Editing with Photoshop

[beestee51]

Hello, I'll start with usual apology re "sorry if this is a stupid question!"

I've worked on an image in Lighroom - made a number of changes in the Develop / Basic panel including some Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter edits.

I then sent the image to Photoshop with Ctrl E so I could get rid of an intrusive feature, that Lightroom couldn't deal with.

Closed (& saved) the Photoshop edit (tiff file) and went back to Lightroom.

Lightroom shows the Edit file next to the original file, and the Edit reflects to changes made in Photoshop.

All well and good? Maybe not...

The intrusive feature has been removed in the Edit file, but what do I do if I now want to tweak the Graduated Filter - maybe amend the exposure setting?

The Graduated Filter that I applied is only available in the original image file, but that's still got the intrusive feature!

I was expecting that the Edit would somehow be overlaid onto the original file. If I can't do any more work on the original file then all this to-ing and fro-ing with Photoshop seems a bit of a waste of time?

-------------------------------------------------------

Moved to Lightroom Classic forum

[Rob_Cullen]

Certainly not a "stupid question". It is one subject that many of us (users) try to understand.

Consider these points-

-When you [Edit in] to 'send' and then [Save] a photo with Photoshop, you are creating a totally new image file.

-The new TIF that returns to Lightroom is a new 'Original Photoshop' file. It had all the previous Lightroom adjustments 'burnt into' the pixels of the created TIF.

-So as you discovered- the new TIF really bears no relationship with the 'Original Lightroom' image (except for similar subject content).

-You can add more Lightroom Development to the new TIF file, but you need to create new Gradients, etc. You do not have access to the Develop work done to the 'Original Lightroom' file.

-There really is no easy way "to-ing and fro-ing with Photoshop" repeatedly. Many would consider the [Edit in Ps] to be the last step in the editing workflow- Develop in LrC, finish off in Ps.

-There is one answer to the problem and that is to use the option to [Open as Smart Object in Photoshop]. This way you always have the 'Original Lightroom' file embedded in the TIF Ps file that will accept further tweaking of edits in ACR (by a double-click on the Smart Object layer) where you will see the CR edits applied by Lightroom that you can tweak.

[beestee51]

Wobert,

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are about the saved PS file having all the LR adjustments burned in and them not being available for further tweaking. It does make sense when you think about it.

However - I thave just tried the Smart Object approach, but it doesn't seem to be at all straightforward...

I imported an image into LRC, made a few adjustments and put a Gradient in. I then clicked on Open as Smart Object in Photoshop. The problem I've got now is that when I try to use the Spot Healing Brush (or Healing Brush Tool) on the image in PS, it doesn't work - the cursor changes to a small circle with a bar across it. I've tried making a copy layer and clicking Sample All Layers, but that generates a notifcation saying "This smart object must be rasterised before proceeding. Edit Contents will no longer be available. Rasterise the smart object?" Off the top of my head I don't know what rasterising means, but all this seems a bit like one step forward and two back?

As you say, start in LRC and finish off in PS!

[JohanElzenga]

As Wobert explained, 'Edit in Photoshop' creates a new image with the current Lightroom edits 'burned into the pixels' of that image. You could send the image to Photoshop as smart object (but only if you use Lightroom Classic, Lightroom desktop does not support that), but often that doesn't really help. The problem is that there are limits to what Photoshop can do with a smart object. You can't clone or heal a smart object, for example. You would have to clone to a new layer, but then any changes in color or brightness of the smart object will cause a mismatch with that new layer, so that defeats the purpose of using a smart object.

What you can do is send the image to Photoshop as early as possible, so that you can maken further edits (like that graduated filter) on the returned tiff file rather than on the raw file. Or indeed make all the edits in Lightroom, wait till you are fully satisfied with what you did, and then send the image to Photoshop to remove that intrusive feature as the very last edit you do on this image.

[bbrennan]

Two good answers to the question. Also, consider making a virtual copy to send to PS. The LR edits that you made to the original will be protected. 

[JohanElzenga]

---

@bbrennan wrote:

Two good answers to the question. Also, consider making a virtual copy to send to PS. The LR edits that you made to the original will be protected. 

---

No need to do that. The edits are already protected, because they are metadata stored in the catalog and linked with the original raw file. As sending the image to Photoshop produces a derivative file, your original edits are not affected in any way by that action. And because 'Edit in Photoshop' returns a new file, you already get a new (real) copy.

[beestee51]

Johan,

Thank you for replying.

I've just replied to Wobert's response - which was helpful, because I now understand about PS burning-in LRC edits.

But as I said to Wobert above, the Smart Object approach seems problematic. I don't seem to be able to clone or heal the image in PS, whether I try to work on the base layer or a copy of it.

Food for thought - whether to start in PS or LRC?!

[JohanElzenga]

I already said in my first message that you can't clone or heal in a smart object...