More power to photographers: Explore the latest from Lightroom at Adobe MAX 2024

More power to photographers: Explore the latest from Lightroom at Adobe MAX 2024

Since the launch of Adobe Lightroom in 2006, our team has been on a mission to empower anyone to create stunning photographs, express their creative vision, share their stories, and grow into even better photographers. We couldn't do that without you and the invaluable feedback you've given us to make Lightroom the best it can be.

We hear from thousands of photographers in our prerelease programs, our Lightroom advisory board, community forums, our ambassador program, and at events all over the world. These conversations help guide us in building a Lightroom that serves your creative needs and boosts your productivity.

We are so excited to share what we have been building this past year for our MAX 2024 release - from innovative new AI features that help you work more efficiently, to important improvements in Lightroom's performance and speed. Keep reading (and watching!) to learn more, straight from photographers both on our team and in the community.

Explore powerful new AI shortcuts

Lightroom's innovative AI-powered editing features serve as powerful shortcuts for professionals looking to maintain the quality of their edits while saving time in the process.

This year's MAX introduces Quick Actions and improvements to Generative Remove. Both features help to eliminate time-consuming editing steps so that you can focus on the more creative parts of your editing process. Hear more from Brian Matiash, Lightroom community member, photo educator, and newest member of our Quality Engineering team:

Make fine-tuned edits from anywhere with Quick Actions

Available in Early Access on Lightroom for mobile (iPhone & Android) and Lightroom for web

Quick Actions in Lightroom for mobile and web speed up fine-tuned edits by automatically creating masks based on the subject matter of your photo. Quick Actions will then suggest contextual edits and surface relevant tools to jumpstart your workflow. It's great for editing on-the-go or any time you need to make precise edits away from your computer.

For example, use Quick Actions to quickly edit a portrait - it will detect your subject, the background, and features to retouch like teeth, eyes, or skin. Quick Actions automatically create individual masks of each selected element to either enhance with available controls or refine further in the masking panel. It will even suggest the best presets to enhance your image in one tap.

Quick Actions is available in Early Access in our mobile and web apps at MAX, and we're excited to bring more improvements to it in the future. Try it out today and let us know what you think!

Remove anything with improved selection in Generative Remove

Available on Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom for mobile (iOS & Android), Lightroom for web, and Adobe Camera Raw

Since we introduced Generative Remove in May 2024 in Early Access, millions of people have been able to remove distractions and imperfections to perfect their images in ways that matter to them.

With this MAX release, Generative Remove is now generally available across the entire Lightroom ecosystem. We have also added enhancements to selecting objects to make it easier to use. Now when the Detect Objects option is enabled, you can simply circle the distractions you want to remove in addition to brushing over them.

Accelerate your workflow

Every day, we receive valuable requests and ideas from the photography community, and we take that feedback very seriously. Many members of the Lightroom team are photographers themselves, and we are always looking for ways to not just introduce powerful new capabilities, but also to improve your experience using our products - and make your life a little easier.

Here are some highly requested feature improvements and enhancements that were driven directly by you, the photography community, and your feedback.

Performance improvements in the Lightroom Classic Develop module

Available on Lightroom Classic

One of the biggest areas of focus for Lightroom Classic this past year has been improving the performance of the Develop module. As a result, we've been able to increase the speed of image navigation by 2x, so your filmstrip is snappier and more responsive. With this year's MAX release, we've made further enhancements to memory and caching and improved the Windows image navigation experience for smoother performance.

Improved support for tethered capture on Nikon cameras

Available on Lightroom Classic

Tethered capture on Nikon cameras is now faster and more reliable across both Windows and Mac devices. Camera detection time is now just ~1 second as a result of our latest architectural improvements. On some newer Nikon cameras, import time has been improved by as much as three times and is still twice as fast even on older Nikon cameras. This builds on existing tethering support in Lightroom across camera manufacturers including Sony (support added in May), Canon, and more.

Expanded HDR support

Available on Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom for mobile (Android only)

Last year at Adobe MAX we introduced HDR Optimization, a full end-to-end High Dynamic Range (HDR) workflow from capture (on mobile), to edit and export. This enables you to create stunning HDR photos that look truer to real life. In this latest release, you can now also see HDR content in additional views throughout Lightroom.

Embedded ISO HDR Gain Map support on export also means you no longer have to create two separate files for SDR and HDR. The HDR Gain Map will enable showing either the SDR or HDR rendition of your photo automatically based on display capabilities, ensuring a consistent viewing experience across devices. HDR Gain Maps are now supported in many apps such as Apple Photos, Google Chrome, and Instagram.

Also new in this release, users with a Google Pixel 9 series device will now be able to view and edit their photos in HDR. Additionally, anyone on a Mac desktop computer (with 'Apple silicon' processors) or on Lightroom mobile in iOS can now edit videos in HDR in addition to stills.

Even more Lightroom updates

Additional file type support for AI Denoise (Available on Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw): We've expanded the supported raw file formats for Denoise beyond Bayer and X-Trans types to include HDR and panorama DNG files, Apple ProRAW DNG, Samsung Galaxy Expert RAW DNG, Google Pixel Raw, and other types of linear raw files for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Leica.

Preview Management control(Available on Lightroom Classic): Previously, the only way to manage your preview storage within Catalog Settings was to adjust a setting telling Lightroom Classic how often to discard old or stale previews. At MAX, users can now set a preview cache limit to control how much disk space Lightroom Classic can use for storing previews.

Catalog Upgrade workflow improvements(Available on Lightroom Classic): Catalog Upgrade no longer requires a name change. Lightroom Classic will now back up the previous version of your catalog for your archives. You can rename the current catalog at File > Rename Catalog.

Android Performance Improvements in Lightroom Mobile(Available on Lightroom Mobile): Lightroom Mobile on Android has also received important updates that will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to render, edit and export photos. The load time for RAW images in grid view has been reduced by 88 percent, down to just 2.5 seconds. Select Subject mask generation is also now 40 percent faster, and the time it takes to export JPEGs edited with Lens Blur has gotten 3x faster.

Explore new ways of working

There are many more exciting new photography features available across Adobe's ecosystem in Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Camera Raw. Explore new ways of working with photography tools in and outside of Lightroom.

Here's Katrin Eismann, author, educator, and Learning & Inspiration Product Manager on the Lightroom team with more:

Support for more sophisticated workflows in Lightroom

Available in Lightroom

• Smart Albums: Save searches as Smart Albums in Lightroom for quicker access and easier organization.
• Connect to third-party apps: Send a photo from Lightroom to any third-party application for additional editing, then automatically bring it back to Lightroom when you're done.
• Camera to Lightroom Connection: Go seamlessly from capture to edit with Frame.io and send images wirelessly from your C2C-enabled camera to Lightroom across mobile, web, and desktop. Learn more about how to connect your Frame.io project to Lightroom and check device compatibility here.
• Preset Improvements: Batch-apply a preset to any number of selected photos, favorite your most used presets for easy access, view thumbnail previews in the preset list, and more.
• Accessibility: Use a screen reader with Lightroom and navigate the application using the keyboard.

AI innovation in Adobe Camera Raw

A before (left) and after (right) look at an image produced by Camera RAW using Adobe Adaptive. The edited image on the right is rendered with Adobe Adaptive profile and no manual adjustments.

• Generative Expand (Technical Preview): Generative Expand, powered by Adobe Firefly, seamlessly blends the edges of your existing image with newly generated content that fits naturally into the background.
• Adobe Adaptive (beta): The Adobe Adaptive (beta) profile creates an image-specific rendering with internally applied adjustments for sky and people. It is ideal for images with a high dynamic range, such as landscapes, architecture, and high-contrast scenes. You can read more about Adobe Adaptive here.
• Other ACR Enhancements (Technical Preview): Super Resolution, Raw Details, and Denoise no longer create a separate DNG file and the Denoise settings can be quickly readjusted, allowing for a more efficient editing experience.

New AI photography features in Photoshop powered by Adobe Firefly

• Distraction Removal: Automatically detect and remove unwanted elements like wires and people in the background of your photos - with a single click.
• Generative Expand: Extend an image by seamlessly expanding the edges of your photo with generated content.
• Generative Fill: Add, remove, or modify images using simple text prompts. Use it in your creative workflows to add elements like butterflies, mountains, or sweeping vistas.

Read more about the full Photoshop MAX release here.

Our continued commitment to trust and transparency

The Lightroom team is dedicated to building capabilities that foster trust and transparency in the age of AI. Our latest release as part of the Content Authenticity Initiative is the option to add Content Credentials to your work at export in Lightroom to ensure provenance and preserve authenticity.

Content Credentials in Lightroom

Available on Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom for mobile (iOS & Android), Lightroom for web, and Adobe Camera Raw in Early Access

New Content Credential capabilities are available in Early Access across the Lightroom ecosystem, giving you the option to attach your name, social media handle, and a list of edits via a digital signature when exporting a JPEG from Lightroom.

If you choose to attach credentials, the information you submit will be tied to your image and can be verified by uploading the photo to contentcredentials.org/verify or the new Adobe Content Authenticity (ACA) web app. A CR icon verifies that the photo has content credentials present, and tapping on the image brings up a summary of credits, usage, and the process taken to create it if the photographer chooses to include it.

Learn more from Cheriss May, accomplished documentary and editorial photographer and adjunct professor at Howard University:

Try it out, then get in touch!

The Lightroom team will be at Adobe MAX (Oct 14-16 at Miami Beach and online) over the next few days for a variety of great workshops and sessions on photography. Here's an overview of all the photography sessions at MAX.

You can download the latest features and enhancements today on Lightroom for mobile from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Samsung Galaxy Store. Try the Lightroom app for free by going to the app store on your mobile phone. Lightroom for web features are available at lightroom.adobe.com and no download is required. Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop can be downloaded via the Creative Cloud Desktop app.

To learn more about these updates, check out the What's New pages for Lightroom and Lightroom Classic.

Once you've had a chance to try the new features in Lightroom, we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and feedback through the Early Access tool inside the Lightroom app, on our community forums, or by finding us on social media @Lightroom.

Disclaimer: Generative Remove in Lightroom is available to all Creative Cloud members with a subscription or trial that includes Lightroom. Generative Remove and any Adobe Firefly powered features are not available in China Mainland.

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