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Feel Buoyed
Participating Frequently
May 24, 2020
Answered

Best workflow for saving edits on a NAS?

  • May 24, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 7511 views

I have just bought the photography package and have never used Lightroom or Photoshop before. I am a mac user. I have saved some raw (tiff) files onto my desktop and want to be able to save the finished photo onto my NAS and for Lightroom to manage the library. It seems simple enough to import the file into lightroom make my adjustments and export the finished tiff file to the NAS. Am I right in thinking that if I now wish to edit further in Photoshop I can open the tiff from the NAS make any changes I want and then when finished just overwrite the file on the NAS or is it good practice/necessary to keep both the original lightroom file and the Photoshop file. If I keep both will Lightroom library track this. Obviously having no experience I want to start off the "right" way and ensure my libary is set up so I can go back to an early photo in either Lightroom or Photoshop and re-edit as I become more proficient. Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Lauca

    This is not the correct workflow for what you want to accomplish.

    In LR, you don't "save" the finished photo like in PS. Instead LR don't modify the original and save your edits in its database (the catalog). When you need the final image (to print, to end in a email, etc..) you "Export", asking LR to use the original and the settings to create a resulting image with the caracteristics (file format, dimension, etc...) coresponding to the usage of this image. Note that once used, you don't need to keep this resulting image because you can recreate it at any time by doing an Export again.

    So my suggested workflow would be as follow:

    1. Import the RAW in LR, asking LR to store the file on the NAS.
    2. Do the edit you want in LR.
    3. In LR, right click on the image and select "Edit in" then choose "Photoshop". This will ask LR to call PS and give it the image with all the LR edits. If your original is a RAW, LR will ask for the format to use and create a copy that will be passed to PS.
    4. Do your edits in PS.
    5. Once finished, click "Save" in PS. This will update the copy passed by LR to PS and these changes will automatically reflected in LR.

    4 replies

    T68203159
    T68203159
    Known Participant
    May 24, 2020

    so i too am a new user for a short while now and it seems a bit like you too started out wanting to use PS being torn between trying to figure out PS and LR....  I bought PS and LR books and proceeded to get throughly confused trying to learn 2 methods.  I ultimately choose to focus on LR classic and the little i know seems like you are talking about a lot of dangerous unnecessary steps for a newcomer - if it were me that is - on all the importing / exporting / syncing /and using PS at the same time.

     

    Adobe has a lot of great videos for both if you choose, youtubes, etc.  I also got TheLightRoomQueen book which is very good i think for LR Classic which i now focus on.  You can still go back and forth, but thats not for me on a regular way - LR is very powerful in itself i find and i so far do not need PS for me. 

     

      F
      Feel BuoyedAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      May 25, 2020

      Yes it is a little daunting and I am keen to ensure I dont make a mistake in setup that will cause me a big problem down the line. I looked up the Lightroomqueen and found their forum. Thanks

        dj_paige
        dj_paige
        Legend
        May 24, 2020

        Never overwrite your original images!

        gary_sc
        Community Expert
        gary_scCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 24, 2020

        Let me also add to Lauca that you will probably be doing 95% or greater of your edits in LR. You only need to go into PS if you want to remove an object bigger than a plane in the sky or change the perspective in a cropping*, etc. As far as making the image look better, you have pretty much all you need right in LR.

         

        There are many other examples for things that are best done in PS but these will come to you with experience.

         

        * (in Photoshop there is cropping an image and there's Perspective cropping. Let's say you are at a museum and you've taken a photo of a painting. But you took that photo at an angle and want to get that looking square, you can't do that in LR and need to go into PS to sqare the painting using Perspective cropping.

          F
          Feel BuoyedAuthor
          Participating Frequently
          May 25, 2020

          Thanks, I agree Lightroom will be the main focus for me. I just wanted to ensure that I was passing the file between that and Photoshop correctly.

            F
            Franxperience
            Inspiring
            May 24, 2020
            Hi, LR works with a database with linked images. If you want an image added to this database the image should be in a folder known by LR. Then right click the folder and choose synchronize folder. From then on LR knows the images and changes on the file are recognized. When a new version is saved or moved from outside LR synchronization is needed again. When you edit a picture in PS when selected from LR (right click => edit in PS) then LR creates a tiff and the result of ps is brought back into LR. It needs some studying.

            Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad
              F
              Feel BuoyedAuthor
              Participating Frequently
              May 24, 2020

              Thanks for your help, I think i've got it now.

              Lauca
              LaucaCorrect answer
              Participating Frequently
              May 24, 2020

              This is not the correct workflow for what you want to accomplish.

              In LR, you don't "save" the finished photo like in PS. Instead LR don't modify the original and save your edits in its database (the catalog). When you need the final image (to print, to end in a email, etc..) you "Export", asking LR to use the original and the settings to create a resulting image with the caracteristics (file format, dimension, etc...) coresponding to the usage of this image. Note that once used, you don't need to keep this resulting image because you can recreate it at any time by doing an Export again.

              So my suggested workflow would be as follow:

              1. Import the RAW in LR, asking LR to store the file on the NAS.
              2. Do the edit you want in LR.
              3. In LR, right click on the image and select "Edit in" then choose "Photoshop". This will ask LR to call PS and give it the image with all the LR edits. If your original is a RAW, LR will ask for the format to use and create a copy that will be passed to PS.
              4. Do your edits in PS.
              5. Once finished, click "Save" in PS. This will update the copy passed by LR to PS and these changes will automatically reflected in LR.
                F
                Feel BuoyedAuthor
                Participating Frequently
                May 24, 2020

                Many thanks for the clear explanation, I see now.

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