When to Leave Lightroom and Edit in Photoshop

[Bill Sprague]

There are Lightroom books, online classes and YouTube tutorials. Same for Photoshop. Somewhere near none include how to gain the advantage of using them together.

I'm trying to develop a better instinct for when to make the "Edit in Photoshop...." choice.

Please post any suggestions to facilitate a better understanding of when Photoshop is the better choice.

Thanks.

Bill

 

[René Roberts]

Yes, I agree about layer masks. I've worked with them too, but I tend to be lazy. Sometimes the word "quick" appeals.
I am glad to know I can do any of this on a smart layer. I clearly have some catching up to do in PS. Every since delving into LR I've used PS less and I'm definitely rusty.

I have both of Katrin Eisman's books, which I studied thoroughly a few years ago. Can you recommend others?

 

[René Roberts]

Johan, great workflow suggestion!

 

[René Roberts]

Ok, I've just run some experiments to clarify for myself what opening as a smart object from PS will and won't do.
I will definitely need to brush up on my masking skills, but I get the concept of applying ACR with a mask. Cool!

Johan, at what point in that workflow would I do cloning or dust and scratch (sensor dust) removal? I can rasterize a dupe of the smart object I've just opened from LR and clone on that, but how to combine that pixel layer with the smart objects layer + its masks and so on?

I know we're drifting into Photoshop territory here and away from Lightroom, but I'm still trying to get a handle on exactly what tasks to do where. I would prefer to do a lot of this stuff in PS, probably because I'm just more comfortable with it.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If possible, I would do sensor dust removal in Lightroom, because you can't clone in a smart object. You would have to render a copy layer, but that defies the non-destructive workflow of only using a smart object and smart filters. If your goal is heavy cloning, then the smart object approach is not useful.