Topaz Photo AI & Lightroom Classic - Workflow: Hi - For anyone who uses Topaz Photo AI with Lightroom Classic... Could you please describe your workflow? I am interested in from where...

ft Loc: New York, USA

Hi -

For anyone who uses Topaz Photo AI with Lightroom Classic...

Could you please describe your workflow? I am interested in from where you start (folder or collection) to where the photo saved from Topaz Photo AI to Lightroom Classic ends up (apparently folder only, not the same collection).

I seem to edit ok, but the saved photo disappears on me. Apparently, you can't save directly back to a LR collection. It seems your edited picture will only save back to LR in the folder, no matter where you were when you started the referral to Topaz Photo AI. For me, it seems like the saved (edited) photo disappears and I have to hunt for it, find it in the applicable folder, the save it to the collection(s). I got the impression from Topaz tutorials that the edited photo is supposed to be saved in LR next to the image you started out with.

Where am I going wrong? Is that the way it is? I'm hoping there's an easier way to have the edited image as available as the original.

Thank you all for your help.

Thanks for your help.

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

When I use Photo Ai, I start in Lightroom, edit a copy, do the edits in Photo Ai, then save the edited image back to Lightroom. The Edited file goes back to original directory and is shown next to the original image. (I’m not at my computer at the moment, so exact terms and steps might be slightly different, but the workflow remains the same.) I can be more precise, if needed, just need to use my PC to record the steps.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

First, these tools are best applied to RAW files. I'm unsure from your post, ft, if that is your shooting format.

Next, Topaz has advanced to supporting the DNG format. Their recommended workflow is to start in a Topaz module on the original RAW, outputting the module impact as DNG and bringing that DNG into LR for Adobe editing. You can put both the RAW and the DNG into the LR catalog, stacking the DNG over the RAW, if desired.

The RAW data is read-only. Although DNG seems like another file format, a transformation, it's really just 'edit instructions' as a wrapper around the RAW image data of the original. Only when LR (or PS) interprets the DNG instructions into a new output file (JPEG, TIFF, etc), only then is a new image file created.

Topaz has some useful demonstration videos in u-tube, and probably their own website, showing how to create and pass the DNG around between Topaz and Lightroom.

BobPeterson Loc: Massachusetts

ft wrote:

Hi - br br For anyone who uses Topaz Photo AI wi... (show quote)

This works for me. File now ends up back in LR in the correct folder. There was a time that the return was buggy. Maybe you have an old version of Photo AI?

https://support.topazlabs.com/article/134-the-recommended-raw-workflow-in-lightroom-classic

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I have an older version of LR, so the current one may be different. If I don't set the folder to keep images in capture order, then the image returned from Topaz AI goes to the end of the group. I think the default is "added order," so that puts the "new" image at the end. Sometimes when I forget to change it to capture order, I think I've lost an image.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

AzPicLady wrote:

I have an older version of LR, so the current one may be different. If I don't set the folder to keep images in capture order, then the image returned from Topaz AI goes to the end of the group. I think the default is "added order," so that puts the "new" image at the end. Sometimes when I forget to change it to capture order, I think I've lost an image.

That's just a sort order in the Library module, your selected sort order. Change it to something more useful, like capture time, and the issue is easily resolved.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

CHG_CANON wrote:

That's just a sort order in the Library module, your selected sort order. Change it to something more useful, like capture time, and the issue is easily resolved.

Which is what I said I did.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

ft wrote:

Hi - br br For anyone who uses Topaz Photo AI wi... (show quote)

A collection is sort of like a virtual folder, not an actual one where photos can be saved. You can think of a collection as a container of links to image files that reside in some actual folder. When you export a file while working in a collection, however, there should be a check-box for adding the exported image to the open collection.

ft Loc: New York, USA

CHG_CANON wrote:

First, these tools are best applied to RAW files. ... (show quote)

Yes - thank you. I've been using both the preferred method (File -> Plug In Extras -> Process in Topaz Photo AI) which produces a .dng file and the "Edit in" method which produces a tif, psd, or jpg file.

I'm just starting to grasp where the file ends up when it's saved back to Lightroom.

I appreciate your help.

ft Loc: New York, USA

pecohen wrote:

A collection is sort of like a virtual folder, not an actual one where photos can be saved. You can think of a collection as a container of links to image files that reside in some actual folder. When you export a file while working in a collection, however, there should be a check-box for adding the exported image to the open collection.

Thank you. I can't find the checkbox you're referring to but I see that the edited photo is consistently returned to the original FOLDER.

ft Loc: New York, USA

THANK YOU ALL for the helpful replies. I have to better distinguish between the characteristics of COLLECTIONS v. FOLDERS and take better note of stacked v. adjacent images. I'm arriving in the right place it's just the routes I'm taking getting there.
Thanks again,
Frank

ft Loc: New York, USA

AzPicLady wrote:

I have an older version of LR, so the current one may be different. If I don't set the folder to keep images in capture order, then the image returned from Topaz AI goes to the end of the group. I think the default is "added order," so that puts the "new" image at the end. Sometimes when I forget to change it to capture order, I think I've lost an image.

Thank you!

ft Loc: New York, USA

Gitchigumi wrote:

When I use Photo Ai, I start in Lightroom, edit a copy, do the edits in Photo Ai, then save the edited image back to Lightroom. The Edited file goes back to original directory and is shown next to the original image. (I’m not at my computer at the moment, so exact terms and steps might be slightly different, but the workflow remains the same.) I can be more precise, if needed, just need to use my PC to record the steps.

Thank you!

ft Loc: New York, USA

BobPeterson wrote:

This works for me. File now ends up back in LR in the correct folder. There was a time that the return was buggy. Maybe you have an old version of Photo AI?

https://support.topazlabs.com/article/134-the-recommended-raw-workflow-in-lightroom-classic

Yes - thank you.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

ft wrote:

... For me, it seems like the saved (edited) photo disappears and I have to hunt for it, find it in the applicable folder, the save it to the collection(s). I got the impression from Topaz tutorials that the edited photo is supposed to be saved in LR next to the image you started out with...

The returned image goes to the same folder as the original but if you are just using collections it doesn't automatically go there. However, you might be able to use smart collections. You create a smart collection that is based on some criterion common to all the images you want to include. It could be a keyword or a part of a file name or several other parameters. The returned image should have the same metadata as the image you are editing so it will automatically be added to the smart collection.

The only drawback is that any other image with the same criterion will be added to that smart collection. So you have to carefully define the smart collection criteria and make sure the images you want in the smart collection will be placed there. Unlike a regular collection you can't place an image in a smart collection without adding the appropriate criterion to the image metadata.