Lightroom usage basics

[Mike28587175z9of]

Goodevening.

I'm an amateur photographer, and for the longest time I used Photoshop to edit my RAW files from my camera. I recently got a new camera (Sony a7iv) and you can see where this is going... I could no longer use PS to open the RAW files from this new camera. After spending way too much time trying to update Camera RAW to 15 only to finally find information that CS6 only updates to version 7.0.0.308 (For some reason).

So I've been forced to change to Lightroom which I wouldn't have a problem with but the aoftware seems a little over complicated for my liking and I'm struggling with the environment and would like some easy basics on navigating and managing images.

After I 'imported' some images, everytime I go back into Lightroom they're still there along with all changes I made. Is there any way to clear them after each time I exit? Removing each one via right click seems a little tedious. Also the "Remove Photo" option for the first one I 'imported' is greyed out, why is this?

In fact I have no interest in cataloging or syncing so can I turn all this stuff off? It would be good if I could use it just as a tool for editing like PS.

Thanks!

[Bob Somrak]

If you have a subscription to Lightroom classic, you also have Photoshop. Just use Photoshop.

[John Waller]

CS6 only updates to version 7.0.0.308

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-compatible-applications.html

You can see from the above link that CS6 shipped with Camera Raw 7.0. It can be updated to Camera Raw 9.1.1 but no further.

However, if you're running CS6, updating Camera Raw won't help since the Sony A7 IV was first supported by Camera Raw 14.1 as the link below indicates.

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

That said, which version of Photoshop are you running?

As Bob said, if you're running Lightroom Classic, that suggests you have a Cloud plan which means you also have the current version of Photoshop.

If you are still running CS6 then you can use the free DNG converter to convert your A7 IV Raw files to DNG format. Then open the converted DNG files (not the RAW files) in CS6.

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/camera-raw/digital-negative.html

[Conrad_C]

After I 'imported' some images, everytime I go back into Lightroom they're still there along with all changes I made. Is there any way to clear them after each time I exit? 

By @Mike28587175z9of

Well, the entire point of using Lightroom Classic is that it doesn’t forget, to the point that you can undo something you did 6 months ago, unlike Photoshop which forgets the History as soon as you close the document. I love this about Lightroom Classic, because everything I’ve ever shot is in one catalog where I can freely browse and organize them as a whole body of work, and any photo can be revisited and improved at any time.

Not everyone needs that, there are some who only handle a few shoots at a time and when a shoot is done they never need to look at it again. For that type of person, a catalog is a huge cumbersome burden. So if that’s kind of where you’re coming from, if you want to get rid of work as soon as you finish it, then Lightroom Classic is the wrong app for you. Because deleting everything you just worked on goes against how Lightroom Classic was designed. 

Instead, you can use Adobe Bridge with Photoshop. Both are included with a Photography Plan or Creative Cloud All Apps subscription. Although both Lightroom Classic and Bridge can both browse and edit photos in bulk, the difference is that Bridge does not use a visible catalog database. Bridge is a file browser, like your desktop. You can still edit raw files in Bridge by opening them directly into Camera Raw, and when you’re done with those photos, you can just move on to another folder. So maybe Bridge is what you really want to use.

You can’t “turn this stuff off” in Lightroom Classic anyway, because the way it’s designed, it simply won’t function if that was possible. Instead, just uninstall Lightroom Classic and use Photoshop instead, and if you need to work with sets of multiple images you can use Bridge instead of Lightroom. And if you need to edit raw photos you can use Camera Raw instead of Lightroom.

Removing each one via right click seems a little tedious. Also the "Remove Photo" option for the first one I 'imported' is greyed out, why is this?

By @Mike28587175z9of

This doesnt’t have to be tedious. It should be as easy as selecting any number of images and pressing the Delete key, or choosing one of the Remove options from the Photo menu.

If Remove Photo isn’t available, or if you are wondering why there are four different Remove commands there (which sometimes ask about additional options), those might be because Lightroom Classic does not always operate directly on the file, but sometimes on a virtual instance of it. Sure, that might sound complicated, but being able to use virtual copies, collections, etc. instead of just editing the actual file adds a tremendous amount of power, flexibility, and workflow/organization advantages. If you’re interested in that, then you study and learn it, and then you gain capabilities you don’t get with a simple file browser such as Bridge or your desktop.

But if you aren’t interested in that, no problem. Just use one of your other options like Bridge, instead of Lightroom Classic.