So far I love Lightroom for handling all my files and making tweaks to the photo like exposure, WB, etc....

But I do use Photoshop to do lot of editing and applying various actions so my question is this. How do you wrok between the two programs? I have been just right clicking the photo and choosing to edit in photoshop which creates a PSD file. Once I'm done working on it I save it and it updates the photo in Lightroom. After doing this I end up with dupes of the same photo. I know can stack and all but it just doesn't seem very organized.

Would it make more sense to export the files after I have tweaked them to a sub folder and then edit in and save there? I'm curious to others workflow as for as file handling goes in Lightroom.

Thanks

I actually do the later of your two suggestions. I work on them in Lightroom, and export them. Then I open the exported files and apply actions or work on them in photoshop. Depending on how much work I do on them, I sometimes export them as a tiff, so i don't get image loss when saving as a jpeg.

I export all the images (approx 800 - 1000 per wedding) to jps with only the RAW conversion, colour correct, etc.
Them I select 50 - 80 images as favourites and work those in PS. Those images are the ones I use in the ShowIt Slideshow and in the album predesign.
Like Kari, I go back to LR and reprocess those 50 - 80 images as PSD's and then use AutoLoader to burn through them in about 1.5 hours.
I do not bring those PS'ed images back into Lightroom at all. I use LR pretty much just for RAW processing and not so much for image management.
Hope that helps at bit...
j

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It makes sense that if you do a lot of work in PS to do the latter you mentioned. Depending on the client I do most of the processing in LR with presets etc and so I do what you are doing. Hasn't been a big deal with having dupes cuz I x the original if I know for sure I like the changes.

The think I don't like about the dupes, is that it changes the file name to have a "-edit" behind the name. So, I print a proof book, and I would get my files like this: 001, 002, 003-edit, 004, 005-edit...... I never actually exported after the fact, but I am assuming this is what would hapen.

So you export out of Lightroom, edit photos and then Import them back in? I’m cool with that and it does make more sense but where do you put them on the Import? Do you keep in a sub folder of the original import?

I don't import them back in at all. Here is my workflow:
1. download CF cards
2. Import RAW files into lightroom
3. Make lightroom adjustments
4. export as tiffs
5. run a few batch actions on the tiff files. (I have a few actions that I love that I can't duplicate in lightroom.)
6. open the tiffs and do any further editing in PS if needed. (Not too much in this step.)
7. run the tiff files through the image processor in photoshop to change them into small size jpegs for proofing and online proofing.
8. When customer orders, open the tiff for further editing.

Sometimes I eliminate turning them into tiffs, and go straight to jpegs if I am not going to open and save them several times with the actions in PS. Then when a customer orders again, I can always go back to the file in lightroom and export it again for further editing if needed.

Thanks for all the replies. It really helped me understand how to tweak my workflow.

We pretty much do the same thing.When i go through the images I put three stars on those I want to keep. When I'm done with basic WB and CC on those I select those I want to take into PS and put them as 5 stars. The others that I want to use for the slideshow I put as 4 stars.

I export the 3 and 4 stars as JPEGS and the 5 stars as TIFF to take them into PS run batch actions.

When they are done i batch them into JPEG's applying Kubota's Magic Sharp. I also batch the other JPEG with the MS also.

The 4 and 5 stars are used for the ShowIt slideshow, and posted. After that's been online for a few days we post the full gallery and send them the password.

I've tried the export into PS and back again and don't care for the way it works.
I have some export folders set up on my computer so I can run generic actions - for instance my batch Magic Sharp action runs and saves them all to a "JPEG Import Folder" which I then put into their final folder when done. This way i dont have to right a new action for each client with a different save to place.

I'd love to hear what others do!

One more question if you don't mind.....

How do you handle files on your import? Do you use a folder structure or do you import and let Lighroom manage all your photos?