Opinions on workflow with lightroom and photoshop.

[prodigy2k7]

I do have both photoshop and lightroom and although I dont use photoshop a whole lot anymore there are sometimes I do use it with lightroom.

I would like some suggestions or opinions on how you do your work flow when it comes to editing in lightroom and photoshop.

All my images are in lightroom. I particularly like "levels" in photoshop, but not the sliders in lightroom, its just not the same! On occasion I open in photoshop just to adjust the levels and use other features... Of course photoshop changes are permanent. Im assuming you keep the lightroom picture, and just save the photoshop (as a tiff i think) and it auto-imports back into lightroom, so now you have two copys of the same photo, both with different edits.

Would you save the photoshop edit til the last step, as its not reversible?

For another example, most people do "sharpening" as a final step, if you normally do it in lightroom, do you instead do it in photoshop?

What file do you normally save your final photos in? Tiff? jpeg?

[Ads]

[IgsEMT]

After I do the job i import it with ACDsee renaming to yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss. Since most often I shoot w/ two bodies and a lot of the time have a 2nd photographer, this allows me to load all 3-4 cameras. I use ACDsee for basic stuff - rename, resize and imports and nothing really else.
Then I load the job into LR and go through the 1st RUN: delete the junk, rotate/crop, create virtual copy and add a filter to it... and again DELETE the junk.
Run2 - i go through LR and scrutinize images more thoroughly. THEN I export them out and use PS on specifics that need be. On some jobs, I don't even come close to PS as LR does what I need it to do.

[IgsEMT]

After I do the job i import it with ACDsee renaming to yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss. Since most often I shoot w/ two bodies and a lot of the time have a 2nd photographer, this allows me to load all 3-4 cameras. I use ACDsee for basic stuff - rename, resize and imports and nothing really else.
Then I load the job into LR and go through the 1st RUN: delete the junk, rotate/crop, create virtual copy and add a filter to it... and again DELETE the junk.
Run2 - i go through LR and scrutinize images more thoroughly. THEN I export them out and use PS on specifics that need be. On some jobs, I don't even come close to PS as LR does what I need it to do.

[michaelleggero]

i've been using lightroom for a long time, i do most of my adjustments in there including shapening and noise reduction i'm using version 3.0 then if it needs more i move to photoshop.. there are alot more specific adjustments in photoshop to allow you to really fine tune certain areas and colors.. i'd say lightroom is good for 90% of the work, but there are many things in photoshop you just can't do in lightroom... but i'd say they are advanced photoshop techniques.. for example.. you can dodge and burn, but then there are the variables of feathering, intensity, type of brush, ability to select only one area to work on and ignore the rest even if your hand slips... and i'm sure there are other variables that i don't use on that tool too

if photoshop had the easy to use interface that lightroom does then i'd probably use it alot more.. maybe that's how bridge is but i've never gotten into bridge so i don't know

Mike Leggero

http://www.michaelleggero.com

[Big Mike]

I try to do as much as I can in LR. Saving my Photoshop edits, if any are required, to later in the workflow. I also like the levels in Photoshop, more than the sliders in LR, but with the combination of a few sliders and the tone curve, I don't really need to use Levels in PS.

I just use the 'Edit in', from within LR and then Photoshop spits it back out to LR as a Tiff, I'm fine with that.

I almost always use collections for my images in LR. For example, when I do a shoot, I pick out the best ones and create a new collection for them. Then I just use that collection when I go to the Develop module. (or print, web etc.). So when Photoshop gives me back the ####-edit.tiff file, I keep that one in the collection and just select the original file and remove it from the collection.

[KenC]

Everything in PS is reversible and non-destructive if you do it using layers, typically adjustment layers for curves, levels, brightness, color mods, etc. To me, the ability to paint on adjustment layer masks to make alterations limited to specific areas of the image, and to do it reversibly, is the key feature of PS. You can save all the layers as part of a .psd file. If you need to flatten and convert the .psd to a tiff or jpeg to use in another application, you still have the .psd file to go back to.

[timbearden]

I do general edits in lightroom. If it needs more work I take it into Photoshop. I'm more familiar with Photoshop as that is what I was taught in school.

I too like the levels in Photoshop better, plus the cloning tools etc. Also I have a lot of actions in Photoshop.

[LearnMyShot]

maybe give this a look How to Import and Organize Your Photos with Photoshop CS5 - Watch Free Tutorial at LearnMyShot.com I hope it helps

[Big Mike]

Everything in PS is reversible and non-destructive if you do it using layers, typically adjustment layers for curves, levels, brightness, color mods, etc. To me, the ability to paint on adjustment layer masks to make alterations limited to specific areas of the image, and to do it reversibly, is the key feature of PS. You can save all the layers as part of a .psd file. If you need to flatten and convert the .psd to a tiff or jpeg to use in another application, you still have the .psd file to go back to.

That's true...you can have a Photoshop workflow that is 'non-destructive'...but you are saving copies and creating files that can get huge.

[ghache]

I generaly import everything is lightroom, work the basic raw thing in lightroom
rightclick edit a copy in cs5 and do all the changes i want in there. (blemishes removal, removing shadows, skin smoothing, sharpening, eyes and whatever. Save it and then go back in light room to export as a jpegs, add watermark and all the stuff.

i like to keep 1 copy unedited for future work. However, the copy created by cs5 will be somewere between 50 to 400mb depending on the work, number of layers you create into that workfile. like mike said, files can get big but if you know photoshop and put a certain amount of work into your pictures, why not.