Editing Pictures While Traveling: Practices and Software Recommendations

[Cantrell]

All,

When you are traveling do you edit or wait until you get back home? What do you use to edit. I got my grandson a 13" MacBook Air for last Christmas. I had an opportunity this weekend to watch him use it. Impressed with my grandson's skill plus the capability of the Air. I probably would like a 15" Air. Anybody else in this group uses a MacBook Air? Suggestions are appreciated.

Reese 

[jrhoffman75]

I use Lightroom Classic as my editor. 
My home setup is a MacBook Air with a 24 inch external monitor. 
I travel with an iPad Pro and have Lightroom app installed on iPad. 
Before I leave I create a Collection in LrC which becomes an Album on the iPad. 
I download desired images into the Album. When internet connection is available the images are uploaded to my MacBook, including any edits. 
When I return home I copy images from Collection to storage folder. 

[Cantrell]

jrhoffman75,

Thank you for your reply.

Reese

[TomRamsey]

Sometimes I will edit when away, I have used an ipad with the Lightroom mobile app,  I now have a MacBook, but haven't used it yet, but it can run LR Classic which is better than the mobile app.[ in my opinion.  Even if I download the images to the mobile device I still keep them in camera and download to my other Mac at home before formatting the cards, just for backup sake.

[Cantrell]

Tom,

Thank you for your ideas.

Reese

[JeffXB]

I’m using a 15” MacBook Air; primarily using Lightroom Classic for culling and editing with a 27” monitor at home. When traveling I don’t do too much editing if any at all. Maybe if the weather isn’t good and I have time I’ll mess around with it. My philosophy is why waste time editing when I’d rather be enjoying the place I’m visiting. It might be different for some folks who are pro’s and on assignment and have a deadline to meet. I do back up my photos religiously every day. I’ve got one of those multi port adapters for the MacBook which allows me to seamlessly transfer my photos from the SD card to a small 2TB SSD drive; simply drag and drop. And if the WiFi in the hotel is good enough I also back up to the cloud as well. 

[Cantrell]

JeffXB,

Thank you for your reply. The information you provided was very helpful. I gave my grandchildren MacBook Airs for this past Christmas. Saw one of my grandsons using his and I was impressed with grandson's usage and the hardware. How do you like your MacBook Air?

[JeffXB]

You’re most welcome. 

I like it a lot. This is my third MacBook. Previously I had Pro versions, but since I’m now retired I don’t need that much processing power any more. I purchased the 15” Air last fall, so it’s with the M4 chip. As I don’t store much on the internal hard drive I simply went with the 512Gb version, but I did upgrade to the 24 core unified memory. It’s more than enough of a machine for my photo and video editing needs as well as web browsing, etc. 

[Cantrell]

JeffXB,

Thank you for the information on the MacBook Air. My grandchildren were excited about getting their laptops for Christmas. I use a Mac Mini with the M1 chip.

[ebiggs1]

I use a laptop PC with a 16" screen which has Photoshop and Lightroom on it. I almost always therther my camera to Lightroom on a shoot with people in the photos especially if it is portraits.

I love my iPhone and iPad but I shy away from any Mac computer because of the OS and hardware inconsistencies and issues. If you are traveling or even just out on a important shoot and you use a Mac anything make sure you turn off OS updates. Ask me how I learned that one!