[Leica] photoshop-vs-lightroom

[rgacpa at gmail.com (Bob Adler)]

Hi Adam, 
In PS/CS I do everything non-destructively using adjustment layers. My 
workflow is it do some adjustments best done in LR on the RAW file (e.g., 
clarity, vibrance, cropping maybe, and of usually initial white balancing) 
and then export with LR adjustments to CS as a non-resampled 16bit TIFF. I 
then save that file with the word MASTER just before the ".tif". 

Then I do what I want with bunches of layers (e.g., selective 
lightening/darkening, cloning, contrast, selective saturation/desaturation). 
Each layer can be adjusted as to its strength (opacity) and the file can be 
saved without merging layers. Each layer is labeled as to what it is doing. 
I can go back at anytime and adjust, add or remove layers. 
So truly non-destructive (delete all the layers and you are back at the 
original LR export) and in one file with each adjustment coherently labeled. 

Best of all currently available worlds IMO. 
Best,
Bob

Bob Adler
http://www.rgaphoto.com

On Dec 27, 2011, at 10:36 AM, Adam Bridge <abridge at mac.com> wrote:

> I understand, Bill, but were there never times you didn't, without 
> thinking, do something to a file, save it, and then couldn't back out of 
> it?
> 
> I'm a big fan of non-destructive edits to ANYTHING. I like being able to 
> recover from mind-farts and, as I grow older, they become more frequent.
> 
> With Lightroom I can make virtual copies of an image and treat them 
> differently. Want to see how it works in black and white? No biggie, I 
> make a virtual copy and then shift the image into B&W and play with it. I 
> don't save another copy of the image, just the settings I used to make it 
> B&W.
> 
> Maybe I want to play with the image in other ways. Same thing. Then I get 
> multiple versions of the same image but using very little disk space.
> 
> That's the real joy of Lightroom. Changes can be rolled back trivially.
> 
> I think the next version of Photoshop will have more Lightroom-like 
> features added to it.
> 
> I don't expect to see layers in Lightroom. I still sharpen in Photoshop 
> where I have a workflow I understand and (ahem) believe in. I think I do a 
> better job that Lightroom does. I have never been able to sharpen my 1Ds 
> Mk II images as well in Lightroom as I can in Photoshop. For the M8, 
> though, Lightroom provides the minimal amount of sharpening that is needed 
> and its easy. 
> 
> I think Lightroom's ability to do noise reduction is just flat out 
> amazing. Mind bogglingly good. And parametric so you can play with it to 
> your heart's content without messing things up permanently.
> 
> Lightroom is also very good for printing. Much better than Photoshop at 
> least for me.
> 
> With the new Epson drivers I don't have to fork over mass quantities of 
> money for a RIP. (I'm looking at YOU Imageprint...)
> 
> Adam
> 
> On Dec 27, 2011, at 9:34 AM, Bill Pearce wrote:
> 
>> I'm not so sure I understand this non-destructive business. It is 
>> supposed to be the end-all answer to our problems, and answer to a 
>> question that seemed without an answer, and yet I've been doing the same 
>> thing for years. Simple, really, before photoshopping a file, save it 
>> with a different name, and do all you want to it, the original remains 
>> untouched.
>> 
>> Oh well, I never said I was smart.
>> 
>> Bill Pearce
> 
> 
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