Round trip from Lightroom to Photoshop and back

[DanK]

I stumbled on a video that provides the clearest explanation I have seen about round trips from LR to PS. You can find it here: https://petapixel.com/2020/02/05/the...and-photoshop/

Because I do a lot of editing in LR, I do this round trip all the time, but even so, I found one important thing I didn't know. (Warning, it didn't start until the latter half of the video.) That trick was a method for using a virtual copy and LR's sync feature to preserve both PS layers and later LR edits when going back to PS a second time.

If you don't do this often, even some of the more basic points in the video would be helpful. For example, I learned the hard way a long time ago something that Steele explains clearly: never use File-Save as to end the PS part of the round trip.

I had never encountered any of Steele's videos before, but I like his teaching style. He paces himself very well and provides very clear and well-organized explanations.

[xpatUSA]

Off-topic, but thanks for the tip about using YouTube for photographic research.

A propos of our recent discussion about solid tones, I typed in "GIMP" and got several items including how remove/change solid backgrounds.

[Manfred M]

I have never quite understood why people round-trip so frequently. I can see a workflow that starts in Lightroom with preliminary edits and then continue to work in Photoshop and when all work is done, then to return to Lightroom for cataloging or printing, etc.

The reason is the Photoshop Camera Raw filter. The Develop Module of Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw have identical functionality, put the user interface is a bit different. Anything one might want to round-trip for work in Lightroom can absolutely be done in Photoshop using Camera Raw filter in Photoshop (under the filters tab). None of the complexity of virtual copies is required; it works just like any other Photoshop filter. If one wants the ability to work non-destructively with the Camera Raw filter, it can be used as a Smart Filter (i.e. set the image imported from Lightroom ; <Photo> <Edit in><Open as Smart Object in Photoshop>). No risk at all of losing the layers you have created.

[DanK]

I can see a workflow that starts in Lightroom with preliminary edits and then continue to work in Photoshop and when all work is done, then to return to Lightroom for cataloging or printing, etc.

I don't go back and forth frequently, but I do go back and forth. One reason I go back and forth is that I print from Lightroom--both because it is so much faster and because my one set of tests showed that that it replicates the quality I was able to get from Photoshop.

For example, I often print some images in more than one size, and I print some them both with no room for a signature (for myself and friends) and with room (for exhibits). Once a photo is in Lightroom and I have a suitable virtual copy from softproofing for a given paper, it takes literally seconds to make the necessary change. For example, I have templates for Canson Baryta paper in three sizes, both with and without room for a signature. Simply calling up the appropriate virtual copy and clicking on the relevant template sets everything: size, margins, medium, output sharpening, rendering, and other printer settings. For example, later today I am going to reprint as a 13 x 19 an image that I previously printed in 11 x 14. I just have to find the relevant copy in Lightroom, go to the print module, and click on the "Canson Baryta max no signature" template. Everything will be ready to go.

I also tend to do my final cropping in LR, as it is far easier to undo it than in Photoshop.

Once I have printed, I sometimes find that I want further edits. If they are relatively simple edits, it is often easiest to do them on the LR copy of the image edited in photoshop, but sometimes, it requires undoing something that I did in photoshop. Therefore, for me, it is sometimes--not often--very helpful to be able to go back while preserving both photoshop edits and subsequent LR edits.