When to export from LR to PS?

weepete · Jan 17, 2014

Hi all,

I was just wondering if a picture needs more complex editing say some cloning or cutom tweeking in Photoshop, where in your workflow is it best to do it? I'm a bit unsure if I should do it at the start, make basic adjustments in lightroom then open in PS and back into LR for the final edit or do as much as you can in LR and then do the PS work on the final image?

hirejn · Jan 17, 2014

I do whatever I can in LR before I go to PS. So, whatever I can't do in LR, I do in PS, and that's usually complex selections, layers and pixel manipulation. If I don't go to PS, I finish in LR or another plugin, like Color Efex. I don't edit images first in PS. The reason is LR has import presets, organizing and cataloging, and batch editing that are easier and faster to do in LR.

KmH · Jan 17, 2014

I often go back and forth from LR to CC. The 2 are so well integrated so I don't have a time factor issue doing so.
But I use Camera Raw for editing way more than I use LR.

I am pretty fast at using Camera Raw because I've been using it since before there was Lightroom.
Plus I can change the working color space and bit depth in Camera Raw, which cannot be done in LR.
Photoshop CC now has a nifty Camera Raw filter too.

Photoshop has had ACR -Adobe Camera Raw 1 - since Photoshop 7 (August 2002). Note: Photoshop CS 6 is Photoshop 13. Photoshop CC is Photoshop 14.

Lightroom ($299 retail, just LR not LR 1) started shipping February 19, 2007 - 4.5 years after ACR was 1st available in Photoshop 7
Lightroom 5's Develop module is essentially the same ACR (ACR 8) that Photoshop CC has.

I also find that many people that have one of the Photoshop CS versions or CC don't know how to use Bridge Batch processing and Image Processor capabilities.
Not many people seem to know that using Bridge and Photoshop you can have 2 Camera Raw windows open at the same time - One Camera Raw window hosted by Bridge and the second hosted by Photoshop.
That's something else LR can't do.

Camera Raw has some features LR Develop module doesn't have, and LR Develop module has some features Camera Raw doesn't have.