can't see changes to photo in finder

[berith1479928]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to Lightroom and was wondering why I can't see the changes I make in lightroom when I pull up the picture in finder.

[Rob_Cullen]

Being "new to Lightroom" you will need to do some research/study to understand the workings of this software.

A good start would be the free eBook for Lightroom-Classic from Lightroom Queen- https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

To answer your question- Develop (edit) work done in Lightroom is only recorded in the Catalog and only shown visually on Lightroom screens, but the original photo on your hard-drive is 'protected' and not changed.

To see an edited version in other software (including Finder / File Explorer, etc) you would need to 'Export' a new file out of Lightroom.

I suggest to always 'look' at you photos in Lightroom and only Export derivative copies for special purposes.

[berith1479928]

Thanks so much, I will have to take a look at that free ebook. I'm also trying to figure out the best workflow. Like should I edit and export all pictures so they show up edited in finder for slideshows and such. Should I keep both, original and exported photo? Once exported, can the changes not be reversed? 

Thanks for your help!

[Rob_Cullen]

should I edit and export all pictures so they show up edited in finder

No.  Use Lightroom as your file browser!

for slideshows and such.

You can make slideshows in Lr-Classic, But for other software- Yes, you will need to export the files as edited, but only the necessary files,

Should I keep both, original and exported photo?

ALWAYS keep the original.!!!

Only keep the exported photo if you have a definite need to keep it. eg. If you create a slideshow with other software and it creates a video file of the slideshow, then, yes, you could delete the exported photos and keep the video.

Note that you can always do another Export from the originals at any time in the future if you need the edited files again.

Once exported, can the changes not be reversed?

Any Exported file has your edits 'baked in' to the file. ie. it is a new file that looks like your {Original+edits}. You cannot go back or extract the 'original' from this exported file, but because it is a 'new' file you can edit it just as you would the 'originals'. And your 'original' file has not been touched or altered. (all Lightroom edits are stored as 'text' in the Lr Catalog)