# Adobe Lightroom Adobe Lightroom is Adobe's software for **organizing and editing photos**, especially RAW files. For many photographers, it has been the default tool for years. Unlike Photoshop, which is built for detailed edits on a single image, Lightroom is built for working through hundreds or thousands of photos: import, cull, rate, apply adjustments, sync them across a batch, and export. ## Two different products with the same name This confuses a lot of people. There are two Lightrooms: - **Lightroom Classic**: the original desktop app (it started as Photoshop Lightroom in 2007). Photos live on your own drives and are tracked in a local catalog. It's the choice for photographers with large archives and complex workflows - **Lightroom** (formerly Lightroom CC): the cloud-based version. Your photos sync through Adobe's cloud, and you edit across desktop, mobile, and web Both edit non-destructively: your originals stay untouched, and adjustments are stored separately. ## Main features - RAW processing for a very wide range of cameras - Global adjustments (exposure, white balance, tone curves, HSL, color grading) and local adjustments with masks - AI masking: subject, sky, people, background - **AI Denoise**: reduces high-ISO noise by up to about 3 stops, but it's resource-intensive - **Generative Remove**: removes distractions using Adobe Firefly - Presets, including AI-driven adaptive presets that adapt to the content of each image - **Assisted Culling**, to speed up picking the keepers - Tethered capture (including Sony cameras) - Library management: collections, keywords, ratings, flags, face recognition ## Pricing (2026) There's no perpetual license anymore. Lightroom is subscription-only, generally with an annual commitment: - **Photography Plan (20 GB)**: $9.99/month, with Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Photoshop - **Photography Plan (1 TB)**: $19.99/month - **Lightroom Plan (1 TB)**: $11.99/month, without Photoshop On top of that, many AI features consume **Generative Credits**. The monthly allowance is limited (it doesn't roll over), and when you run out, generative tasks get much slower unless you buy add-on credits. Treat these prices as indicative, since Adobe changes plans regularly. ## The criticism Lightroom is powerful, but it attracts plenty of criticism: - **Subscription lock-in**: stop paying and you lose access to editing - **AI everywhere**: the February 2026 release leaned heavily on AI (including AI video generation in Lightroom Classic), and some long-time users felt they were paying for features they didn't ask for - **Credit costs** that are hard to predict - **Hardware demands**: 16 GB of RAM minimum, and realistically 32 GB plus a fast GPU for high-resolution RAW files ## Alternatives - [[RapidRaw]]: free, open source, fast, and lightweight - darktable and RawTherapee: open source, very powerful, steeper learning curve - Capture One: commercial, popular with studio photographers - [[Google Photos]]: for casual organization and light edits ## References - Official website: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html - Lightroom Classic: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom-classic.html - TechRadar review of Lightroom Classic (2026): https://www.techradar.com/pro/software-services/adobe-lightroom-classic-2026-review - Critique of the February 2026 release: https://ahutchinson.substack.com/p/lightroom-february-2026-release-guess ## Related - [[RapidRaw]] - [[Google Photos]] - [[SaaS Misalignment with User Objectives]]