There is much to be gained from getting involved with an online community of folks who share a similar interest to your own. Not surprisingly there are a growing number of people who like to talk about their experiences with Lightroom. When you have a problem and are looking for fast help a forum populated with expert users is a great place to turn. There are 3 main Lightroom-centric forums that I participate in regularly. While there is certainly some overlap in membership each has its own unique flavor. Here are my favorites:
- Adobe’s User to User – Populated by folks who have been using Lightroom since the beta days this forum is a treasure trove of Lightroom history. This forum is pretty much all business, and it is a great place to go if you want to delve deeper into Lightroom’s workings or you need help with a problem. I can’t imagine there has been a Lightroom problem that hasn’t been raised (and usually solved or at least acknowledged) here before. Keep in mind that although this forum is housed on Adobe’s turf it is a “user to user” forum, so don’t go there looking for official Adobe Support (that is not to say the Lightroom Team doesn’t pop in from time to time). The forum software is a bit clumsy, but there is gold to be found in there if you are willing to look for it.
- Flickr Adobe Lightroom Group – If you are a Flickr user then you’ll want to join this group. Very friendly to new Lightroom users, and a very active group overall. Discussions range from problem solving to discussing techniques and the latest Lightroom news. The Flickr forum software makes the Adobe U2U forum look good, which is actually kinda scary. That said, if you are already on Flickr you’ll probably find this to be a group worth participating in. Just don’t ask about the group photo pool. 🙂
- Lightroom Forums – This aptly named group was spawned from the U2U forums so it is chock-full of Lightroom users, gurus, developers, authors, and even some Adobe staff. Very friendly to new Lightroom users, these folks practically answer your questions before you’ve posted them. Since it is simply a forum dedicated to Lightroom it provides all the benefits a dedicated forum can provide. More a labor of love than anything else you’ll be hard pressed to find a better group of Lightroom users waiting for you to pull up a chair. Filling in your signature with your system particulars before venturing out has been known to make the Moderators swoon.
As there are only 24 hours in the day (and several are reserved for eating) these are the only Lightroom forums I frequent. Are there any others that are free and open to all? I’d love to hear about them.