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Question

Export from Lightroom with a transparent background

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 30, 2018
4 replies
31434 views

Imported a picture with transparent background, exports with a white background. I chose to export in Tiff format (that was original) with "save transparency" but background is still white. HELP!

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richardplondon

Community Expert

The checkbox to include "transparency" isn't always sticky in my experience and may need to be checked again.

It's not enough to include "layers" when saving this TIFF, since LrC cannot interpret pixel transparency, nor layer opacity setting / layer masking, directly. LrC is completely reliant on the preview bitmap which PS includes whenever an image is layered (as all PS images with 'transparency' must be, by defnition). Unless Photoshop is told to include transparency when saving, it will substitute white for transparency then. So LrC won't have "seen" any transparency in the first place.

But provided that save has happened correctly out of PS, then provided the format to be eventually exported is capable of representing it - hence PNG, but not JPG - in my own testing that transparency does seem to get preserved by LrC. Even though within LrC those transparent areas can only be previewed in white.

J

jmmsfa

Participating Frequently

Thank you, that clarifies things a bit more.

I did not get into detail but my problems happened because of my workflow.
I use LrC and there are some raw imagens that I need to edit in PS, so I do it directly using the “Edit in…” command from LrC.
When on PS I edit the images and create some layers with objects without background.
When done I just save them and go back to LrC and a new TIFF version of the image appears next to the raw version, witch is good.
Finally when exporting, in some cases I need a JPG (no transparency) and also a hi-res TIFF with transparency, but the transparency does not work by default.
I need to go back to PS and ask to “Save as” and then check the transparency box.
I don’t know if there is a way to make PS save the edit raw in TIFF with trasparency, by default.
That would be perfect.

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lukak72401968

Participant

What made Lrc exports opaque for me, was that I edit images in PS by making masks!

Masks cannot be read by Lrc, so it always exports them with white in place of the masks. When I apply the mask in PS, everything stays transparent in Lrc TIF export.

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Mattia 13

Participating Frequently

The fact is that you have to save the original tiff in wich you have transparency with the option "save Transparency" checked. If you are no sure how your tiff is saved just save as and overwrite the original with a new tiff with save transparency checked. If you do that LR export with correct transparency applied, that is:

- no matter haw many layers you have in the original tiff, LR flatten out visible image into one layer, transparency remains

- you can have clipping mask on the original tiff in visible layers, they will be applied

- you can develop original tiff changing whatever parameter in LR, it will affect only visible part during export

- final tiff will be all correction + developing preset in LR + clipping mask in original TIFF flatten out in single layer TIFF with transparency

Hope this would help,

cheers

J

jmmsfa

Participating Frequently

Thank you Mattia,

It looks that when edited from LR, PS does not save the file with the "preserve transparency" by default. I needed to "save as" and checked the "preserve transparency" box to make it work.

It helped! Thank you.

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

Hmm,

just tried a file that has transparency (a photoshop tiff file with just a layer0 with holes in it and brushed all over it in Lightroom (including the transparent areas) and exported this file with the save transparency checkbox enabled and it maintained the transparency correctly. What version of Classic are you using?

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margueritew46131361Author

Known Participant

version 7.5

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Lightroom does not support layers, so any export except ‘as original’ will flatten the image.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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margueritew46131361Author

Known Participant

I wonder why they have a "save transparency" setting if it won't save the transparency! LOL Frustrating!

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margueritew46131361Author

Known Participant

Ah. Yeah that will happen when you open it back in Photoshop while choosing "Edit with lightroom adjustments" while having done brush adjustments in Lightroom. If you choose to edit the original, the transparency should be intact.

> for some reason, my Brush Adjustment presets in LR have stayed in the LRTemplate file path and are not recognized by CR.

The brush presets (as other presets) are not shared between ACR and Lightroom. You have to specifically install them in both places.

I did actually save the adjustments in LR using the tif "save transparency" setting hoping that the transparent background would save but did not have any luck there. Not sure what else I could do. as for the brushes, I tried to install them directly into CR but they are in the wrong format to be recognized so I guess I'm out of luck until Adobe auto changes those pathways as well. I have manually added the ones I used the most but what a pain! lol

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