Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

I'm new to LR. I was dragged away from Aperture kicking and screaming only after Apple dropped support for it. It was a painful learning curve to move all my photos from Aperture to LR but I managed to do it, and I'm starting to get the hang of LR but I'm still learning.

I'm a long time user of DxO and have developed work flow habits that were hard to break. Prior to using LR it was my habit to export images from DxO directly into PhotoShop, make some final adjustments and save the image. When I started using LR I learned that it's very easy to jump from LR to PS. Jumping between LR and DxO is a lot trickier! It can be done, but you must do it the correct way or it becomes confusing.
First you need to convert the RAW image file to the DNG raw format, only then will DxO pop open when you export it to DxO. Because it was a habit, I always exported my images created in DxO as a Tiff file directly into PS. Nooooo! It works a lot better if you export it from DxO back into LR. Then it's easy to move the image created in DxO and exported into LR, from LR to PS and back. It's easy once you know this. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to figure this simple work flow out. Old habits die hard!

Attached are two images I took on a recent vacation to the Canadian Rockies. I had my camera set up to auto bracket every photo I took by one f-stop each way. (-1, 0, +1). I sometime used all three and made a LR HDR version of an image. As you can see the image was twisted and need to be straightened. DxO is excellent at straightening photos and changing prospective. The straight image below it a non-HDR made from a single exposure within DxO.

HDR made by LR from three exposures

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Streghtened image made from a single exposure by DxO

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Leitz Loc: Solms

It'll probably dawn on Admin pretty soon to move this to the appropriate section.

erickter Loc: Dallas,TX

Good workflow explanation. Refreshing honesty.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

No doubt you are correct and it will be moved into the "Photo Gallery" where they seem to move EVERYTHING! My purpose of posting this image was to share a work flow technique that took me a long time to discover. I'm not showing off my pics and/or asking for general critique.

We will see if they move it and to where.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thank you erickter. I hope you and other DxO users find it helpful. (Both of them.) :-)

Leitz Loc: Solms

Actually, Dave, I was thinking that since the subject is post processing, perhaps Admin would move it there. But who knows? there are many posts here on specific subjects that don't get moved to the section that was established for them.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Had I known there was "Post processing" section I would have posted it there. My bad.

jackpi Loc: Southwest Ohio

No need to convert a file to DNG before sending it to DxO Optics Pro.

After importing my raw files into Lightroom, I go to File > Plug-in Extras > Transfer to DxO Optics Pro 11. This opens DxO Optics Pro with a copy of my raw file.

After processing in DxO Optics Pro, I choose to return a DNG file to Lightroom. Back in Lightroom I have my original raw file as well as the DNG file returned by DxO Optics Pro.

I stopped converting from raw to DNG with Lightroom after I found out that Phase One's Capture One Pro (currently one of the best raw processing tools) can't process files converted to DNG by Adobe software. I don't use Capture One Pro currently, but I like to keep my options open.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Wow, thank you! I did not know it could be done that way. I'll give it a try. It makes perfict sense. I don't like corrupting my original RAW files.

Edit########
I think you meant to type DxO 10 not "DxO 11". I don't think eleven is out yet.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

OMG, I just tryed your way and it work better than the way I have been doing it. Thank you so much!

I just choose a random image and gave it a try:

I see you are correct again! DxO is up to version 11. I'm a long time user of DxO; I hope they give me break in the price for the upgrade.

It seems anytime I set out to teach, I end up learning.

Lightroom

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DxO + PS + Nix filters

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Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Thanks for posting this here. It is much more valuable and interesting than all of those 'big brown truck' posts we get. If posted in the post-processing section it probably wouldn't be seen by anywhere near as many people, at least not by myself.

If we tried to be precise and accurate about categorizing everything there probably wouldn't be a point in having a main photography discussion section at all!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

That would be a good philosophy for all of us to adopt! I have certainly found it to be true, and certainly not a bad thing.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thank you. Actually I did not see a "post-processing" option in the pull down menu when I first posted it. Perhaps that's because like you, I'm not subscribed to it?

I'm currently downloading version 11.0 of DxO as I'm typing this. As a current user I got a big price break!

It's been a good day because, I LEARNED A LOT TODAY ON UHH!

Leitz Loc: Solms

From Home, you can scroll down to All Sections and access them all. Not "bad" at all to post it here, and you did get excellent replies, but I believe that members who are particularly interested in, and knowledgeable of, a certain subject would be more likely to visit that section. At least I do. I like to think of Main Photography as a general store, while the other sections are specialty shops. At times, though, it could be said that Main is a waterfront bar and the others are piano lounges!

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Yes, DxO 11 is out, and I am using it.

Also, after send the image to DxO, you only need to hit the "Export to Lightroom" from DxO to send it back to Lightroom, and no need to generate a DNG file.

One quick note on DxO. Prime Noise removal likes to work on the RAW image first. And I find that Lightroom does not seem to send the current changes to DxO, but instead sends the RAW file. When it is returned to Lightroom, it comes back as a TIF with the DxO changes. To prove it to myself, I started with a RAW image in Lightroom and drag the exposure all the way down so that the image is really dark. Then I go to Plug In Extras and Transfer the file to DxO. What shows up is the original RAW with no sign of the exposure being pulled all the way down. And I have access to Prime Noise Removal. I make some changes in DxO and then export it back to Lightroom and I get the TIF file with the DxO changes and none of the Lightroom changes, but now ready for Lightroom to do what you want to it.