Lightroom Update: Performance Boost and PNG Exports

Software developer Adobe has released the August Photography update for Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, which will reportedly give a significant boost to user performance and workflow.

Whilst introducing several minor adjustments, the update is spearheaded by GPU Accelerated Editing, which hopes to revolutionise Lightroom’s slow performance that some users were experiencing. To do so, GPU Accelerated Editing allows Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw to “take advantage of the more powerful graphics cards (GPUs) while editing, providing a smoother and more responsive experience.”

Adobe attest that performance boosts will be particularly noticeable if users are working with high-resolution monitors – such as 4K and above – as well as with “more powerful GPUs.” Although this won’t improve performance for all Lightroom Classic users, it is a step in the right direction for Adobe.

The update also comes along with several other features including:

• The ability to export files as PNGs, a “popular uncompressed file format” typically used on the web. Importing and opening PNG files is also possible.
• Significant improvements to the Library Module while browsing folders.
• The option to add colour labels to Collections, not just folders.
• Batch processing for HDR, HDR panoramas, and panorama merges.

Aside from these additions to Lightroom Classic, the regular cloud-based Lightroom will also enjoy some new features. For instance, recovering deleted photos will now be possible through the use of a Deleted folder. Photos that were accidentally deleted will be stored for up to 60 days in the folder, where standard users can recover them provided they are using the device they were deleted from.

If users are a Creative Cloud member or have a Premium subscription, they can recover photos on any device connected to the account.

Other features integrated into the cloud-based Lightroom include:

• Creating presets from discover posts, which allow you to see the process of how an individual photo was edited.
• Improved search options, such as searching by focal length, raw, HDR, or pano photo types.
• Batch metadata, allowing you to adjust the metadata of a group of selected photos for export.

The update is already available in all app stores and the Creative Cloud app.