Editing Flow - How to photoshop the original photo

[wavesummit]

Typically I will import my photos in lightroom, then do my retouching in photoshop, and then apply my colour grading in lightroom. However sometimes I like like to apply a preset first, is there way to edit the original photo in photoshop instead of editing the photo with the preset applied?  The only way I know is to create a virtual copy, revert any changes and edit that, there must be a better way. 

[gary_sc]

Hi James,

When you select "Edit in..." do you see this window?

Select the option I've circled and that should be what you want.

Let me know if this solves the problem

[wavesummit]

Hi Gary,
Unfortunately, I don't get that dialog, I'm currently on photoshop lightroom classic 2020. When I click edit in photoshop it goes straight to photoshop without a prompt. 

[Just Shoot Me]

Right you do not get that dialog box unless you are sending a TIF/PSD/JPG to Ps. Or if the Camera RAW versions between LrC and Ps or different, Mismatched. Which rarely happens now with the subscription system. If LrC is update to a new CR version then so is Ps.

The only way to Edit the original image is to open it in Ps directly. But then if it is a RAW file it will go to ACR first anyway as PS can not open RAW files.

Bottom line is you can not open original RAW images in Ps and save whatever change you do in PS to the RAW file. It will always create a New file, a TIF or PSD.

Same goes when you send an image from LrC to Ps. Once you Save in Ps a new file is created, TIF or PSD depending on what option you have selected in the external editing section of the LrC Preferences.

[Jao vdL]

This happens when you edit a raw file. If you want to go back to the original in your workflow what you should do is open as a smart object in Photoshop. You can then in Photoshop go back on the raw rendering decisions by double clicking on the raw layer.

Also, I would suggest that a better workflow is to NOT go right away into Photoshop but to do all your grading in Lightroom on the raw file and only to go into Photoshop after that if there are specific things such as retouching you can only do in Photoshop but on the already color graded image.

[Jao vdL]

To be perfectly clear. Edits in Lightroom are all nondestructive. As soon as you go to Photoshop, all edits get baked into the pixels and all edits in Photoshop are destructive. So to enable you to go back on your decisions, you want to completely avoid going into Photoshop. You can retain some editability by using the "open as smart object" method but that severly limits what you can do in Photoshop.

[wavesummit]

Right so if I am working on a raw it goes direct to photoshop and I don't get the prompt that Gary is seeing. What you've told me is the problem I am experiencing, which is if I choose a colour grade, I then open it in photoshop and then it's baked in, which is what I don't want. I would prefer to do the colour grading last in lightroom, I was just hoping the devs had a feature to edit original. Right now if I am playing with colour grades first, I'd like the option to edit the original without having to reset it, it would be great that lightroom would send the raw without any adjustments. 

[Just Shoot Me]

The Color Grading can always be changed or completely removed from both, either, the original RAW or the new file created by Ps. It is NOT Baked, Burnt, into the resulting TIF or PSD file that Ps makes. Sure the returned new file has the color grade you had selected for the RAW but all you have to do is Click that Color swatch/button to remove it.

If you are talking about some type of Color Graduated Filter then yes it is Baked, Burnt, into the new file that Ps make.

[wavesummit]

I'm talking about the act of applying colour to a raw file. For example, if I decide to give skin tones an orange hue for that orange and teal look it's now baked in when I go to photoshop. What I am looking for really is for lightroom to give me the option to reset the raw before importing to PS if I have done any changes, right now it takes it as is, I have to manually click reset. I was hoping the devs would have an option to send the file without any changes to photoshop. 

[Just Shoot Me]

Ok that is what I thought you meant originally but then you said Color (Colour) Grading. Like Grading the image by assigning a color Label to it as I show in my screen shot.

Actually if you use either Bridge or Ps itself to open the RAW file from your hard drive the color Change made in LrC will not be visible (as long as you don't have the option checked to Auto write changes to XMP selected) as all edits done in LrC are stored in the catalog file and Adobe Camera RAW plugin that is used by Ps won't see them.

But you end up with the same problem when you Save the file in Ps. It creates a New File which is NOT a RAW file and the edit you did in Ps are not seen, can not be seen, are not saved to the original RAW file.

What you want is, IMHO, Unrealistic and will never happen. It defeats the purpose of Non Destructive editing of RAW files.

Simplest thing to do is Export, in LrC, the original RAW file as a TIF and then send that Tif to Ps. Then when it comes back do your Color changes to the TIF in LrC and then Re-Export it to Burn in the color changes.

[JP Hess]

If you are working with raw files then the best option is to open as a smart object. Otherwise there is no other way to revert to the raw data. Photoshop, by itself, cannot edit raw image data. That's why Camera Raw is an integral part of the Lightroom process. It is used during the transfer of the image from Lightroom to Photoshop to convert image from raw data to an RGB image that Photoshop CAN edit. Then, when you are finished using Photoshop on that image, it is necessary to save a new image either as a TIF or PSD file. So if you want to revert to the original raw data, again, open the image as a smart object.

[wavesummit]

I'm not really worried about always working on the raw original file, it's just a flow issue. The lightroom devs have a different flow for raws and jpegs it seems, I'd like to see them add option to send the file without any changes to photoshop.

[Just Shoot Me]

Not really.

No matter what type of file you edit in LrC it is All Non Destructive. The original file, whether a TIF, JPG, PNG, PSD, is NEVER Changed by the edits you do in LrC. The only way to Included, Burn in, Bake in, the edits you do in LrC is to Export the image to a New File.

The reason you get that dialog box with those other file types is because Ps CAN Open them directly. Ps does not need to use any type of RAW converter system to show those file types.

RAW files can NOT be opened in Ps directly. Raw files Always have to go through a RAW converter of some type before Ps can display them.

[Jao vdL]

That's there. Make a virtual copy, hit reset, hit edit in Photoshop. Do note that doing a reset or default settings on a raw file does not equate "unedited" it just means that the raw data is interpreted using the default profile and default contrast and curves. That is not the same as unedited. There is no one true way to interpret raw data. It is always a rendering decision. As Just Shoot Me notes, a raw file HAS to go through a raw interpreting step that is always subject to someone's interpretation even if you use the default settings.