workflow: LR + PS

I have both LR 3.6 and Photoshop CS5. I feel like I understand LR very well and PS pretty well, but I am not integrating

them well together.

 

For most of my images, LR 3.6 is sufficient. Sometimes, I need to use photoshop for some more complicated editing.

 

For example, I recently photographed a family. The best photo of the session had some yellow police tape in the

background (out-of-focus), so I removed it using clone-stamp. Getting it right was very time consuming. I then took it

back into lightroom and added a few finishing touches (sharpening, post-crop vignetting). OK, good. Unfortunately, I

cropped it before I took it into photoshop and photoshop doesn't save your layers when you go back into lightroom, so if I

need to recrop it, I have to start from scratch, including redoing the clone-stamp. Now I want to print a large canvas,

which means I need wrap. I also need to print a 5x7 and the image is cropped for 16x9 which suits the composition.

 

I've found myself in similar situations many times before and each time I intend to learn my way out of it.

 

So, I have two questions:

1. when you go from LR to PS and back, how do you save your layers in a way that is compatible with the LR catalog?

2. what things do you do in lightroom and what do you do in photoshop?

 

Clearly, cropping should be the last step, so that should be post photoshop, right? That means if I plan complex editing

in photoshop, I need to work on uncropped images.

 

Are there good books on this? I've got plenty of books on LR and PS (Kelby, Evening) individually.

If you get Lightroom 5, you will find that you need Photoshop far less, that's a good start. In particular, LR 5

has a much more advanced clone/heal than it did before and it is easier to use than cloning in PS. Some of

what I used PS for also went away with the radial filter tool. I find it extremely rare to use PS with LR 5.

<p>

Regarding your workflow question, this is a good thread on the topic:

</p><p>

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=63642.0

</p>

+1 on using LR 5. LR 4 is a leap forward, and LR 5 takes on even more, which makes your life easier.

<BR>

<BR>

But that doesn't address your question, does it?

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<BR>

I do everything I can in LR except cropping and post-crop vignetting, if I expect to need to go to PS for

further work. If I crop an image to see if I like it, then work with that version, I can always make a virtual

copy to save the crop, reset the crop on the original file, edit, then re-do the crop based on my copy.

Since I do some clarity and sharpening work on my final images, I almost always have to go to PS for

deliverables.

<BR>

<BR>

When (in LR) you choose "edit in PS", LR creates a PSD file. You can then do whatever you need with

layers, etc, and those do not go away when you leave PS. You can easily re-edit that PSD file by

selecting the "original" to edit, instead of a new copy. There is no need to flatten the image when you

leave PS.

<BR>

<BR>

Also, in PS, you can tell it to not delete the area outside of your crop, if you crop there. There's a

setting with the crop tool to retain everything.

<BR>

<BR>

In other words, it's possible to do all of this work without losing any data at all at any step in the

process. The only real crop would occur when export the final image from LR.

<BR>

<BR>

In your current situation, however, yes, you'll have to start over and do it again.

<BR>

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Feel free to message me, or ask more questions here. Happy to help.

>>There is no need to flatten the image when you leave PS. <<

 

<p>

I believe that you will not retain the layers if you work on it in LR after PS.</p>

<p>I think the layers are retained but that the post-PS LR work is on that "maximize compatibility" 'layer' that PS will insert.</p>

Here's what happens:<p>

 

<blockquote>...When you apply Develop changes to a layered photo, that layered photo must be flattened to apply the

changes, losing your layers in the process. Of course, that doesn’t have to be done until the final export.

If you need to open the photo back into Photoshop to make further adjustments to the layers, perhaps for

additional retouching, choose the Edit Original or Edit a Copy options, rather than Edit a Copy with

Lightroom Adjustments. That will open the layered file into Photoshop without your Develop adjustments,

and when you bring the file back into Lightroom, your Develop adjustments will still be laid

nondestructively over the top.</blockquote></P><p>

 

(Victoria Bampton)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I believe that you will not retain the layers if you work on it in LR after PS.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This would be incorrect. If you simply apply LR editing, which is non-destructive, to the PSD file, then the PSD file stays exactly like it was. Which is what I implied, and what the manual excerpt above says. It's only until you<em> regenerate the image with the LR adjustments</em> into a new edit that you lose the layers <em>in the new edit</em>. Even if you do that, the original PSD file still has its layers; they don't go away. LR is completely non-destructive.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure my comments above fall in line with the excerpt, too.</p>

<p>LR does like to have the maximum compatibility flag set, I believe.</p>

<p>For what it's worth, I do this all the time, and have no trouble going back to the original PSD file for additional editing. It's why I leave only a few minor steps for the last thing in LR before the export.</p>

<p>Don't crop before you take the image into Photoshop. Save your full layered file when complete.</p>

<p>Use Lightroom to do final things like cropping, post crop vignetting, output sharpening. </p>

<p>If you need to go back into Photoshop from Lightroom, use "Edit Original" rather that rendering a copy with all your Lightroom edits. It will affect the underlying PSD file, and then your LR edits will still be there on top of it. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the so useful help! I had no idea I could so simply save the layers.</p>

<p>now I'll have to learn what LR6 adds to LR3.6. I presume you can still buy the s/w and don't have to rent it.</p>

<p>LR <em>5</em> was recently released (I think the updates are up to 5.2). LR is not part of CC, no. You can download a copy of version 4 or version 5 and try it out for 30 days. I will say that LR 4 alone is worth the upgrade fee, due to the processing improvements. I've been assured that LR 5 is even better.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I think the updates are up to 5.2<br>

</p>

</blockquote>

<p>5.2 is a "release candidate" but the release candidate is far less buggy than 5.0 was. It's free to use 5.2 until the official release.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>now I'll have to learn what LR6 adds to LR3.6.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>A lot! The raw processing engine is vastly superior (Process Version 2012). Probably no reason to move past Photoshop CS5, put your energies in LR and use Photoshop for precise pixel editing (cloning and such). And yes, you can buy Lightroom as a perpetual license (at least for the time being and I don't see that changing). </p>