Photoshop CC and PSE 11 To-gether

[Marcel]

Thanks for that reply Marcel.
I thought I had read somewhere that people are using LR to catalogue, then switching to LR to process with the bulk of that processing done in ACR before reverting back to LR for final touches.

If they don't work together this way I don't understand why Adobe have sold the two (PS CC and LR) as a bundle … it doesn't make sense to me.

I watched a video yesterday on how to use ACR in Photoshop and it was (to me) absolutely mind blowing and a must have. Unfortunately the video comes with a magazine and not rue if it is on you tube. Will go look.

Yes, but Lr already has Adobe's ACR engine built in. It's working the same way as it would on it's own. the controls are a bit different but it can do the same as ACR. The biggest advantage is that you can make changes to multiple files at the same time.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Jake I am definitely leaning this way.
From what I have seen and read Lightroom's cataloguing is awesome (not to say that bridge isn't) and I think I want to use this as my default for strong, tagging etc.

And photoshop CC camera RAW is soooooo much more powerful than PSE 11 that after 1 day with it I will never be without it.

So your workflow:
1. Download photos to LR and rename, cull, tag etc.?
2. Open in PS ACR and process?
3. Then what - export to LR to finish or continue in PS CC and then to LR to finish off and catalogue?
4. And finally does either one act as a plug-in for the other?

I will be playing around again today with them and may find my own answers but input from you and others is always much appreciated.

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I've been swamped with work after 10 days away. Marcel covered much of this, but I'll restate for completion.

Lightroom is the centerpiece of my workflow, and its Develop module is ACR and then some. If you want steps...

1. Import using Lightroom adding Copyright data and applicable metadata (though if I've got a mixed bag I do this afterward) during import, no renaming. I have Import set to automatically apply lens profile and chromatic aberration adjustments.

2. Review, rank/flag keepers and delete the crap.

3. Crop, straighten and/or apply perspective correction (Lens Correction module) if required. If I've got obvious spots I use the Spot Removal tool to get rid of them.

4. Apply light adjustments using the Develop module. This is usually limited to using the Black, White & Highlight sliders to maximize the histogram, and using the Gradient and/or Brush tools to fix any uneven lighting since I find this much easier to do here than in Photoshop.

5. Edit In Photoshop. This opens the file directly in CC 2014 (no ACR required, though it can be invoked again via the Filter menu, but this adjusts the PS file, not the original RAW), and once the PS editing is complete it will save the PSD (or TIFF if you prefer) to your LR catalog (it can automatically stack it with the original in the catalog as a preference, but I do not do this).

6. Do what I do in PS CC 2014. This could mean just PS adjustments or the invoking of Nik and onOne tools (both of which can be called directly from LR as well, but this involves a new file for every module called instead of the layers in PS). Save the file (PSD) which will automatically open in LR when I'm done.

7. Apply LR "Finishing" touches. For me there are things that are just easier to do here. This includes using the Radial Filter tool for location specific vignetting, the HSL module to perform color specific adjustments using the targeted adjustment tools for each, final global touch-ups to Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation, and potentially application of Noise Reduction (more as a painterly effect than to actually reduce noise).

8. Export finished photos. I have presets for each site I will upload to.

9. Open exported photos directly in PS and apply any necessary sharpening adjustments (depending on what I see I can use Smart Sharpen, High Pass or a Detail Enhancement PS action).


This is the gist of my workflow for every photo. Seems more complicated than it is. There are occasions where I'll limit the work to just LR, but that's a rarity and usually involves snapshot-like photos and not something I shot for myself.

 

[Lawrence]

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I've been swamped with work after 10 days away. Marcel covered much of this, but I'll restate for completion.

Lightroom is the centerpiece of my workflow, and its Develop module is ACR and then some. If you want steps...

1. Import using Lightroom adding Copyright data and applicable metadata (though if I've got a mixed bag I do this afterward) during import, no renaming. I have Import set to automatically apply lens profile and chromatic aberration adjustments.

2. Review, rank/flag keepers and delete the crap.

3. Crop, straighten and/or apply perspective correction (Lens Correction module) if required. If I've got obvious spots I use the Spot Removal tool to get rid of them.

4. Apply light adjustments using the Develop module. This is usually limited to using the Black, White & Highlight sliders to maximize the histogram, and using the Gradient and/or Brush tools to fix any uneven lighting since I find this much easier to do here than in Photoshop.

5. Edit In Photoshop. This opens the file directly in CC 2014 (no ACR required, though it can be invoked again via the Filter menu, but this adjusts the PS file, not the original RAW), and once the PS editing is complete it will save the PSD (or TIFF if you prefer) to your LR catalog (it can automatically stack it with the original in the catalog as a preference, but I do not do this).

6. Do what I do in PS CC 2014. This could mean just PS adjustments or the invoking of Nik and onOne tools (both of which can be called directly from LR as well, but this involves a new file for every module called instead of the layers in PS). Save the file (PSD) which will automatically open in LR when I'm done.

7. Apply LR "Finishing" touches. For me there are things that are just easier to do here. This includes using the Radial Filter tool for location specific vignetting, the HSL module to perform color specific adjustments using the targeted adjustment tools for each, final global touch-ups to Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation, and potentially application of Noise Reduction (more as a painterly effect than to actually reduce noise).

8. Export finished photos. I have presets for each site I will upload to.

9. Open exported photos directly in PS and apply any necessary sharpening adjustments (depending on what I see I can use Smart Sharpen, High Pass or a Detail Enhancement PS action).


This is the gist of my workflow for every photo. Seems more complicated than it is. There are occasions where I'll limit the work to just LR, but that's a rarity and usually involves snapshot-like photos and not something I shot for myself.

Thank you very much Jake for this detailed answer which is exactly what I was looking for.