edit with photoshop from lightroom - cannot re-open it with layers etc, all layers are merged

[JBrouwers]

Hello everyone, 

When editing a picture from Lightroom to photoshop (ie right click - edit with Photoshop) Everything works well the first time around. 

Once I saved everything and try to edit this TIFF further by right clicking on it in my lightroom library, I only see one layer in photoshop as if was all layer were merged. 

I thought It would open the file with all layers so I can continue working on it.

Would you know if there is anyway to further work on the file?

Thanks for your help, 

Jessie

[TheDigitalDog]

Lightroom doesn’t support existing layers. So if you have a layered document in LR and you apply an LR Edit, then send it to Photoshop, this is a flattened copy of the original so that LR could apply it’s own edits. 

If you store the layered doc in LR and don’t apply an edits, you can of course open that layered document again in Photoshop and access those layers. 

[JBrouwers]

thanks for answering so quickly! 

I first send a picture I want to work on in Photoshop by right-clicking on the pic and select edit with photoshop. 

lightroom now shows the original picture and the photoshoped picture in my library. 

If I right click and send it again to Photoshop then I only get an image (the file is a Tiff)

if I right click - show file in finder - open with photoshop then I see all layers. 

is this the way to proceed? 

thanks again for your help! 

J

[TheDigitalDog]

Again, IF you apply any edits in LR, you’ll have the option with “Edit in PS” to edit the original (no LR edits but layers) or newer document (with LR edits, NO layers). So there’s no ‘right way’ and it depends on what you’re after. 

I might suggest that IF you have a layered document and wish to keep those layers, avoid any LR edits. Do further editing in Photoshop. 

[D Fosse]

In short, Lightroom does not support layers of any kind or in any form. A Lightroom-processed file is always a flat file.

Photoshop embeds a flattened composite in all layered files (unless you disable that in PS prefs). This flattened composite is what Lightroom works with. All the layer data are just ignored - Lightroom can't read them.

The "edit original" option means Lightroom doesn't touch the file, it just passes it to Photoshop as-is.

[Per Berntsen]

I do quite a lot of work with layered files in Lightroom, typically with a noise reduction layer or a sharpening layer – in both cases they are copies of the background layer.

I have to use Edit original (or Edit a copy) to preserve the layers, so any edits I have done in Lightroom will not be visible.

For noise reduction, I will apply a bit more than what I think is required, and adjust the layer opacity later.

Some Lightroom edits (like Clarity and Dehaze) will enhance noise, and if the image is too noisy when I've finished editing in Lightroom, I'll go back to Photoshop and increase the opacity of the noise reduction layer. 

But I can't see the result in Lightroom until I've saved the image, so some trial and error is required.