TWiP 827 - All-IN with Lightroom, feat. Brian Matiash

I took Brian's class as well and like others, I ditched LrC after 10 years in LrC (did sway over to Catpure one for 3 years as well) Adding the local viewer in LR really makes it easy to not look back to LrC.

Interesting talk and very nice attempt to sell the Lightroom only ecosystem but it doesn't take much for someone to realize that it's a mess that Adobe has created.

This idea of dumping everything on cloud just doesn't cut it. Even as a semi-pro, I create more images in a year than what their cloud storage offers. And not to mention that it is ridiculously expensive. It is much more reasonable to have local storage backups than dumping 45-50 MB RAW files on cloud.

And recently, adobe decided to discontinue Creative cloud sync, what if they just go on a trip and decide to discontinue Lightroom cloud? Then people are supposed to buy new hardware to store their stuff again?

Still a fan of LrC and will stick to it untill Adobe sort their minds out !

Why not just add local folder option and option to store originals to cloud using Lightroom Classic?
Solves almost all problems mentioned here and we could get rid of the dumb down version of Ligthroom Classic, called Lr.
Seeing a lot more options and new features being developed in LrC in the latest versions, I'm not sure Lr will be the one and only Lightroom we will see in the future.
It could simply be a LrC with an option to
- Not use a catalog - Local Folder with edits stored in XMP files
- Not to worry about backups - Send originals to Cloud
- Use the catalog
- Or any mix of above choices...

Before you decide to jump to Lightroom desktop because of the Local Folder feature, I suggest to listen to Lightroom experts like Victoria Bampton and her take on it:
"It's very early days for LR Desktop's Local mode. There are some people who can benefit from switching today, but they don't tend to be the advanced Classic users. After all these years, the catalog and missing photos remain the biggest things most Classic users get confused about, and a file browser does avoid those issues. Desktop has the potential to satisfy people who use Classic because they couldn't or didn't want to use the cloud but who struggled with the database concepts, but I think it's still too soon even for them."

I would like to ask @brianmatiash why he’s popping up everywhere MattK, GlynDewis, here and everywhere else promoting sole use of LR. He does make many good points and I have tried using LR and have frequently got into trouble. I understand the catalog system in LRC. But with LR we might have files on PC until it syncs so the file might be on the cloud or on PC or half way between. I can export a set of images with independent catalog as a stand alone setup in LRC.
The things I would mostly miss
- Full metadata search in library LR is very limited
- Map Module I use a lot
- Virtual copies
- Calibration settings
- Print module
- Detailed history steps in editing. Versions don’t do it for me as I can not see editing steps.
- I cannot be reliant on an internet connection to get my edits back. I have 10’s of thousands images. Some detailed psd/psb over GB.

As I trying to add more Cloud storage,I learned on their site that Adobe is dumping their Cloud service as of Feb, 2024 for non-business users. Gotta say that I am very concerned and more that a bit angry at this move. I have been an Adobe user since the mid-90s, I feel so damned betrayed. I have to say that I am a bit confused as to why this was not mentioned in this interview. The main reason that I stayed with Adobe (especially in recent years) was the Cloud synchronization…
Thoughts…?

Thank you for a really interesting episode! After starting to use Lr with sidecar files (.XML) everything got much simpler. I can move files and folders to other discs if I need without making a mess in the Lr library, which will eventually become a mess when as a professional photographer taking maybe 150.000 images per year. If I need images taken three years ago, I will find the disc and import the folders needed to Lr, adjustments and metadata will be imported from the sidecar files(next to the raw files) Having all the raw files backed up to the cloud is not possible, to slow and to expensive for professionals with maybe 1-3 TBs of images per year. Sidecar files really saved my workflow🎉

One major short coming of Lightroom vs Classic is the lack of plugins and Publishing services. For example, working with SmugMug (or Flickr) publish service makes life much easier. Also, I still look at the dividing line as cloud vs local storage. The Lightroom local capability is more an Adobe Bridge replacement, than Classic….databases do have significant uses.

It was great to see you again on TWIP. So when Lightroom matured a little I started using it then for reasons I can't explain I went back to Classic. I do use the print module and occasional round trips into Photoshop and Topaz Photo AI. There are ways around the print module. The cloud aspect doesn't bother me. This leads me to the following questions as I consider an upgrade to my computer. How much local storage does your workflow require? And. Do you rely on the 3-2-1 backup scheme? Finally. How much local storage does your iPad have? BTW I really enjoyed your video of the round trip from Lightroom to Photoshop and back to Lightroom on the iPad.

Adobe needs to clean up this mess they have created and soon! I know Adobe is a multi-billion dollar corporation, but most of us have seen bigger fail. After hearing that embarrassingly convoluted explanation on this episode of what syncs to the cloud vs. local and how each is or isn't updated to parity when edits are made clearly showed how event the 'experts' are having trouble understanding and educating people on this current sh*tstorm of Adobe photography software. I will continue to keep my distance from the Lightroom ecosystem and continue using my Bridge/Camera RAW/PS workflow. No drama.

I actually think the "where the puck is going" saying is not relevant here. It may have been 3 months ago but today the puck is already on the shooter's sticker - meaning an all Lr workflow is better TODAY.

After hearing Brian on Matt K's podcast a few weeks ago I also went all-in on Lr. Now I have removed LrC from all my computers and I haven't looked back - its all just so much better!

Can we expect to see stacking included in a future release of Lightroom? I find stacking invaluable for organizing pano, focus stacked, and exposure blend images.

this should have been accompanied by a screen session of LR... it's too complicateed to try to follow the suggested workflow

Thanks so much for having me on the show again, Frederick! I had a blast and can't wait to do it again!