Is it time for me to switch to LR?

[Jerry van Dijk]

I was using PS CS6, until I recently found out that the copy I bought through my employer only had a one year licence when it stopped working. I had to switch back to CS5. I found that I miss several of the newer features, especially those in the newer version of ACR, which really makes me want to upgrade again.

I do not want to enter Adobe's subscription model, because it is financially not very attractive to me and I find that I hardly use any of the advanced features of PS. I do the majority of the processing in ACR, and mostly use only the basic features in PS such as cloning, sharpening, S/H, etc. for finetuning the RAW conversion. I don't even use layers. My only option thus seems to be to buy the non-subscription version of LR. It seems to me that it contains all the features I need. I'm also looking forward to the archiving and organizing capabilities. I now organize everything in Windows using the tags and choosing smart names, but my collection is growing so large that the organisation needs to become a bit more sophisticated.

So my question is: Are there any reasons why I should or should not switch to LR?
Your advice is greatly appreciated.

[Don Lacy]

For what you want to do LR will be fine the only downside is sooner or later Adobe will stop supporting the stand alone version. I feel the same way and plan on using CS6 until it is no longer viable and while I like ACR I am now comfortable using DPP4 and if needed I could learn Capture One.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Don. Given that the latest LR version is quite recent, I think that support will continue for quite a while. ACR with CS continued to be supported for a very long time too. And I'm not a person to upgrade to a new body as soon as a new model comes out, so The older software will do for quite some time too. But Adobe really seem to want to push everyone to the subscription model. I'm actually surprised that they issued a standalone version of LR in the first place.
I have tried the Nikon RAW processing software, which is free, but the options are quite limited compared to ACR.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Jerry,

I use Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10 for post processing images. I do about 98% in Lightroom, only using Photoshop Elements for cloning, spot erasing, and smoothing background areas. When I started digital photography I chose Lightroom finding it very capable for all I need to do.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Joe! Does dat mean that there is no cloning and spot removal in LR? Anyway, the combi LR and CS5 that I already own would do the trick anyway.

[Diane Miller]

I couldn't live without LR -- have been using it since V2. I have over 120,000 images in my main catalog, spread over two 3T drives and just starting on a 4T one. I also have two other catalogs for specialty images such as events. I finally caved in to the subscription model (CC) earlier this year only because I needed to upgrade to LR6 to get Tethered Capture for the Canon 7D2, and the Photography package for $10/month made sense. I also couldn't live without PS. My average image probably has a dozen layers.

But if you want to stay with the stand-alone versions, LR6 and PS 5 should work well for quite a while. The raw processing power of LR or ACR is simply unbeatable and easy to understand and use. Check out Michael Frye's e-books -- a new version of the "landscape" book is about to be released, free if you buy the current version, which is a bargain at $15. I think you'll find it excellent.

Yes, there is spot removal, and it has gotten very sophisticated, along with masked adjustments, but I prefer PS for anything but the basic changes, just because it is familiar and flexible -- read: layers.

To get off on the right foot with organization, be sure of one thing, which may not seem obvious -- when you import images, make a top-level folder from within LR on your hard drive (or each drive) to contain your subfolders. And be sure you do ALL organization of images after they are imported from the Folders panel in LR, and not in Windows. LR will create folders and move images on the system, but won't be aware of any changes you make outside of it.

There is a free e-book on The Lightroom Queen web site.

Feel free to ask questions.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for the in depth information and references Diane!
The reason for the subscription model being unatrractive for me is that I have been able to buy CS at an almost laughable amount through my employer. Moving to the subscription model would increase my costs with at least an order of magnitude, even with my employers discount.

[Dennis Zaebst]

At Diane: What's the easiest way to accomplish the task of backing up photos from within LR6 in a folder from the C:\ drive to an external USB3 hard drive? If I select the folder and try to drag it to "My Pictures" on the external drive, it only offers to move them (rather than copy), so I cancelled the move before executing it. I consulted the LR CC/6 Missing FAQ book about this, but what I was able to find looked like a series of steps from outside LR, followed by optionally importing them into the catalog (which resides on the C:\ drive). I only want to make sure I have a backup copy of the photos...I don't wish to back up the catalog to the external drive (yet).

Thanks for any tips you can offer!

[Diane Miller]

You don't back up your actual picture folders from within LR. LR is for cataloging your main set of images, and backing them up is a different thing, done at the system level. But you do want to back up the Catalog, which LR will do according to the Catalog Settings menu. On a Mac that's under the Lightroom menu; on a PC it may be in the File menu.) A catalog corruption is rare but if it ever happens, it will recover from the backup. That backup is routine, without you needing to really even understand it. It will probably go in your Documents folder by default. and that is a folder I also routinely back up (with a different backup program that can handle a single folder), to one of the internal image drives, and then it also gets included in the backup of that drive.

Clarification, though: the Catalog is not your images. It's like the card catalog in a library, which only lets you find the books. There is a set of Previews for the images, in a different file that is stored next to the Catalog file. It can be backed up for convenience, but not from Lightroom. If it's lost it can be rebuilt. The Catalog contains things like Collections and Flag ratings that can't be rebuilt without starting over your part.
I use an automated backup program (mine is Mac only, but there are a lot of them out there) that runs on a daily schedule at Happy Hour when the computer is likely not seeing heavy use. (Is there an icon for a beer drinker and a wine drinker?) I leave the backup drives (externals, one to match each of three image-devoted internals) turned off until it's approaching time for the backup. If they're not on, no big deal, it just doesn't run. If you only need to back up one folder, that can be done, too. I don't do anything fancy like raid drives or compressed or incremental backups. My backup drives are an exact copy of my image drives. The program will add or erase on the external as needed to match the internal drive. There is a danger that if I delete something I didn't mean to, and don't catch it before the next backup, it will be deleted there, too. But it will still be in the trash until I next empty it.

If this doesn't make sense, keep asking.

[Diane Miller]

And I would add, regarding the complex-sounding steps you found, that you don't want your backup copies of images in your catalog. You'll risk working on the "duplicate" instead of the main image. Backups are for outside of LR.