I’m excited to announce several new features and enhancements in Lightroom Classic v13.3.
Catalog Upgrade — With this release, Lightroom Classic will need to upgrade your catalog. Upgrading your catalog creates a new copy of your catalog, so your existing catalog remains intact in the unlikely event that you would want to return to the previous version. When prompted to upgrade, Lightroom Classic displays a window where you can rename the catalog as desired. You can choose to keep the default name for the upgraded catalog: (currentCatalogName)-lrcV13.3 or, choose a name of your own. All of Lightroom’s companion files (.lrdata files for Previews and Sync for example), will automatically be renamed based on name of the upgraded catalog.
Lens Blur — Several enhancements have been made to Lens Blur including improved subject detection, the ability to include Lens Blur within presets, new Adaptive Blur Background presets, and batch editing capabilities (Copy/Paste, Apply Previous, and Sync). The video below demonstrates these features and more.
Generative Remove (Early Access) — You can now easily remove distractions and unwanted elements with Generative Remove (Early Access) powered by Adobe Firefly Generative AI. Early Access gives you the chance to explore Generative Remove while it’s still in development. Note: Generative Remove requires Internet access.
The video below demonstrates updates to the Remove tool including Generative Remove.
• The Remove tool (previously “Healing”) has three different modes: Clone, Heal, and Remove.
Clone – selects a source from within the image and creates an exact copy of information.
Heal – selects a source from within the image and adjusts color and tone to match.
Remove – creates completely new information to patch the area. Note: Remove doesn’t show icons for the source area like the other two modes.
• By default, Generative Remove will be disabled, allowing you to work more efficiently on small blemishes or dust spots. Disabling Generative Remove also allows you to work without an Internet connection.
• With Generative Remove enabled, as soon as you paint, you are put into Refine mode where you can use the Add or Subtract brush to adjust the mask.
To bypass the Refine mode, Command -paint (Mac) | Control -paint (Win) with the brush.
The Object-Aware option makes it easier to remove distractions by using AI to detect objects in images. Object-Aware adds a buffer around the detected object to make the removal look more natural.
• Lightroom Classic creates three Variations. Use the arrows to toggle through the Variations. To create additional Variations, click Refresh or tap “/” (the forward slash key).
• To adjust a Remove Area at any time, select the desired Refine pin in the image area and click the Refine button (in the Remove Panel).
• With Generative Remove disabled, Command -drag (Mac) | Control -drag (Win) over an area to manually select the source area.
• Command -click (Mac) | Control -click (Win) any of the mode icons to deselect the selected spot and quickly enter new spot mode.
• Right -click (Control -click on Mac) on the pin icon in the image area to change the Remove mode.
• When you copy and paste settings between images, use Apply Previous, or when Auto Sync is enabled, Lightroom Classic will copy the Generative Remove spots but doesn’t auto update them. This allows the repositioning of spots if something has moved in the image. You can also update the spots all at once by clicking on the Update All button in the Remove panel.
Note: Generative Remove is designed to clean-up images, not create fantastical composites.
Updated Tethering Support — Lightroom Classic now supports tethering with a selection of Sony cameras. Note: tethering is limited to still image capture (not video). Additional Canon camera models are also now supported. Click here to view the list of supported cameras.
Filter and Smart Collection Updates — The new “Export” filter (under Attributes as well as Metadata), filters images depending on whether or not they have been exported. You can also create smart collections based on image export date. Note: Choose Photo > Reset Export Status or right -click on an image and choose Reset Export Status to manually override the export status.
• Point Color is supported for Filters and for Smart Collections.
• Alt Text and Extended Description are now supported in Smart Collections.
• “Has Healing” and “AI Heal” has been changed to “Has Removed” and “Has AI Removed” in both Filters and Smart Collections.
Performance Updates — Preview file management and preview generation has been optimized for smoother navigation in the Develop module and AI Denoise is faster on macOS Apple Silicon devices with macOS 14.0 or later using the Apple Neural Engine.
More Reliable Syncing — Several updates to Lightroom Classic’s sync engine will improve reliability when syncing files to the cloud. Note: the Details area has been removed from Preferences > Lightroom Sync > Sync Settings.
This release also includes bug fixes and new camera and lens support.
