Welcome to the Cloud
By Albert Pedrosa
IT’S in the cloud. If ever you returned back in time and you start talking about data found in the cloud, people would probably look up and wonder if you’re crazy or just plain stupid. Who would ever thought that we are now in the cloud technology? All electronic devices and even business models and software are all directed to cloud technology.
Recently, Adobe decided to up their game with their involvement in cloud technology. They have been in this direction for the last three years when they decided to shift to Creative Cloud, and now a major update with Lightroom. There’s now two Lightroom versions: one is the Classic Lightroom and the other is Lightroom CC.
The Classic is the same old reliable and powerful software for photographers working on their desktops. The newly introduced LR CC is for the on-the-go photographer who wants access to his files anytime through any mobile device connected to the web. The application works exactly the same whether in desktop or in your mobile device.
The LR CC, though, is not as sophisticated as the classic version. There’s a lot of tools and features that are not available. In my type of work with Lightroom, the missing tools are some of the important ones that I use in my normal workflow. I think that the direction is directed to the hobbyist and consumer-type of user.
If for purposes of easy web sharing, I’d still use Dropbox as my main cloud storage site. If you’ll compare Adobe CC and Dropbox performance in terms of cloud storage reliability, I think Dropbox is way better. Maybe they should buy Dropbox instead since even if I’ll compare it with Google Drive, I’d still go for Dropbox.
My entire photographic workflow is connected to Dropbox. When sending large files to clients, I just give them a link and I can even put an expiration on the link. My portfolio is both in my website and in my Dropbox. I have smaller file sizes of the photos for sharing, and hi-res for printing and other purpose.
Storage is still a major problem when photography shifted to digital. Most of the external storage devices are still susceptible to damage in the long run. DVD is not reliable since it is easily damaged and becomes unreadable at times. Backing up you file in the cloud would be a sensible thing to do. Only the essential ones, of course.
The subscription to cloud storage is getting affordable and internet infrastructure is way faster today than the last couple of years. It can still improve, though, but definitely a lot better than before. Cloud services are definitely the future. It’s going to be part of everyday transactions, and whether you like it or not, you have to join the bandwagon at some point.
Keep on shooting, everyone!
photomania.sunstar@gmail.com
www.abertpedrosa.com
