Lightroom then Photoshop or Photoshop then Lightroom

[schimmey]

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Hi all. I have been trying lightoom and photoshop and like the idea of being able to move between the 2. I have watched some of the tutorials and messing around to see how they work. A lot is made of editing now being non-destructive but I have found that if I start off in lightroom then edit in photoshop that once the image is back in lightroom I can no longer edit it again in photoshop in terms of retaining layers etc. Is there anyway I can ensure that the edited image can be re-edited to take into account previous edits or is it a case of doing my editing etc in photoshop then using lightroom to catagorise, print etc? Thanks, Paul.

[Guest WPalank]

Lightroom first as your DAM program and basic edits. then off the PS where you can maintain the layers and do a "Save As..." PSD (Photoshop file) or TIFF and maintain your Layers. Mind you, those files will be a bit large.

 

You can also, hit "Save", which will send your new image with Layers back to LR, but when you go back to PS, click the button "Edit Copy" and it will appear in PS with Layers.

[Fotomiguel]

Capture one then camera raw then photoshop. Capture one to start give me better colors with the M9 files

[250swb]

Is there anyway I can ensure that the edited image can be re-edited to take into account previous edits or is it a case of doing my editing etc in photoshop then using lightroom to catagorise, print etc? Thanks, Paul.

 

Not sure why you can't just do everything in Photoshop and Bridge. Unless the work you do is incredibly time sensitive stop using Lightroom. As soon as you are working under the one roof of Photoshop workflow speed improves anyway. And of course when you need to take your time with editing its all under a familiar umbrella instead of chopping and changing. Lightroom isn't all its cracked up to be if you have an eye to making the image perfect, as opposed to churning out a good enough representation of what you wanted.

 

Steve

[wda]

Not sure why you can't just do everything in Photoshop and Bridge.

Steve

For some operations,yes. But LR can do far more for your pictures, non-destructively, apart from its wonderful DAM function. Storing instructions consumes far less space than multi-layered files.

[250swb]

Its a sad day for any creative photographer when space is more a worry than results. The sexiness of cameras should at least be in balance with equipment suitable to process the images without making compromises, even if memory is positively boring to buy

 

Steve

[schimmey]

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What is the DAM function? Thanks, Paul.

[Shootist]

For some operations,yes. But LR can do far more for your pictures, non-destructively, apart from its wonderful DAM function. Storing instructions consumes far less space than multi-layered files.

 

You can do all that in ACR through Bridge/PS. No need to use LR. In fact LR uses ACR to do all the edits.

[ho_co]

Paul--

DAM = Digital Assets Management--that is, filing, organizing, cataloging, keywording, database management

[andalus]

I have both CS5/Bridge and LR 3. I have put LR 3 away, don't use it. It seems I can organize my modest output well enough on Bridge, and then use ACR or open in PS. Simpler. At least for me.

[Paul Verrips]

I never been in love with Photoshop, i prefer having a balanced workflow and not doing al the PS stuff. when i was shooting Nikon, i used Nikon Capture and since a few weeks i use LR3. Just had a LR3 workshop today and i think thank LR3 is perfect all-in-one software.

[wda]

Paul--

DAM = Digital Assets Management--that is, filing, organizing, cataloging, keywording, database management

.... Searching and retrieving" All vital steps in your work-flow.

[wda]

Its a sad day for any creative photographer when space is more a worry than results. The sexiness of cameras should at least be in balance with equipment suitable to process the images without making compromises, even if memory is positively boring to buy

 

Steve

Forget the storage issue; it is not the main argument. However I still believe it is neater to store instructions relating to 'x' variants of a digital file than having to manage the same number of distributed files, possibly mixed on and off-line.

[Jaybob]

For large groups of files, Nikon weddings shot in .NEF, assignments, and specific projects, they all go into Lightroom, each assignment or project into it's OWN CATATLOG. I made that decision after upgrading to LR2. For working with volume, and my idea of what organization is, I think it's the best program out there, and if you turn all of the automatic corrections off when you import, the color rendition is what you make it. The noise reduction tool in LR3 is pretty darn good.

 

I find myself using Photoshop CS5 when I have 2 or three images to work on or images that need more work than the LR interface allows (not too often). However, I have a 64 bit Windows 7 machine, and a 64 and 32 bit version of PSCS5, and some of my older plug ins, (DFine, and Exposure 2) don't work in the 64 bit environment or don't work in LR3.

 

Not to complain, and I know were in Leica land, the world of happy DNG files, but I've used Photoshop since version 3 (!), and I'm not the biggest fan of how every time Nikon introduces a new flagship model, the .NEF files are unreadable in the previous version of the program. I can open a D3 file in CS3 but I had to upgrade to CS5 to open D3s files. Conversion to DNG is always an option, I know, but to have PS tell me that it cant open the file, because "it is not the right type of file" was beyond frustrating. Hard to explain why LR doesn't seem to suffer from that, as I can open D3s files in LR2 and probably LR1.

 

Jay