Workfow question - Lightroom, smart objects, Photoshop and NIK plugins

[Alandb]

I have Photoshop, which has been rarely used up to now as I have been thrilled with Lightroom. I understand, roughly, what the smart objects are and how they can allow me to re-edit NIK plugins. My problem is the exact workflow going from Lightroom to Photoshop to NIK and back to Lightroom and then, later, after having closed everything out, going back and re-editing the NIK plugins in Photoshop and then, finally, printing from Lightroom.

Can anyone give me a detailed workflow? I use Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS5 and the NIK plugins are current. I am a novice in Photoshop.

Is this too much bother and should I just accept that using NIK plugins will create a TIF with everything "baked in" and start over if I need to make revisions with the NIK plugins.

I would also like to softproof. When do I do that? Is this done just before a specific output like printing?

[Macmahon]

Hi Alandb
I use Nik plugins from Lightroom. While I've tended to use the plugins late in the piece, I've never found a problem doing further touch up edits in LR on the TIFF after Nik before printing from LR. The NIK adjusted TIFF is created in the same folder/directory as the original file and the new file is added to the catalog automatically. I've never seen a need for PS in this workflow.
As to softproof: yes, final step before printing - any necessary tweaking adjustments should be able to be made in LR.
Cheers
Tim

[Alandb]

Hi Alandb
I use Nik plugins from Lightroom. While I've tended to use the plugins late in the piece, I've never found a problem doing further touch up edits in LR on the TIFF after Nik before printing from LR. The NIK adjusted TIFF is created in the same folder/directory as the original file and the new file is added to the catalog automatically. I've never seen a need for PS in this workflow.
As to softproof: yes, final step before printing - any necessary tweaking adjustments should be able to be made in LR.
Cheers
Tim

This issue is not the ability to re-edit in Lightroom but to re-edit the NIK plugins. At the moment, the only way I understand how to accomplish that is to take it into Photoshop as a smart object.

[Macmahon]

This issue is not the ability to re-edit in Lightroom but to re-edit the NIK plugins. At the moment, the only way I understand how to accomplish that is to take it into Photoshop as a smart object.

Ok. I understand. I guess I've never wanted/needed to do that. After I've done done the heavy lifting, as it were, on the RAW file non-destructively with LR, I've accepted that Nik works (destructively) on a TIFF copy for the fine tuning. In the few cases where I've not been happy with that I've just abandoned it and started again from where I'd previously got to in LR. Can't help you with PS and the smart object approach. Good luck!
Cheers
Tim

[bobrobert]

If you are using PS5 then you can open an image from LR as a smart object but cannot re import to LR as a smart object. Unfortunately you need PS6 to do that.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-comple...-smart-object-