Lightroom: It’s Not That Bad!

Let’s be honest. Lightroom can feel like that high-maintenance friend who shows up late, eats all your RAM, and still wants compliments.

Lightroom saved my bacon when I decided to take about three millions images in South America. It’s. not all bad. 🙂

You’re just trying to edit a few nice shots of a misty morning in Costa Rica, and instead, you’re waiting 20 minutes for your thumbnails to load like it’s like 2005 and you’re on dial-up. But is Lightroom really the enemy here?

Why Do So Many People Hate Lightroom?

Lightroom has a reputation. Much or that reputation is to do with Adobe’s SAS payment plans. I’ve been using it since version one and must have paisd enough to pay off my mortgage. Some say it’s bloated. Others say it’s slow. Most of us have threatened to uninstall it mid-export. But the truth? It’s misunderstood. Mostly. There’s a growing raft of pretenders to it’s throne, but none quite match it’s deep capabilities to get from RAW to a finished and good looking print.

It’s Not (Entirely) Lightroom’s Fault

Maybe you’re trying to edit 10,000 RAW files on a 2014 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM and 87 Chrome tabs open. Maybe you’ve built a Frankenstein catalog that lives on an external drive last formatted during the Obama administration.

We’re not saying you deserve this…But also, you kind of do.

What Lightroom Actually Does Well

Here’s the thing: Lightroom is a beast. It can:

- Save overexposed jungle shots and make them sing

- Sync edits across 200 photos with one click (or a well-intentioned accident)

- Turn “meh” into “magic” with a little dehaze and a lot of hope

- Organize your photos like a digital librarian on a double espresso

It’s not just editing software. It’s a therapy session for your images.

Well over 250,00 images – it’s never let me down.

Want to Hate Lightroom Less? Try These Ideas

1. Use Smart Previews – Seriously. It’s like giving your computer a protein shake.

1. Cull ruthlessly – You don’t need 300 almost-identical toucan photos.

1. Stay in one catalog – Don’t make a new one for every trip, wedding, or Tuesday.

1. Invest in storage – Lightroom loves fast drives. SSDs are its love language.

Lightroom Classic vs Lightroom CC: Choose Your Fighter

Lightroom Classic: Old-school, full-featured, and slightly passive-aggressive.
Lightroom CC: Sleek, modern, and lives in the cloud like a digital nomad.

Use the one that suits your workflow, or both, if you’re feeling spicy.

Lightroom, with All Its Flaws, Is Still Your Friend

You may never love Lightroom. But like that friend who always needs a ride but pays for gas, Lightroom eventually pulls its weight.

It’s not perfect. But it’s powerful, reliable (most days), and once you stop threatening to delete it every five minutes, you’ll probably get along just fine.

James Ringrose

James is CEO and Chief Technologist at RCP Learning. He has spent the last ten years building a learning company based on computer science development principles. James is passionate about technology, the science of learning and the psychology of understanding. He is committed to delivering the best possible customer experience to every one of RCP Learning's clients. His favorite quote is "The universe is not made up of atoms, it is made up of individual stories." -- Anon.