File size variation between LR & PS

[James Nilsson]

I posted this in the PS community & they suggested I try here too.

I am using LR/PS on iPad.

In the attached you can see the raw file size in LR is 3840x5760 px, but when I open in PS (via edit in PS in LR) you can see the image is automatically reduced to 1488x2241.  Wondering if this a default setting or a limitation in the platform?

It was suggested it may be opening the smart preview, but I cannot find anywhere to set a default anywhere.

TIA

[Jim Wilde]

Does the original image exist in the cloud, or has this image been synced to the cloud from LrClassic (LrC can only send smart previews to the cloud)?

From those dimensions, it's almost certain that the image in PS is a smart preview that has been sent from Lr. Select the image in Lr and tap on the cloud icon top right, that will tell you what file format is stored locally on the iPad and what is available in the cloud. If the "Cloud backup" entry shows Smart Preview, then that's all that you have to work with. If it says "Original" then something else is happening as typically Lr will automatically download the original if it exists in the cloud before sending it to PS (but if the device is offline, then the smart preview would be sent to PS instead).

[James Nilsson]

Thanks Jim.  Yup, that is the problem.  IT is synched from LRC as I was not aware that LRC only send smart previews to the cloud.

Can I ask, is there a way to sync originals, or do I need to find a new workflow to make this work somehow?  Annoying to say the least - far from seamless integration between the platforns - which is frustrating...

[Jim Wilde]

LrC has always only uploaded Smart Previews. Hadn't you noticed that no matter how many images you synced from LrC to the cloud, your cloud storage usage never changed? That's because smart previews are in essence "free" to store in the cloud. Many LrC users have their entire library of images uploaded to the cloud, all happily contained within the 20GB cloud storage which is provided with the Photography Plan. Many of those users will also use the 20GB allowance to help them manage images captured on mobile phones (or imported from camera into a mobile device), the workflow being: import/capture on mobile, sync to the cloud, wait for them to download into the synced LrC catalog, unsync them in LrC (which deletes them from the cloud, thus freeing up the used cloud space), then resync as smart previews from LrC.

The downside of using smart previews in the cloud is the one you've just encountered, i.e. there may be times when you need access to the original from the mobile device. You can only get the original image to the cloud by importing it into any of the Lightroom apps (Web, Desktop, Mobile), but understand that will then take up part of your cloud storage allowance. For images already uploaded from LrC as smart previews, importing the same image into the Lightroom Desktop app will automatically replace the existing smart preview with the original, thus making it available to use when on mobile devices.

[James Nilsson]

Thanks for the extra detail & insight Jim.  

I am new to using the cloud version of LR & PS on ipad, having always been a desktop editor, so still learning this sort of nuance (along with the other PS for ipad limitations (which are many...).

I suppose in many ways if just editing for social media etc it is not a big deal to use smart previews, but for print, just does not cut it.

Again, thanks for your help.

[Rob_Cullen]

I look at the screen-clips and see "Resample"-  Is this an Export process?

So if the image is to be re-sampled/ re-sized then the figures specified WILL produce a file 1488*2241pixels.

The math is:  Inches x ppi = pixel dimensions

4.96in x 300ppi = 1488 Pixels

7.47in x 300ppi = 2241 Pixels

ie. you will get a 1488x2241 px image with those settings.

But most of this conversation is about Smart Previews (from LrC) that can only be a maximum of 2560pixels long edge.

[Jim Wilde]

Rob, 

When a smart preview is created it is always 2560 px on the long edge (assuming the original file is larger than that)......however, when creating the smart preview it is based on the uncropped original file, but in this case the original file has been (non-destructively) cropped from 5760 px long edge to 5042 px. Thus when the 2560 px long edge smart preview is rendered to Tiff/PSD format when passing to PS, the existing crop obviously needs to be applied....which brings the long edge of the rendered file down to the 2041 px in PS (5042 divided by 5760, multiplied by 2560 equals 2240.88).

[James Nilsson]

That resample window is not part of the import/export process, just was the easiest way to show the image dimensions once the image had already come across to PS from LR