Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom+file name problem *solved*

[MDomino]

Hello there!

After I have received some great help here recently, I hope somebody also can help me with a new problem I am having now.

If I want to edit a picture in Photoshop the following strange things happen:

I right-click the image (I have only jpg files), click "Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS4...". After that I select "Edit a Copy".
Lightroom then immediately creates a file within Lightroom, next to the Original image that is called "-Bearbeitet.JPG" ("bearbeitet" being the German equivalent of "edit"). Mind you, it's NOT called "Filename-Bearbeitet.JPG", but simply "-Bearbeitet.JPG", which is my first problem. When I have seen the same process in tutorials the image always ended up being called "filename-edit.jpg". Why doesn't that work here? Might that be a bug?

(Edit: Ok, sorry, solved that problem by just changing the settings in the Lightroom preferences, oversaw those naming settings before.)

Then second problem. I now work on this photo in Photoshop. When I have made my changes I will save it as a .psd. I kind of expected the .psd to be reimported into Lightroom automatically at this point. But this doesn't happen. It will be saved to the same folder as the original, but it does not appear in Lightroom. Why? Do I maybe misunderstand the workflow? Or is something else wrong?

So, in short: I want to edit a file, click on these things, end up with one exact jpg-copy in Lightroom that is wrongly named "-Bearbeitet.JPG" and which I don't need in Lightroom anyway and with one file "-Bearbeitet.psd", which is wrongly named and does not appear in Lightroom although I would need it there.

So, in short: I want to edit a file, click on these things, end up with one exact jpg-copy in Lightroom which I don't need in Lightroom and with one file "filename-edit.psd", which does not appear in Lightroom although I would need it there.

Could anyone help me with this problem?

Thank you very much!


MD

P.S.: It doesn't make any difference if I check or uncheck the stacking option in the Edit In Photoshop menu.

P.P.S.: I am also not quite sure, why it uses the german "-Bearbeitet.JPG", instead of at least "-Edit.JPG", since my Lightroom IS in fact set to English. Is it maybe because my OS is still operating in German?

 

[ianb]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

As you have saved the file as a PSD, lightroom does not know that the new file exists. You need to syncronise the folder that contains the PSD file - lightroom will then import it into your catalog.

Ian

 

[b_gossweiler]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

Look at the preferences under Voreinstellungen/Externe Bearbeitung. There you set the file-type you want to use for exchange with external applications, e.g. TIFF or PSD. This is the type you need to save externally and you'll end up back in LR with the created copy in your catalog, stacked together with the original.

You also can override those options in the "Foto mit .... bearbeiten" dialog, which pops up after chosing to edit in an external applicaton (see "Dateioptionen kopieren" with the little triangle at the bottom).

Actually I wonder how you can have created a "filename-edit.jpg", as I can only chose TIFF or PSD for external edits.

Beat Gossweiler
Switzerland

 

[MDomino]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

Ian and Beat, thank you for your answers.

I have done some testing now and found out some more things, but am also somewhat puzzled now.

[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=7719.msg52788#msg52788 date=1251992949]Actually I wonder how you can have created a "filename-edit.jpg", as I can only chose TIFF or PSD for external edits.[/quote]

That happens when you choose the option "Edit a Copy" in the Pop up menu.

But now I found out this Pop up menu only appears if you choose to edit a .jpg file in Photoshop, and not when you want to edit a .dng file or a RAW-file.

Here is what happens if you edit a .dng-file or RAW-file: You right click the file, click "Edit in Photoshop CS4..." then it opens in PS CS4, without any menu popping up first, then you make your changes, then just click "Save" (not "Save as") in PS CS4 and it automatically appears in your Lightroom Library, stacked with your original image (as a .tif-file or .psd-file depending on your settings).

That's exactly what I would like to do with my .jpg-files. Just right click, edit them in PS CS4, save them and Photoshop then automatically creates a .tif-file which is automatically put back in to my Lightroom.

But it doesn't happen like that.
Instead you right click your .jpg then a pop up menu asks you, if you would like to work on the original file or a copy. If you choose "a copy", then - at this point in time - it creates a second file in Lightroom, called "filename-edit.jpg", which is also the file you work with in Photoshop. As long as you now just make color adjustments and such without adding any layers or so it all works fine. You can just save the image and the changes show up in Lightroom (on exactly this file "filename-edit.jpg".

But here is the problem: As soon as you add another layer in Photoshop (and that's why you usually want to edit it in Photoshop in the first place), and then you save it, it brings you to the "Save as" dialogue (which makes sense, since it can't save layers into a jpg). Then I tell it to save it as filename-edit.tif, but this file then does not show up in Lightroom.

Is there no way that Lightroom can have the same workflow for .jpg's that it also has for .dng's and RAW's?
So that I could only right click the image, Edit in PS CS4 and then in Photoshop just need to save it (not "save as") and it automatically understands I want to save it as a .tif and re-integrate it into Lightroom (since I specified these settings in Lightroom).

There are two workarounds I found at the moment:

1.) I just flatten the image after editing it in Photoshop. Then I can just regularly save it as a .jpg and it is already in the Lightroom library. That obviously has the disadvantage that sometimes you don't want to flatten your image, but rather keep your layers, so you can work with the file at a later point in time.

2.) I create a .dng file from the .jpg first. That has the disadvantage that it creates another file for me (which is over 8 MB big) and wastes diskspace. Also I don't know much about .dng files and what other advantages/disadvantages they might have.

Does anyone know if there is a better way, maybe without a workaround?


Thank you!

MD

 

[MDomino]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

Sweet.

I found a little "hack" how the .dng/RAW workflow also works with .jpg's:

In Lightroom after right clicking the .jpg simply select "Open as Smart Object in Photoshop" instead of "Edit in PS CS4". Then you can make all your changes and save it in Photoshop (no need to Save As) and it will automatically save it as a .tif (or .psd, depending on your settings) and also stack it with the original .jpg in Lightroom.

So this is exactly what I needed, this way it also works with .jpg's.
Btw. it doesn't matter if at some point you rasterize the Smart Object or not. And even if you leave it a Smart Object it is not linked anymore to the original jpg. I.e., if you tint the original jpg red and save it, it won't change the .tif file, so the .tif-file has no tint.

MD

 

[b_gossweiler]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

I don't have PS CS4 installed, only PSE7. But with my installation, the "Edit Photo with ..." dialog also opens for RAW files.

And for JPG files, if I chose to "Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments" in the dialog, the TIFF or PSF file (according to my preferences) is created before transfer to PSE.

Also, if you really end up with a JPG in PS, you don't want to save it as JPG again from PS, as each save of a JPG with its compression potentially diminishes image quality.

Beat Gossweiler
Switzerland

 

[MDomino]

Re: Photoshop Edits are not re-integrated into Lightroom + file name problem

[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=7719.msg528'3#msg528'3 date=1252'1'8'3]
I don't have PS CS4 installed, only PSE7. But with my installation, the "Edit Photo with ..." dialog also opens for RAW files.[/quote]

Really? You mean the actual popup window which appears after you choose "Edit in Photoshop", that gives you three choices? That one does not open for me with RAW files or .dng files.


[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=7719.msg528'3#msg528'3 date=1252'1'8'3]And for JPG files, if I chose to "Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments" in the dialog, the TIFF or PSF file (according to my preferences) is created before transfer to PSE.[/quote]

Nice. So that's how it is supposed to work. Didn't try that option, since I didn't make any adjustments in lightroom and therefore it didn't seem like the obvious option for me to choose (and it nowhere says that the files are handled totally different, I thought it just refers to the question wether it takes over the adjustments to Photoshop or not, not that it also handles the files differently).

So that solves my problem in an even better way.
Only if I need to really open my unadjusted original (after I already made some adjustments in LR) in Photoshop I would need to be careful to select the correct options, but I guess that is rarely the case anyway.

[quote author=b_gossweiler link=topic=7719.msg528'3#msg528'3 date=1252'1'8'3]
Also, if you really end up with a JPG in PS, you don't want to save it as JPG again from PS, as each save of a JPG with its compression potentially diminishes image quality.[/quote]

Exactly. That's why I wanted to have it treated as a .tif and also reintegrated as such into the LR library.

Thanks a lot for your help, Beat, I guess all my problems are solved for now!

MD