Thombar Loc: Hominy, OK

I'm somewhat confused about the workflow when doing pp.
I have the Photoshop CC subscription with LR & PS. PS further has Camera raw and Bridge. If I start pp'ing with LR do I need to use Camera raw? Should I load all my photos into Bridge? Then what would be the order of use? I shoot almost 100% in RAW mode. Should all photos start with LR then go to Camera raw? Would love to know how you guys and gals run your post processing.

Thanks and enjoy the games today.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Camera raw is built into Lightroom.... so when you make adjustments in LR you are using camera raw for many of the adjustments.

Lightroom is an all in one management and post processing tool, for the most part it will be all you need, but every now and then you will find you need to edit in Photoshop for more detailed/finer work.

In my opinion, until you get used to using Lightroom/Photoshop, be careful using Bridge. If you manipulate your image library in bridge, as in move files, then Lightroom will lose them as Lightroom deals with finding files by knowing about them in it's catalog, where Bridge knows bout then looking in folders like a file browser.

For what it's worth:

I shoot raw images on my Nikon

I import my images from the SD card into Lightroom

I add basic keywords on import to each file

I go thru the images in Lightroom and delete the obviously uncorrectable images (focus issues, etc.)

I convert all the remaining images from NEF to DNG

I edit the DNG's in Lightroom

I edit in Photoshop any that I feel need the extra touch (I used to say 90% in Lightroom, 10% in Photoshop, but that has changed, I tend to edit in Photoshop a bit more now, perhaps 75% & 25% at least.)

I also make use of Topaz Plugins from within Lightroom when I feel the need.

Bridge, I rarely make use of it. (This is a personal choice, others will talk about the exact opposite I am sure.)

I also set my Lightroom preferences to write the edits to my image files right away instead of leaving the edits in the LR catalog only.

Thombar Loc: Hominy, OK

Hi Donald - Happy New Year to you and yours! Your workflow sounds great and one I think I will at least start with until I am comfortable with LR. What does: "write the edits to my image files right away" mean? How is this accomplished?

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Here's what I do others will differ.
Workflow - LightRoom 5

Using Finder:
Create folder on hard drive
Copy images from memory card to created folder (Transferred_nef_files)

Using Lightroom:
Import-select source (Transferred_nef_files) use Add-Import
Flag for deletion
Delete rejected photos from disc
Select all files and convert to dng
Rename selected files by date and filename
Move selected dng files to (Transferred_dng_files)

Using Finder:
Still saving nefs at this point (not sure why)
Move nef files from (Transferred_nef_files) to (Processed_Nef's)

Using Lightroom:
Keyword
Rate/Color
Select all files move to final folder
Edit - (this workflow is still evolving )
Export as needed

Legend: (parenthesis) = my folder names

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Normally, by default, Lightroom will only store edits in the catalog, but you can tell it to write the data to the files when they are made - under catalog settings under metadata check the box to "automatically write changes"
That way edits are written to the image files, but it is still non-destructive since the edits are only seen in Adobe products that can decipher the edits until you export a final image. in LR or Photoshop, actually, I export ONLY from Lightroom as I add in a watermark and then LR knows about the history of the export as well.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Can you go back a couple of steps and walk me through that?

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

What steps do you need Jerry?

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Right ON Just about my workflow. I do not use Bridge.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Just about the only use of Bridge for me is when I shoot a few shots that I know I am not going to keep so I don't bother importing to Lightroom, just use Bridge to look at them on the card, possibly play with them in PS, but know they will not be keepers.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Dngallagher, how about saying why you use sidecars and dng's?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm using LR 5. Where do I begin? Library or Develop? Where do I go from there?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Here is my variation of the workflow.

1. I make unique folders in the camera for each session. This avoids LR taking all that time to read the entire card.

2. Copy the folders to HDD. Use Explorer or Finder depending upon your computer. I have a master folder called Photos. I file by year, month (01 January, 2015), and finally by session name.

3. In LR, I right click on the year or month folder and synchronize.

4. Delete from LR and HDD the obvious garbage.

5. I flag the unwanted shots as rejected using the X key. I also turn on automatic advance. Painter is a good tool but to be efficient, the thumbnails become to small for me.

6. Select the rejects and move them to a subfolder called Rejects.

7. Assign keywords to the good shots.

8. Now that the housekeeping is done, I edit. If the shot is ok but not worth editing, I give it a 1 star. Edited shots get a 4 so I know they are done. Shots to be printed get 5's. You can use colors or other numbers instead of these. I usually have a few leftovers that now go to the Rejects folder. I edit about 95% of my work in LR. The rest go into PS. The only plug-in I use is Nik's dFine because it does an excellent job of taming noise. The radial filter is better than Viveza. Therefore, LR 5 is a must have.

9. To share pictures immediately, I simply email them right out of LR. Very convenient.

10. I also export for email and printing in which cases, I have separate subfolders called "JPG's for email" and "JPG's for printing".

I have thought about using sidecars, xmp files, to store the edit information and dng's but see no benefit from either. I use PS because it is a 16-bit editor compatible with my raw's and the interface with LR is seamless. However, PSE is an excellent alternative with a better user-interface but is only 8-bit.

Good luck and happy editing.

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

Module doesn't matter.

Go to Lightroom in menu bar.
Click catalog settings
Click metadata
Click checkbox

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I do not use sidecars. I convert all my raw nef files to DNG. Lightroom can write data to DNG files, so no sidecar files are needed.

Sidecar files are only used with proprietary raw files, like Nikon NEF, where Lightroom does not know how to write into them, so it creates a "sidecar" file, a .XMP file that contains the edits to be applied to the raw file on decoding/developing.

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

I converted to dng after research and a discussion with you Donald. Would you explain the benefit of also writing edits to image file.