Adobe has made their Photokina splash today with the announcement of Lightroom CC 2016.7, and a public beta of their Adobe Stock Contributor Site. The Lightroom update will provide small upgrades, additional support for new cameras and lenses, bug fixes, compatibility with OS X Sierra and, naturally, integration with the new Stock Contributor platform. The platform is designed to provide an easy, integrated way for photographers, and other creatives to sell their work and assets to other Adobe CC users.
Lightroom CC 2016.7
The primary purpose of the new Lightroom CC update is to add integrated support for the new Stock Contribution site. As with all Lightroom CC updates, it also includes added support for new camera and lens profiles. This version adds the Canon 5D mark IV, Nikon D3400, GoPro Hero5 , the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and several others. New lens profiles are plentiful, and span nearly all of the major mounts and brands. Additionally, Lightroom CC will now support tethered shooting with the Nikon D5 and D500 For the full list of cameras and lenses, check out the Adobe blog.
[REWIND: Canon 5D Mark IV Official Review | Gear Talk Episode 13]
Adobe has also included a small, but potentially powerful, new option within Lightroom: the ability to edit smart previews, as opposed to original files, even when the original files are connected and available. Previous iterations of the software have offered the ability to work with these smaller smart previews when the drive containing the original files is disconnected, and has provided faster performance, as the processor has had less data to deal with. Now, thanks to an option within Lightroom’s preferences panel, you can opt to work on smart previews, when available, regardless of whether the original files are connected, potentially speeding up your workflow.
Adobe Stock Contributor Site Beta
For several generations, many of Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps have included the ability to buy imagery and assets via Adobe Stock, including Photoshop. Now, Adobe is working to add functionality in the opposite direction, allowing creatives to upload and sell their work directly to the Creative Cloud community. The service will support photos, illustrations, videos, vector work, and will eventually be built into apps spanning the Adobe ecosystem. The service will launch with Lightroom and Bridge integration, providing a quick drag and drop process for uploading work. There will also be a website where users can log in and upload files, independent of any individual app.
[REWIND: Adobe Uses Stereotypical Stock Photos as Face of clothing line]
The platform launches with an incredibly helpful and efficient feature for helping buyers find your work: intelligent keyword suggestions. Adobe’s algorithm will analyze your uploads and suggest the top 5 keywords. You can then choose to use the suggestions, or add your own. With the ease of use that will come with the new contributor site, the sheer number of images on the stock service may soon become increasingly daunting. It seems that Adobe has recognized this likely headache, and is making an effort, via intelligent keywording, to make the process of finding what you’re looking for a bit more efficient.
[REWIND: Dramatically Speed Up Adobe Lightroom’s Performance With This One Tip]
Adobe has created a short video explaining the new platform:
More information can be found on the Adobe Blog.
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