lenses. If you are using Lightroom 3 from 2010 but have a lens that hit the market in 2012, Lightroom won't have it in there.

You can go download Adobe Lens Profile Creator to look up your lenses, grab their profiles, and manually add them to Lightroom.

I use the profile corrections on almost all of my images

Unless you have a very specific reason to manually deal with it, I suggest that you just use Lightroom's built-in profile corrections most of the time.

While you can certainly change all these lens corrections manually, in most cases it makes more sense to let Lightroom do the hard work for you.

2. The vertical slider

The problem

I photographed this shot above for a commercial builder. Notice how the building in the back is falling over, and the one in front has vertical lines that aren't parallel? Rather than repeat this excellent DPS article (Why are my Buildings Falling Over? A Short Guide to Perspective Distortion and Correction in Photography) that describes why this happens, I'll show you how to correct it.

The solution

I pull the vertical slider to the left until the lines are parallel.

Crop it

Notice anything weird? When you shift the vertical axis you lose some of the image. Architecture photographers use tilt-shift lenses to correct this in camera without losing any of the image.

Since I didn't have one at the time, I corrected it in Lightroom by cropping the white part out.

3. The horizontal slider

Sometimes you might be in a hurry and shoot a photo that needs to be slightly shifted horizontally in post. I did this during a fashion shoot.

The problem

I took the photograph without realizing I was slightly positioned to the side of the wall vs. straight on. If you look closely, you can see the line where the wall hits the ground, and that it slightly angles from bottom left to top right.

The solution

Using the horizontal slider and shifting it slightly to the right will tilt this photo so the right side appears to come closer to the viewer and the left side moves further away from the viewer. The result is that now the photo is perfectly square with the wall and the line along the bottom is level.

4. Vignette slider

The problem

When shooting at big apertures most lenses create some form of vignette, meaning dark corners in the photo. Sometimes these can be attractive, but sometimes you don't want them.

I shot this photo at f/1.8. Do you see the dark corners? I want to remove those.

The solution

Simply pull the vignette slider in the Lens Correction manual module to the right to reduce a vignette.

Vignettes are a matter of personal preference. I don't think the first photo looks bad with the vignette, I just wanted it without it. You can use the vignette slider to create or enhance a vignette by pulling the slider to the left.

Pro tip: if you've cropped the image at all, you will want to use the post-crop vignetting tool in the "effects" dialog box. The vignette slider in the lens corrections module affects the original image size, regardless if you've cropped it.

If you want to see these tools in action, check out the video below:

I hope you found this helpful - happy editing!

The post Four Under-Used Tools in Lightroom's Lens Correction Module by Mike Newton appeared first on Digital Photography School.