A simple and elegant solution to view your images on your hand held devices (if you have Lightroom CC).
I typically organize and process my images on my desktop computer at home. I have a beautiful 30″ Apple Cinema Display and can work in a fairly controlled environment. After some of the images are processed in Lightroom and exported out as web sized images, I transfer some of them to my iPhone and iPad so I can show them off while away from home. Most people with Mac computers have been using iTunes for years. Some people love iTunes, some hate it, and some tolerate it. At least for my photos, Lightroom for Mobile has made all of that a thing of the past for me. Once set up, all I have to do is drag a new image or group of images into a special folder inside Lightroom and it automatically shows up on both portable devices. If I delete one from the folder on the desktop computer, it gets deleted automatically on the devices.
The image above is a screen grab while in Lightroom on my desktop after a few quick setup tasks. The right side contains a bunch of processed web sized images which were exported in LR to a specific web folder. The left side shows the various folders (collections) I’ve created within Lightroom. On the far left are double ended arrow icons. They indicate folders which are synced with my mobile devices. The collection “Foxes 2016″ is the one used for this page and contains a “+” symbol next to it. That indicates the folder is the “Target Collection”. To add images to this collection, I simply had to drag images from the right panel into the folder…or…select an image and tap the B key on the keyboard. That automatically adds the photo to the Target Collection. When completed, the list displays the number of images in each folder. In this case, there are 31 fox photos (actually one is a skunk image). Once an image is included in one of the LR for Mobile collections, a double ended arrow icon is added above the image.
Also note, it is simple enough to create folders and subfolders to keep things organized.
The image above is a screen grab off my iPad reflecting the images shown in the list of collections in LR on the desktop computer. Once the LR Mobile App on the handheld device is activated, images are added automatically—without the need to physically tether the devices. “Sync only when connected by WiFi” is the default setting.
The image above is a screen grab off the iPhone of the Foxes2016 collection. Most of the images in the Foxes2016 collection are either square or in “landscape” mode. For subjects like Mountain Goats, many of the images are in “portrait” aspect mode. If you scroll back up the the folders/collections, you might also notice the MountainGoats_H (horizontal) and MountainGoats_V (vertical) folders. If you’ve ever viewed someones phone in which about every other one requires you to spin the device 90° to view it properly, you’d understand how this might be of benefit.
That’s the quick overview of how I have been using the new tools. Possibly you will enjoy the ease of use as much as I do. Lightroom for Mobile does a lot more, of course (click the link to see a video by Julieanne Kost) Even though the software allows for “some” mobile editing, it just doesn’t fit into my workflow. I’d much rather see the large images on my calibrated home computer and edit them there, but your situation might be different.
Adobe Lightroom CC
You should have noticed “if you have Lightroom CC” in parenthesis at the top of the page. Well, that’s the catch! Adobe added the new Dehaze and Local Dehaze filters in Lightroom after the introduction of Lightroom 6. Likewise, they included the new Lightroom Mobile in only the CC versions. This page on Adobe’s site contains a chart of features: Compare Lightroom CC vs. versions 5 & 6. You’ll see how they are now adding new features into the CC versions that are not available in the boxed offerings.
Adobe announced Lightroom Mobile support for Android phones in January of 2015. I did some searches and don’t see specifics of Android support for tablets. I didn’t find a lot of helpful current information on that topic, but it might be much more apparent when trying to download the free LR apps for Android devices.
You’ll need:
- Adobe Lightroom CC on your laptop or desktop
- Set up an Adobe Account
- Install the Lightroom App from the App Store on your mobile device(s)
A quick wrap-up:
We all get barraged with hype and claims of greatness by software and hardware vendors. It can be difficult to pick through the claims and find the ones that really work. Who wants to spend a lot of time going through all the steps only to find the claims were not fully met? This page was never intended on being a step-by-step tutorial, but more of an endorsement of how well it has been working for me. Better yet, installing and using it for syncing images from my desktop to my iPhone and iPad was even easier than I might have expected. I am still stuck with using iTunes for syncing my music and a few video tutorials.
iPhoneography:
It might be worthwhile to include some information about iPhone Photography: Tutorials, Tips, and Apps. I still prefer to take photos with my DSLR cameras and lenses, but there is a another culture of photographers/artists that specialize in photography using just their phones and pads, and there are lots of Apps to allow people to add textures, change to B&W, add film effects, and so forth.