Adobe MAX is widely regarded as the world’s premier conference for professional digital creatives, held annually in the United States. It's typically held on the U.S. West Coast in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Las Vegas, though Adobe MAX has also been hosted in various other cities in the U.S.
This year, the event marked a milestone by being hosted on the East Coast for the first time, in Miami Beach. (Side note – thoughts going out to Floridians and others in the US affected by Hurricane Milton).
You can think of it as a music festival for digital creatives, but instead of music stages and bands, it's a multitude of different mini events and workshops hosted by top digital artists. It all sounds like a lot of fun, with the biggest stress being trying to decide which of the 252 'sessions' to go to over 3–5 days (3 festival days + 2 pre-conference days) with more than 275 speakers.
In fact, Adobe have been kind enough to send the Capture team along to give you the reader, an inside view of the conference with our travel blog (and Capture Facebook and Capture Instagram) , as well as the chance for us to interview some of the top people from Adobe, and other talented content creators.
Importantly, even if you can't make it along physically, there are many excellent online sessions to go to.
You can register for free online sessions here.
In regards to there being different online sessions for different timezones and regions, you can access these online sessions regardless to where you are located, though it may mean you need to note that Miami time is 15 hours behind Australian East Coast daylight-saving time.
Professionals are introduced to the latest updates, features, and tools across Adobe’s product line, with major announcements traditionally reserved for the event's keynotes. During these sessions (a.k.a 'sneaks'), Adobe reveals new products and features that are often launched on the same day or shortly afterward.
The conference covers a broad range of creative disciplines, including graphic design, illustration, videography, photography, UI/UX, 3D art, augmented reality, social media, collaboration, productivity, and education.
For photographers, post-production gurus, social media content creators and videographers, there is a lot to sink your teeth into.
Photowise, there are 40 photo orientated sessions (22 in-person and 18 online) with some highlights including:
• Brian Matlash (creator of Lightroom Everywhere) : Photo enhancements with Lightroom for mobile and web
• Anne Tenne (photographer) : Harnessing the power of AI in Lightroom Classic
• Benjamin Warde (Adobe Lightroom Senior Product Manager) : Lightroom for everyone.
Other highlights for photographically inclined include:
• Balancing Fantasy and Authenticity in the Era of AI-Generated Imagery with Brenda Mills
• Enhancing Your Work Through Cinematic Colour Grading with Tobi Shinobi
• Expanding Creative Possibilities with Photoshop on Chrome with Temi Coker
• Explore Frame.io Camera to Cloud and Real-time Collaboration with Andrea Saloio and Rich Harrington
• Lightroom for mobile with Toren Reaves (online)
• Elevating Storytelling: Stylistic Consistency in Photography with Alixe Lay (online)
• From Dreams to Reality with Generative AI and Creative Suite with Alex Vo, John Canning & Mark Sebastia
• How to Best Capture the Magic of a Destination in Photos with Ron Timehin (online)
• How to Make Creative Short-Form Video for Social Media with Tina Lee (online)
• Next-Generation Editing Workflows for Video Creators with Kelsey Brannan & David Leopold
And then there are five photowalks in the Miami Beach area that are hosted by top photographers such as:
• Katrin Eismann (experimental lighting with gels and mirrors)
• Lisa Carney (Lighting and processing)
• Carline Tran (location portraits)
• Jose Tutiven (B&W portraits)
• Kenneth Hines Jr. (Urban landscape)
For Australia and New Zealand, online conferences take place on:
Tuesday 15 October
2-4:30pm AEDT – Opening Keynote
4:30pm AEDT – Breakout sessions
Wednesday 16 October
8:30-10:00am AEDT – Sneaks
1:00-2:30pm AEDT – Inspiration Keynote
3:00-4:00pm AEDT – Luminary Session
3:00-4:00pm AEDT – Creativity Super Session: Human-centred AI strategies for creative leaders
So stay tuned to follow us on the Capture Instagram and Facebook page, as well as the Capture website.
You can find out more about the Adobe Max creativity conference here.
Also, if you are still on the fence for using Lightroom and Photoshop, you can purchase (or free trial) the Creative Cloud Photography Suite for $171.47 a year, which we feel is good value for what most people regard as the industry standard software.