Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Workflow  (Read 3461 times)

Phinius

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 39
    • Violet Crown Photogaphs
Workflow
« on: January 16, 2010, 12:16:23 pm »

I am about to blow my brains out (what few I have).  DAM principles hold that I really want to archive my work in .DNG format in part b/c no sidecar is needed. LR and PS are fundamentally different in that PS uses Layers while LR is virtual. I do most of my editing in LR, but sometimes there is no substituting for PS. The problems are that I manage my work using LR and therefore have to be very careful using Bridge in PS. Also, I have to be sure that I don't flatten the carefully crafted layers from PS when importing the image from PS to LR. Finally, once in LR, if I want to do any additional work I frequently have to flatten the layers anyway or archive two somewhat different copies when done, one in .TIFF or .PSD format and one in .DNG format. Having to constantly remember where I am and how I'm managing my images creates lots of room for error given my personal lack of RAM. Does anyone have a good workflow that accounts for these problems?

Thanks,
Ron
Logged

David Sutton

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1345
    • David Sutton Photography
Workflow
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2010, 05:31:34 pm »

Others will probably have a better solution, but here is what works for me.
I tried .dng and promptly abandoned it as it doubled my workload. And made me want to blow my brains out. You can always archive a copy of the dng converter if you are worried about you camera's files not being supported in the distant future..
I manage my workflow from LR and never use Bridge. All images are opened into Photoshop from LR, and so when I hit Cntrl S I know LR will just update the image and no new file is being created..
My folder structure goes: year/shootdate with some basic details. In each shootdate I have usually 3 sub-folders: Raw, Edits and Print. So if I open a file into Photoshop from the Edits folder in LR and want to place a softproofed copy in the Print folder, I duplicate the image, close the original, then flatten the layers and use “save as” and then hit “synchronise” in LR.
If I want to do more work in LR on a file that has come from Photoshop, I create a new sub-folder and label it accordingly. Otherwise I just start drowning.
Archive the entire folder and you should never have a problem with sidecars going astray.
Good luck, David
Logged

Phinius

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 39
    • Violet Crown Photogaphs
Workflow
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2010, 05:42:39 pm »

Quote from: David Sutton
Others will probably have a better solution, but here is what works for me.
I tried .dng and promptly abandoned it as it doubled my workload. And made me want to blow my brains out. You can always archive a copy of the dng converter if you are worried about you camera's files not being supported in the distant future..
I manage my workflow from LR and never use Bridge. All images are opened into Photoshop from LR, and so when I hit Cntrl S I know LR will just update the image and no new file is being created..
My folder structure goes: year/shootdate with some basic details. In each shootdate I have usually 3 sub-folders: Raw, Edits and Print. So if I open a file into Photoshop from the Edits folder in LR and want to place a softproofed copy in the Print folder, I duplicate the image, close the original, then flatten the layers and use “save as” and then hit “synchronise” in LR.
If I want to do more work in LR on a file that has come from Photoshop, I create a new sub-folder and label it accordingly. Otherwise I just start drowning.
Archive the entire folder and you should never have a problem with sidecars going astray.
Good luck, David

Thanks, that sounds about as workable as anything I've come up with.
Ron
Logged

john beardsworth

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4755
    • My photography site
Workflow
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2010, 05:25:50 am »

The use of DNG and your problems with figuring out layers are completely different issues. DNG has plenty of advantages.

"Also, I have to be sure that I don't flatten the carefully crafted layers from PS when importing the image from PS to LR. "

Please tell me exactly how you do that! LR never flattens layers that are in a PS file. It can however create a new PSD/TIF which is like a flattened version of your layered image, and you would be able to save this flattened file so it overwrites the layered version. Maybe take a dummy image through each of the Edit In options and ensure you understand exactly what it is doing.

One thing you might consider is a making a rule for yourself - if it's a TIF/PSD, catalogue in in LR but make any further adjustments in PS. Another is to cease using Bridge. These two steps would instantly reduce your confusion.

John
Logged

Phinius

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 39
    • Violet Crown Photogaphs
Workflow
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2010, 10:32:00 am »

Quote from: johnbeardy
The use of DNG and your problems with figuring out layers are completely different issues. DNG has plenty of advantages.

"Also, I have to be sure that I don't flatten the carefully crafted layers from PS when importing the image from PS to LR. "

Please tell me exactly how you do that! LR never flattens layers that are in a PS file. It can however create a new PSD/TIF which is like a flattened version of your layered image, and you would be able to save this flattened file so it overwrites the layered version. Maybe take a dummy image through each of the Edit In options and ensure you understand exactly what it is doing.

One thing you might consider is a making a rule for yourself - if it's a TIF/PSD, catalogue in in LR but make any further adjustments in PS. Another is to cease using Bridge. These two steps would instantly reduce your confusion.

John

If you edit in PS from LR, return to LR, use the development module to retouch the image, then save metadata, the image is flattened (or perhaps more accurately, everything has been collapsed into a background layer and locked). I think the best rule may be that once in PS always in PS for development for purposes.

Ron
Logged

john beardsworth

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4755
    • My photography site
Workflow
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2010, 10:58:55 am »

I think you need to read those dialog boxes more carefully. I have followed the steps you just gave, and cannot reproduce that collapsing. When you re-edit, choose Edit Original. If you choose Edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments, then you would bake the changes into the background layer - but it's doing exactly what it says it will do.
Logged

Phinius

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 39
    • Violet Crown Photogaphs
Workflow
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2010, 01:00:47 pm »

Quote from: johnbeardy
I think you need to read those dialog boxes more carefully. I have followed the steps you just gave, and cannot reproduce that collapsing. When you re-edit, choose Edit Original. If you choose Edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments, then you would bake the changes into the background layer - but it's doing exactly what it says it will do.

I can read dialog boxes, but why would I want to forgo changes made in LR when I go back to PS? The point is that I'd like to be able to go back and forth freely, but can't--hence the work flow question: what is the best way to integrate PS & LR? It looks like PS needs to be the last edit if I want to keep the layers. I have CS4, and it has layers in .dng so maybe this isn't really a problem?

Ron
Logged

PeterAit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4559
    • Peter Aitken Photographs
Workflow
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2010, 04:58:09 pm »

Quote from: rjohn1388
I can read dialog boxes, but why would I want to forgo changes made in LR when I go back to PS? The point is that I'd like to be able to go back and forth freely, but can't--hence the work flow question: what is the best way to integrate PS & LR? It looks like PS needs to be the last edit if I want to keep the layers. I have CS4, and it has layers in .dng so maybe this isn't really a problem?

Ron

As far as I know, there's no image adjustment you can do in LR that you can't do in PS (although LR does make some things easier). Based on this fact, my approach is to always do all the LR processing I want to before I ever open the image in PS. Then, once I have adjusted the image in PS I never make any changes in LR.
Logged

Mark F

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 365
Workflow
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2010, 09:34:22 pm »

This may not be what you have in mind, but if you open the file from LR as a PS smart object, even after you have saved it back to LR you can go back to PS with the layers in tact and do further editing with ACR.


Quote from: rjohn1388
I can read dialog boxes, but why would I want to forgo changes made in LR when I go back to PS? The point is that I'd like to be able to go back and forth freely, but can't--hence the work flow question: what is the best way to integrate PS & LR? It looks like PS needs to be the last edit if I want to keep the layers. I have CS4, and it has layers in .dng so maybe this isn't really a problem?

Ron
Logged
Mark
Pages: [1]   Go Up