Lightroom to Photo Ninja to NIK workflow

[bob_estremera]

<p>Need to help with what might be a complicated workflow.<br>

Just picked up a Fuji X-T10 with those crazy X trans files. Definitely a big step up from my Canon APS files. High ISO is great. Recoverable shadow detail is fanstastic.<br />I did some testing and found that Photo Ninja did a much better job handling both well-lit and shadow details.<br />I usually do a LR to Silver Efex Pro workflow that is very efficient. But now I'm going to need a LR>PN>SEP workflow.<br />I would like to avoid working in PN first, then importing every TIFF file to LR then go to SEP. That would be cumbersome.<br /><br />Anybody doing this? What have you found that works?<br /><br /><br>

Thanks</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>I use PN and would think using it after LR would be a waste of time. I'm not sure why you would want to do this as the magic needs to happen before LR sees it.</p>

<p>What I do is Use photo ninja's batch mode and dump the tiffs into an existing tree inside the LR database. From LR I just synchronize the folder. Not much work and the adjustments are made before LR get's it's grubby hands on them.</p>

[bob_estremera]

<p>I agree with PN first Peter. I was just thinking that I would view the files and sort/move the photos according to my archiving/sorting process in LR, ie: folders for 'street photography', 'portraits', 'night photography', etc. . But I would do all the actual file work in PN first. After the PN work, my plan would be to re-import to LR where I would 'Edit photo in' Silver Efex then save back to LR in the appropriate folder with final TIFF next to the original Fuji RAF file.<br>

I've never synchronized folders in LR. What is that process and what does it accomplish?</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>When you synchronize a folder, LR imports (in place) any new files there and removes thumbnails of files not there any more. This is done by right-clicking the folder in the file tree in the left in the library manager. After doing this once or twice you will get the hang of it.</p>

<p>I'm mostly a film guy, so I am constantly importing TIFs and I find it much easier to sync the folder for imports.</p>

<p>Bringing the raw files into the same directory may become confusing, in the long run. You might want to stuff them in a subdirectory to keep them separate.</p>

[emil_ems5]

<p>I am curious: what does Photo Ninja do that Lightroom cannot (or does worse)?</p>

[bob_estremera]

<p>Photo Ninja yields a real difference in fine details and texture. Not, POW, WOW. But, "Oh, this is much better."<br>

Also, when you lift shadows in PN, there is much more shadow detail.</p>

 

[peterbcarter]

<p>It is not a comparable product to LR, but it is to ACR.</p>

[bob_estremera]

Agreed, and I wish I didn't need to add the additional complication to the workflow. But the improvement in file quality is

real for the Fuji X files. It's just so frustrating, as others have pointed out, that a guy with a computer (PN) can create a

better file output to the most popular mirrorless system than Adobe with all it's resources.