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Bazsl
Inspiring
December 31, 2022
Question

Lightroom does not read edits saved in TIFF file

  • December 31, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1475 views

I edit a TIFF file in LR.

I export the file as original.

I import the exported file into LR and all of the edits are gone.

I open the exported file in Photoshop, the file opens in ACR and all of the edits are there.

 

Why can't LR see the edits it writes in the TIFF file? Am I missing a step? Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Jim Wilde
Community Expert
Jim WildeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 31, 2022
Deleted.
TheDigitalDog
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
December 31, 2022

Actually, a TIFF, PNG, etc can be opened in Adobe Camera Raw depending on how the user sets the Open options. For example: 

You do this by selecting Format menu as Camera Raw. TIFFs, JPEGs etc, open in ACR despite the Adobe Camera Raw preferences for JPEG support. 

Not sure what the OP may be doing, but it is possible it is this. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
Jim Wilde
Community Expert
Jim WildeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 31, 2022

Yes Andrew, I'd realised that and deleted my post, but not before you saw it!!

TheDigitalDog
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
December 31, 2022

The 'edits' should be embedded into the TIFF container. Depending on the steps, you may not see them (they usually must be rendered with the original TIFF data). 

Edit as Original may open the TIFF (outside LR) without rendering those edits (it's treated as the original). 

Can you upload such a TIFF to something like Dropbox so others can examine it? 

You say, "I export the file as original." can you provide the Export settings or better, screen capture of what you're selecting here?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
B
BazslAuthor
Inspiring
December 31, 2022
"The 'edits' should be embedded into the TIFF container."
The edits are embedded in the TIFF and, as I said, they are displayed when
when the TIFF is opened in ACR.

"Depending on the steps, you may not see them (they usually must be
rendered with the original TIFF data).
Sorry, but I do not understand. The only way I know of to open the TIFF in
LR is to import it but when I import the TIFF the edits, which are visible
in ACR, are not visible in LR. What other steps should I use to cause the
edits to be visible in LR?

"Edit as Original may open the TIFF (outside LR) without rendering those
edits (it's treated as the original). "
I am trying to open (import) the TIFF in LR, not a third party program.

"Can you upload such a TIFF to something like Dropbox so others can examine
it?"
It is faster to create an example by moving a couple of sliders in the
develop module on a TIFF you already have than it is to download one of my
files.
TheDigitalDog
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
December 31, 2022

So here's the deal. You have a TIFF in Lightroom Classic and you apply edits. These are metadata edits and proprietary to the Adobe Camera Raw engine. No other non-Adobe applications see or understand these parametric metadata edits. 

If you apply such edits, then open the TIFF outside of Adobe Camera Raw, you will not see the edits. They haven't been rendered yet with the underlying TIFF pixel data. 

 

Try this: Edit a TIFF or JPEG in LR, and click Command/Control S if Autosave XMP isn't on. The edits are saved in that TIFF.

Use the command to find that TIFF on your HD and just open it in another application, and you will not see those newer edits. But if you open in that in Adobe Camera Raw (you have preferences set to open TIFF/JPEG there), you will see the edits. But until you now open that from Adobe Camera Raw, the edits are just text. Adobe Camera Raw hasn't rendered the text and pixels together. 

Or, in Lightroom Classic, Export as a new TIFF or JPEG etc. The new iteration has the edits from Lightroom Classic and the original TIFF, and it is now saved as this TIFF with the edits, which is why I asked how you 'exported' from LR. All such exports should render the parametric (metadata) edits and the pixels in the TIFF to a new TIFF (or JPEG). 

That you see the edits applied when you open them in Adobe Camera Raw proves that, indeed, the LR edits are in the TIFF. They, as yet, haven't been rendered. Open does this, and your TIFF is now shown to you in Photoshop with the edits. Which is exactly what an Export from Lightroom Classic would do too. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
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