【Sigad Sharaf】

Adobe Lightroom CC is Sigad Sharafeither the best and most elegantly designed photo-management and workflow tool in existence, or it’s a terrifying collection of powerful photo-editing and control options in search of an interface.

Who’s right? Perhaps everyone.

Adobe is, for one, willing to let both camps coexist as it unveils the redesigned, cloud-focused Lightroom CC and continues to develop and support what will from now on be known as “Lightroom Classic.” The company announced the changes on Wednesday at its annual Adobe Max Conference.

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Classic will get some updates in performance and controls, but will otherwise maintain its power-user look. Adobe will also continue to support and update Lightroom Classic in the long-term.

The all new Lightroom CC on MacOS and Windows, on the other hand, will be virtually unrecognizable to longtime users. Gone are the overwhelming numbers of task and process-based modules. Instead, users will find a streamlined interface that looks more Pinterest than procedure.

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It will focus on what Adobe thinks users need, at least at first. There will always be the option of digging in deeper to hidden and more varied options.

On the interface, users will find renamed and regrouped controls, and, if they get lost, there’ll be dynamic tool-tip-like popups to guide them along the way.

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Adobe also sought to reduce the complexity of each tool by cutting down the number of options. Tools like Sharpness and noise reduction will show fewer sliders per tool. Those options aren’t gone, they’re just hidden until you actively access them.

As a backend, Lightroom CC will still use the Adobe Cloud, letting users store 1 TB for $9.99 a month. There’s also a Creative Cloud Photography Plan that includes 20 GB of Storage, but adds Photoshop CC. Finally, if they want Lightroom CC, Photoshop CC and 1 TB of storage, they’ll pay $19.99 a month ($14.99 a month for the first year for existing Creative Cloud Photography subscribers).

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The company’s proprietary AI engine, Sensei, will be included to help users find the photos they need more quickly by typing in the general object they’re looking for (i.e.: “flowers,” “dog”). Sensei won’t be scanning the photos for faces, so face search is not included, for now.

In addition to the new, more streamlined Lightroom, Adobe is updating its companion iOS and Android apps. Both connect to your cloud account and can share and apply image edits instantly on the same image across platforms. Adobe does this by keeping smaller, though visually identical image proxies local while sharing changes over the cloud as text-based instructions. Adobe told me that users can always download the full-sized file they choose.

Adobe Lightroom on the iPhone also includes a camera feature with pro-level controls for shutter speed, exposure, focusing, ISO settings, white balance and the ability to switch between the iPhone 8 Plus’s wide-angle and telephoto cameras. It also defaults to shooting in DNG, a raw, lossless image format that takes up more space, but produces higher-quality images. You do have the option of shooting in JPEG.

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I got a little hands-on time with the new app and was generally pleased. In general, it uses intuitive sliders to control everything from focus and exposure in the camera to editing tools like brightness and contrast. The consistency was refreshing.

The iPad Lightroom app, which is also getting a refresh, is now, more or less, a mirror image of the new desktop app. Adobe also added the ability to import files from iOS 11’s new Files app.

The company is also updating its Web presence with public galleries where Lightroom CC users can share their favorite photos.

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By the way, if you’re wondering about how all this affects Lightroom 6, it will be the last of its kind. No more standalone Lightroom apps after this. If you want the new stuff, you must buy Lightroom as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud offerings. By the end of 2017, Adobe will cease bug fixes for Lightroom 6.

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