[7-15] “Adobe Bridge”

Wow, where have I been?

I began working with a famous photographer in SF, and I started using Adobe Bridge, which is MUCH FASTER than Lightroom Classic (LR).

What did I just say that?

MUCH FASTER!

For years, I was grudgingly accept LR as premium photo editing software, but in the closet was frustrated not by its features but by the speed. I recommended it, maybe too eagerly; earlier this year I even wrote about it on this blog. I feel naive. in LR the images loaded slowly, there were 0.25-3 second gaps when changing images (maybe longer for those pesky 45 megapixel images), and going from library (G) to develop (D), ate up precious time.

After a while, I’d sit back in some frustration and wonder, “did I really enjoy this?”

Even last weekend, when I sorted thousands of images, I often prepared things to do while waiting for LR to delicately rename and move images around.

Adobe Bridge is like getting those using Task Manager to shut down those weird Microsoft background apps, back in 8th grade, and suddenly feeling like getting a brand new computer.

Previewing images is, relatively, lightning fast. I can go through 200 images in a minute, easily.

Adobe Bridge is not an image editor, but it gives the user easy access to Adobe Camera Raw (in Photoshop), which replicates all the features in LR Classic, meaning it has all the sliders and adjustment tool.

These changes are written on an XMP file, right next to the raw file (.CR2, .NEF). So the edits follow the image, not the library. This is fantastic. My boss told me, today, that when multiple photographers share edits after a shoot, we don’t have to send RAW files (very large); we send the XMP files that will dictate how the edits will appear.

Brilliant!!!