Top 5 new Features in Lightroom Classic CC 2019 (December update)
The folks at Adobe have been busy working on all versions of Lightroom. They have been putting a lot of work into performance and Classic is now after at viewing grids on 4k and 5k displays as well as background processing and batch processing. They continue to work behind the scenes with speeding things up, as we say in the last release with Canon tethering seeing significant increases in Speed. Aside from the stuff that’s behind the scenes, let’s take a look at things that you can see and Ill share my favorite 5.
How to update Lightroom in Creative Cloud
But first, here’s how to update. Open your CC app and you ought to see a blue update button. Just click it to automatically update and install.
If you don’t see the update available, you can force an update. Click in the top right of your CC panel and choose “Check for app updates” this will force all new version to appear.
1. HDR Panoramas Working correctly
You probably thought I was going to kick off with the Customizable Develop Panels (spoiler alert), but this one is bigger for me. When Lightroom Classic CC 2019 was released, it hailed a new feature; Automatically stitch HDR Panoramas. Unfortunately it didn’t work on DJI images and other panos because the requirements were cranked up too high. Adobe has relaxed them a little bit (Thanks Josh Bury – The engineer that built this). I tested it with several difficult sets of images and it works really well now. To show you, here are 66 images I shot from the top of Diamond Head Crater a couple of months back in Waikiki, Hawaii using a Sony A7II. Lightroom stitched these perfectly. An additional feature, is the ability to stitch Smart Previews now (so this qualifies as a new feature, for the sake of honest in my article).
2. Customize the Order of Develop Module Panels
You can now change the order of the Panels in the develop module to suit your workflow, but putting your most frequently used ones at the top of the stack.
You will see this box pop up
Simply drag to rearrange the order.
You can also hid them by unchecking the box (hiding isn’t new, its just in this new place)
And now you see your new order (after Lightroom Classic restarts)
3. Snap to Grid in Book Module
When you are creating custom books, you have a lot of different options (see My Lightroom Classic CC course for an entire module on books)
A new feature that makes it really easy to align things such as multiple images on a page is snap to grid. To activate it, you need to do 2 things.
- Choose Page Grid to show grids in the Guides panel.
- Select Grid in the snapping drop down menu.
Now, it’s really easy to size and position frames the way you want. (Photo Colin Smith – Lyon Museum)
4. Auto Import to Collections
If you are a fan of automation and use watch folders, the good news is that you can now have everything added to a collection automatically.
Just go under File>Auto Import>Auto Import Settings.
You will now see a box add to collections. click it and all collections will be visible.
5. Skip the Dialog box
Whenever you quit Lightroom, you always see a box that says “Do you really want to quit.” You can now click don’t show again and skip this box. Why did this make the top 5? If you don’t know, you haven’t used Lightroom enough (hint, no-one likes a nag).
Bonus: Show all the presets
When an older preset isn’t compatible with all the settings in Lightroom it doesn’t show, Now you can make it show in italics by turning it on in the preferences panel.
One last thing with presets. If you try to create a preset with a name that is already taken you now have 3 options. Replace / duplicate or Rename
- Replace – Select this option to keep only the latest preset with the same name in the group
- Duplicate – Select this option to keep two presets with the same name listed in the same group
- Rename – Select this option to append a numeric extension to the name by default or rename it yourself
Oopie! I was supposed to show only my top 5 new features and I ended up showing them all. I guess I got you good
Thanks for checking this out.
BTW Please have a look at my brand new course on the latest Lightroom Classic CC 2019. Its 130 lessons that cover everything in Lightroom Classic and answer ll your pressing questions. A complete beginner can learn Lightroom indie out, or an experienced used can learn the latest features, workflows and tips. At 14 hours of content, it’s the most comprehensive training available anywhere for the new version of Lightroom Classic. This is also an invaluable reference guide you can download and have ready at anytime on your computer or mobile device. see more here including the full table of contents.
Thanks for checking this out!
Colin
PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips.. (I’ve been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)
You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here 
