Today’s Question: I’m curious to know if your new course on Adobe Bridge is an indication that you use or recommend it over Lightroom Classic?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I am still using Lightroom Classic to manage my photos, but I do think Bridge is a good option for photographers who either don’t feel they would benefit from the catalog in Lightroom Classic or are (understandably) concerned about ending up with problems due to the catalog.
More Detail: I personally prefer the benefits of the catalog in Lightroom Classic, but I also recognize that many photographers have ended up with a mess in their workflow due to not managing that catalog properly. For those who don’t feel they would benefit from the catalog in Lightroom Classic, or are concerned about creating a mess, Adobe Bridge is a good alternative to consider.
In my view there are two key benefits to the catalog in Lightroom Classic. First, you can search across your entire catalog of photos based on a wide variety of metadata criteria virtually instantly. Second, you can browse and manage photos even when the source files aren’t available, such as when an external hard drive containing photos is disconnected.
The risk the catalog introduces is that you’ll end up with photos or folders that Lightroom Classic isn’t able to locate. This only occurs if you make changes outside the catalog. As long as all changes are made within the catalog, there won’t be any such issues.
Because many photographers aren’t interested in using Lightroom Classic, and have not been shy in letting me know, I wanted to make sure that the GreyLearning library included courses to meet the needs of those photographers.
Note that while I use Lightroom Classic to manage my photos, I still use Bridge for other purposes. Bridge is more than just a photo browser, after all, enabling you to browse all file formats that are otherwise supported by Adobe software. I therefore use Bridge to manage my publication files, video and audio recordings, and much more.
If you’d like to get a better understanding of the differences between Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom Classic, and Adobe Bridge, check out the recording of my webinar presentation on my Tim Grey TV channel on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/BwpneG4y0nQ
