First things first...which version of Lightroom should you get (or do you have!).
1. Lightroom Classic - it's called classic as it's been around for years and is the first iteration of the software. Your photos are stored on your computer (windows or MacOS). You manage filing of your images (cataloguing) and backups. It's all down to you if you can't find that great photo from five years ago. Classic has the most features for cataloguing, developing, exporting and showing and printing your images.
Lightroom Classic's Logo
2. Lightroom Ecosystem (sometimes, and in the past, called Lightroom CC or Lightroom Cloud) - which includes the following applications:
Lightroom Desktop - for windows and MacOS (allows your images to be stored on your computer and/or in the cloud).
Lightroom Mobile - for your phone and/or tablet (Apple or Android) - access images in the cloud, can be saved to/from your device.
Lightroom Web - accessed using a web browser - access images in the cloud.
Lightroom Desktop - for windows and MacOS (allows your images to be stored on your computer and/or in the cloud).
Lightroom Mobile - for your phone and/or tablet (Apple or Android) - access images in the cloud, can be saved to/from your device.
Lightroom Web - accessed using a web browser - access images in the cloud.
To make good use of the cloud based apps you need a good internet connection but for many features it's not required.
Lightroom Desktop/Mobile/Web's Logo
You already have 'Lightroom' and not sure which you have or are you using? Easy, just look for the logo. You can find out more about the different versions and what you can do or not do with each one at a blog published by www.lightroomqueen.com. For me there are important things you can't do with the Lightroom Ecosystem apps such as
1. Printing,
2. Renaming images during import,
3. Using 3rd party plugins that add features to Lightroom Classic,
4. Some cataloguing and exporting features that are important for my 'workflow' or how I manage my Photographs,
5. I also have way more than 1TB of images so cloud storage for them all would be problematic, and I'd need to manage which ones were in cloud or not.
1. Printing,
2. Renaming images during import,
3. Using 3rd party plugins that add features to Lightroom Classic,
4. Some cataloguing and exporting features that are important for my 'workflow' or how I manage my Photographs,
5. I also have way more than 1TB of images so cloud storage for them all would be problematic, and I'd need to manage which ones were in cloud or not.
So, I use Lightroom Classic.
It's worth noting that the develop module (i.e. where you adjust your images) in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop offer almost but not quite the same features although the interface is quite different between the two. But the image organisation features of Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Ecosystem are quite different. Be sure to check out the differences here www.lightroomqueen.com.
While organisation of images is quite different between the two some of the same concepts apply.
This series will cover Lightroom Classic only and if you wish to learn more about the Lightroom ecosystem apps download the free quick start guide from www.lightroomqueen.com
A word about the current Adobe subscriptions
I won't cover the recent changes and their impact on existing subscribers (Adobe's Blog on that subject), rather just what plans are available for someone starting out.
I won't cover the recent changes and their impact on existing subscribers (Adobe's Blog on that subject), rather just what plans are available for someone starting out.
As of 5 February 2025, there are three subscription offers from Adobe for new subscribers:
1. 'Lightroom' - which gives you access to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom Desktop/Mobile/Web and Adobe Portfolio (a website builder) and 1TB of storage,
2. 'Photography' - which is 1 above plus Photoshop on desktop and iPad and 1 TB of storage,
3. 'Creative Cloud All Apps' - all of Adobe's apps. Not really an option for non-professionals.
1. 'Lightroom' - which gives you access to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom Desktop/Mobile/Web and Adobe Portfolio (a website builder) and 1TB of storage,
2. 'Photography' - which is 1 above plus Photoshop on desktop and iPad and 1 TB of storage,
3. 'Creative Cloud All Apps' - all of Adobe's apps. Not really an option for non-professionals.
The choice between 1 and 2 boils down to how you want to organise your images and do you want photoshop. I use Photoshop as well as Lightroom Classic and prefer to have all my images on my computer organised 'my way' so I'd choose the photography plan (2). But your circumstances and requirements may be different.