It is prudent to continue to use the Adobe Lightroom Classic catalog since all my photos are in the catalog and they are easily found by searching keywords and other metadata or even visually scanning.
Just because I no longer have access to the Develop module, doesn’t mean I can’t and don’t find it useful.
The key points to remember is this: my edits if done solely in Lightroom Classic will not show up in Photomator or Pixelmator Pro or even DXO Photolab 9.
Whenever I browse to a folder that has my images, none of my pictures will appear edited. That makes sense since the written instructions or sidecar files are proprietary for Adobe. Any other RAW editor will not be able to see those instructions.
In most photographers who used Lightroom and Photoshop workflow, the new file is automatically saved back into the original folder but as a .PSD –a layered file. It looks like I will have to find those pesky .psd files and open them in Mac’s free application “Preview” and save as a TIFF which is also a layered file but not proprietary.
The solution is to “Export” as a TIFF back into the original folder and then choose synchronize the folder.
Under the Lightroom Classic Develop module, choose Library>Synchronize Folder after that export.
If you don’t take this step then every time you try to edit a photoshop document “.psd” with either Photomator or Pixelmator Pro, you encounter you will see these annoying prompts.
As I anticipated there will be inconveniences but in the long run, it will be worth the price for me.
For now during this transition, it makes sense to go through all my pictures that I have edited using Lightroom and Photoshop and Export them as TIFF files back into the same folder as the originals.
Then all I need to do in Lightroom Classic in the LIBRARY module is to head to the Library menu, choose Synchronize Folder.
Interestingly enough, when I launch Adobe Lightroom Classic I am now seeing a prompt asking me to resubscribe. For now I can still dismiss that and get back to Lightroom Classic catalog.
Let’s see if Adobe completely disables the catalog for non-subscribers. Is Adobe is showing signs of a spouse taking a breakup badly? Stay tuned. If Adobe misbehaves, I’m sure netizens on youtube will be talking about this.
How about you? If you are considering the move away, share your thoughts under Comments. I’d love to compare and hear your experience.