Why is Lr so difficult and confusing?

[BALawson]

I've been using Bridge+PS for years, from CS3 and forward, but when I tried to shift over to desktop Lr + LR for Mobile, I couldn't even get my foot in the door.

Starting from how/where files are imported and archived,  through how to save a developed image,  to syncing through the Cloud, it's like slogging uphill against the world's worst learning curve. I'm just about burned out trying, frustrated trying to find a resource that explains all this without convoluted obscure self-referential asides that assume things are known and make sense when they are not and do not.

PS  I'm just about fed up with being told that Lr is simple, clear, accessible and if that is not the case for me, then I just haven't tried hard enough to learn. Or that I simply don't understand how Lr works. So, if you don't have  a specific constructive suggestion, i.e., tutorials, in-person classes, people to talk to, materials to read, then please don't launch in a harangue about my failings.   This may seem  an idle complaint of a cranky old guy, which I am, but consider there are lots of people out there who feel as I do so you're helping a lot more folks than just me.

[musicdude]

I've been using Photoshop for years.  Love it.  But everytime I try to dig back into Lightroom, it's handling of files is so confusing that I quit and curse Adobe one more time for making it so damn hard to import a file. It's rediculously unintuitive. Come on guys, why make it so hard?  And you're still charging money for this confusing software? 

[Rob_Cullen]

@musicdude  Do you keep a 'Contacts' List in a mobile phone? Do you keep Playlists in a music app (iTunes)? Do you use any Database apps to record information?

Lightroom-CLASSIC works likewise- a database for all the photo data that YOU PUT INTO IT! (By Importing files).

Then the Catalog of your photos is like a Library catalog- your files indexed, key-worded, etc. Easily available to search and Filter, and send out to other apps (Photoshop, and others).

Next is the Develop Module- It emulates (is) Adobe Camera Raw (internally within Lightroom-Classic), so you do not have to see the ACR plugin for Ps working- When you choose a photo in the catalog to [Edit in Photoshop], it goes directly to a Ps document window- easy & convenient - as is the simple [Save] in Ps that returns an indexed preview of the new Ps file in the Catalog.

Do not try to occassionally "dig back into Lightroom" (I presume you mean Lightroom-CLASSIC!!), instead search some good information and tutorials that help with the use of LrC, and use it totally and whole-heartedly as your Master Photo database, and Camera Raw editor.

(Note: Lightroom (the Cloud version) is something entirely different and not for the likes of you, an ardent Photoshop user.)

LIGHTROOM QUEEN HOME PAGE for eBooks

Julieanne Kost. Lightroom tutorials.

[Conrad C]

Can you talk a little about what makes it hard to import a file? At least on my Mac (this might not work in Windows), all I do to import a file is drag and drop it on the Lightroom Classic app icon or window. 

Where a file goes where imported depends on the Destination settings in the Import dialog box. I set up an Import preset so that files get imported exactly where I want and expect them to be, every time. No guessing, no lost files.

It's rediculously unintuitive…confusing software? 

By @musicdude

See my earlier reply in this thread…the way Lightroom Classic works should be familiar to anyone already working with video/music software, page layout software, or the database-oriented photo editors of the last decade. It’s a database that records the path location of your originals. That’s really all there is to it.

The exact locations of all imported files are tracked in the Folders panel. If you want to see where a file is on your computer, you just select it in Lightroom Classic and choose Photo > Show in Finder/Explorer and its folder location is revealed on your desktop. Again…this file handling is the same as in other Mac and Windows applications that reference your originals by file path. It isn’t unique, and it’s common.

[DdeGannes]

@musicdude , you have an issue in a thread that is over 5 years old and things have not changed.

Lightroom Classic functions differently to Photoshop / Bridge / Camera Raw, Lightroom is an alternative to Bridge / Camera Raw.

The major difference is Lightroom functions as a independent application and stores all the work and adjustments you apply to images in the Catalog file.

Bridge / Camera Raw Plug-in for Photoshop, functions differently and stores the adjustments with the image file, as a sidecar for Raw images or in the file header for DNG, Tiff, Jpeg and other rendered images.

Expecting Lightroom to function as Bridge / Camera raw is an exercise in futility.

If you wish to use LrC then forget Bridge / Camera Raw and learn how the application functions.
Think about Lightroom as Adobe Lightroom and not Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

It's my observation that since Lightroom was released in 2007 experienced users of Photoshop and Camera Raw have the most difficulty in adjusting to the Lightroom workflow.

For example you can select a raw image in your file system and open in PS / Bridge / Camera Raw, however that cannot be done in Lightroom. In Lightroom you first have to import the original image file so it gets recorded to the Catalog file and when you work with the image your "adjustments" get recorded to the Lightroom Catalog file.

You can get helpful info at the link below.

https://jkost.com/blog/lightroom-training-videos

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

You’ve posted to a very old thread. It is highly unlikely that the issue described in this thread, though not impossible, is the same issue which you are currently experiencing. Rather than resurrect an old thread that is seemingly similar, you are better posting to a new thread with fresh, complete information including system information, a complete description of the problem and step-by-step instructions for reproduction. 

In the unlikely event the issue is the same, we will merge you back into the appropriate location. 

Thank you!