Legend

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Export to DNG or Edit in Photoshop?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
May 30, 2024
2 replies
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After I composite images in Lightroom, I export the image to a DNG file, then open it which is done in Camera RAW (I believe), correct the white balance and then open in Photoshop. But I could just right click on the image in Lightroom and choose Edit in Photoshop. What are the advantages or disadvantages of doing it one way or the other? Thanks.

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Correct answer D Fosse

Just Edit in Photoshop!

I don't know what you mean by "compositing" in Lightroom. If you mean merge to panorama, Lightroom creates a merged dng automatically, and saves it along with the original raw files.

Either way, there's no need for another extra file. Once processed in Photoshop, you still have the original plus a separate rendered RGB file coming out of Photoshop, so you already have two files to manage. No need for a third.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

What exactly do you mean by "composite images"?

As Lr has the Develop module which uses the same engine as Adobe Camera Raw, my first question is why are you not performing the edits there, as there is no need to do the same in ACR.

bartonlewAuthor

Legend

Thank you. By composite images I meant Merge to Panorama. The only edit I perform in ACR is to correct White Balance. Then upon opening the file in Photoshop, I do all my remaining edits there.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Then upon opening the file in Photoshop, I do all my remaining edits there.

By @bartonlew

Actually, you're sacrificing potential image quality there. The DNG is linear, which means it can contain a much higher dynamic range than a gamma-encoded RGB file in Photoshop. It's 14 full stops vs. 7 or 8.

Once the file is opened into Photoshop, you can no longer recover "hidden" highlights the way you can with a raw file. They are permanently clipped to what you see on screen.

D Fosse

Correct answer

Community Expert

Just Edit in Photoshop!

I don't know what you mean by "compositing" in Lightroom. If you mean merge to panorama, Lightroom creates a merged dng automatically, and saves it along with the original raw files.

Either way, there's no need for another extra file. Once processed in Photoshop, you still have the original plus a separate rendered RGB file coming out of Photoshop, so you already have two files to manage. No need for a third.

bartonlewAuthor

Legend

Yes, by compositing I meant Merge to Panorama. Thanks for pointing out that the merged DNG is created by Lightroom, hence no need to Export to DNG. So the remaining question is, if I go to that merged file on my hard drive and right click and choose Open in Adobe Photoshop 2024, it opens it in Camera Raw. If I right click on the file inside Lightroom, it opens it as a DNG inside Photoshop. What are the practical differences of choosing one over the other? Does it come down to whether you want to work in Camera Raw or not? What are your own preferences, and what guides them? Thank you.

D Fosse

Community Expert

You need to keep track of where the raw editing metadata are stored. ACR stores them in the DNG file header, while Lightroom stores them in the Lightroom catalog.

This means that edits in ACR are ignored in Lightroom, and edits in Lightroom are ignored in ACR.

You can instruct Lightroom to "read metadata from file" and "save metadata to file", but this will slow it down and defeats the purpose of the Lightroom catalog (speed and efficiency of high-volume processing).

In other words, you can do either and the results are identical, but then you quickly end up with an incomplete Lightroom catalog and confusion about what edits you have actually done to the file and where they are.

The general advice is to choose one raw processor and stick to it. Either Lightroom or ACR+Bridge.

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