Gaming PC or laptop. At least 16GB of RAM, i7 processor, and discrete graphics card. SSD at least 512GB. Desktop add a large 2TB or better conventional drive for storage.

A lot of photographers can’t stand the idea of their images being anywhere but on their hard drive. They also want to ALWAYS have access to image refinement tools they only use RARELY. If you subscribe to these restrictions, please stop reading. Another way of looking at things is that Adobe has provided a suite of tools that give you a huge amount of flexibility in how you store and manipulate images, and the ability to publish them on the fly, from wherever you happen to be. When you find that outstanding image that’s worth investing a lot of time in, use a computer with classic. When you want to quickly share polished images right after taking the shots, use the phone or tablet versions. All the while knowing that Adobe’s sync tools will ensure you can refine them on a computer later, if the need arises.

I use Lightroom almost exclusively. Here’s my workflow:

1. Take pics with Olympus mirror less, Canon SX620 P&S.
2. Use the respective apps on my iPhone to load images to Photos app.
3. Launch Lightroom on the phone, which imports images from camera roll.
4. LR syncs images to cloud.
5. If I’m doing a simple edit to post on social media, or send in a messaging app, use LR on the iPhone, and share from there.
6. Launch LR Classic on my laptop, which syncs with the cloud.
7. Perform more complex editing, establish collections (albums), and share from the laptop.
8. LR Classic uploads edited images to the cloud so they are accessible from anywhere.

Yes, it reduced the over-exposed area. Nice work.

I think the second image is better. I might have damped down highlights/whites a little more, and possibly upped blacks or played with shadows.

Love the Lightroom subscription. Use Classic on my Mac and Windows desktop, and CC on my iPhone/iPad. They can be set up to sync from Photos on the phone, to/from the cloud and to the Classic versions. Being able to import images into the phone on the fly, and do rudimentary edits there is great. Knowing that I can make serious updates on the computers is great too. It's definitely worth it.

I love Lightroom. I use Classic on the Mac and have it sync with CC everywhere else. I import pics via wifi to my iPhone, and sync automatically to LR. I can do quick edits there, or wait until LR CC syncs to my Mac and use Classic. Gives me a lot of flexibility, depending on how quickly I want to share the pics, and how precisely I want to edit them.

If you have a recent Time Machine backup restore it. If it's not recent, copy recent files to a flash drive/external hard drive, then restore. If you don't have a backup, make one, then restore your machine using the original operating system (CD/DVD or flash drive) then restore your files from the backup.

It's amazing that American Airlines can take the Dreamliner, and turn it into an 11 hour torture chamber. It can, economy seats on what is otherwise a great plane, are so tight that there is simply no way to get comfortable in them.

Great camera. Bigger isn't always better.

I've used Lightroom quite happily. Is your iPad an older model?

The marketing types probably have no clue how the cameras work, what they are capable of, or the best way to showcase that capability. They generally create shiny objects, because humans, like magpies, are attracted to them. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that some of them are stock images taken with different gear altogether. They are about as valuable as movie stubs after the main event.

As a retired IT pro, I had another metric “talking to a CEO, extremely demanding, judgmental, and the attention span of a gnat.”

Thanks for the feedback. Intuitively, the term “bridge camera” meant something more than a very simple point and shoot, and something less than a DSLR or MILC. Use cases might help narrow it down, such as “more portable than an ILC”, or “better optical zoom than a basic P&S”, or “offers manual override of exposure control and focus”. After that it’s down to personal opinion of what qualifies/doesn’t qualify. Some people are more demanding, and have bigger budgets, than others. Others emphasize portability over capability. Finally there are “must have” features, which vary from one person to another, such as “shooting in RAW”, “waterproof”, “4K video”, to name a few.

Takes pictures of, or from, bridges? Used by state DOT to manage traffic flow.

On a less flippant note, I recently bought a Canon SX 720. It’s my hiking and ballooning camera. The 40x zoom is nice, the small sensor produces less desirable results, but it fits on my belt, takes better pictures than my iPhone, and I can take pictures without falling off a mountain, or out of a hot air balloon.

I wouldn’t risk my Olympus E-M10 in those circumstances, so it bridges my competing needs.