Adobe Releases Lightroom CC: Introduces HDR & Panoramic Merge, Facial Recognition

Adobe has today introduced a new version of Lightroom it calls Lightroom CC – or Lightroom 6, if the stand-alone version is opted for. This release brings with it a slew of new features, with HDR merge, panoramic merge, facial recognition, and advanced video slideshows topping the list.

One of the best features to hit this version of Lightroom might not be so obvious at first: performance improvements. In general, the application has been made to be faster responding and with the introduction of GPU accelerated enhancements, Adobe says that you can “perfect photos up to 10 times faster than ever”.

One of the new features that should help folks keep better grips on their photo collections is facial recognition. After tagging some faces, the software will be able to find the same faces in other pictures. While this technology isn’t new, it’s nice to have the feature finally available in Lightroom.

Another useful addition is panoramic merge, which as you’d suspect lets you take an ultra-wide view of a scene through multiple images and then allows you to stitch them back together with a realistic result.

If you’re interested in learning about most of the new features in good depth, you should head on over to Tom Hogarty’s blog as a number of example videos are featured.

One update that stands out to me is with regards to the mobile variant: it’s now available on Android tablet, which means the phone / tablet bases are all covered for iOS and Android. On Android, you can also now specify the SD card to store images to – something I requested back at the software’s launch.

Adobe has kept its photography plan pricing in tact: $9.99/mo for Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC. Those wanting a stand-alone version can get Lightroom 6 for $149.99, but that version doesn’t include the mobile syncing capabilities and won’t be affected by product updates.

We’ll be taking a deeper look at Lightroom CC in the near-future, so stay tuned.