Photo browsing has never been massively straightforward. Programs like Adobe Bridge can often get laggy, whilst iPhoto and Lightroom seem obsessed with backing media up and chewing up hard drive space. 

With its latest cross platform release Adobe hopes to change all this, announcing software that takes lessons learned from Lightroom and what we presume is Apple's native photo browsing app and then combines them. 

The result is Adobe Carousel, an iPad, iPhone, iPod and OS X compatible cloud browser for photos shot across devices. The software uses Lightroom technology to keep processing smooth and consistent and should in theory have shots looking the same regardless which hardware you run the program on. 

Client apps are downloaded to whatever devices you want to run them from and then you simply setup a subscription and get snapping or viewing if you prefer. 

From within Carousel you can adjust things like exposure, shadows, highlights, white balance, vibrance, clarity and contrast. You can also rapidly shift the appearance of photos with what Adobe is calling looks, which we presume are presets that will add things like vignetter or a retro effect. 

You can also use Carousel to create shared photo libraries between friends and family as well as sharing shots straight to Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or email. 

Yearly subscriptions are priced at £39.99, or you can pay £3.99 per month if you would prefer. The app suite itself will be available to download later this month. 

Pretty cool stuff from Adobe in what looks like an exciting way to share and tweak shots on your Apple devices. Shame about the subscriptions and bizarre that Adobe would allow something like Photoshop to go for free on smartphones, but then perhaps it intends Carousel to be its mobile flagship.

Like the idea of Adobe Carousel?