COLOR WORKFLOW between
Lightroom 4 & Photoshop CS6 JOE BRADY
FOR ALMOST EVERY LIGHTROOM USER WHO FINDS THE NEED TO DO PIXEL-BASED EDITING ON IMAGES, SENDING IMAGES FROM LIGHTROOM TO PHOTOSHOP IS A PRETTY COMMON AC[ LIGHTROOM MAGAZINE ]
TIVITY. PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF BOTH LIGHTROOM 4
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AND PHOTOSHOP CS6, THIS OFTEN CAUSED MUCH TEETH GNASHING BECAUSE OF UNEXPECTED COLOR SHIFTS. THIS HAPPENED FOR SEVERAL REASONS, INCLUDING THE FACT THAT PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THESE TWO PROGRAMS USED DIFFERENT COLOR ENGINES BEHIND THE SCENES.
LIGHTROOM 4 COLOR SETTINGS NOW, LIGHTROOM 4 AND PHOTOSHOP CS6 SHARE THE SAME COLOR ENGINE AND IMAGES CAN BE SENT BACK AND FORTH WITHOUT FEAR. TO MAKE SURE THAT ANY EDITS YOU DO IN PHOTOSHOP DON’T CAUSE ANY COLOR OR TONAL SURPRISES, IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE
Lightroom works in a color space called “Melissa RGB.” This space is essentially ProPhoto RGB with a modified gamma curve set at 2.2. Before going into the Photoshop color settings, let’s make sure that Lightroom will send images into Photoshop with the correct settings.
A COLOR WORKFLOW BETWEEN THE TWO PROGRAMS THAT PROVIDES THE MOST ACCURATE EDITS.
Start by making sure that when you send an image from Lightroom 4 to Photoshop CS6 that you’re using the ProPhoto RGB color space with a bit depth of 16 bits/component. These options are found on the External Editing tab of the Preferences dialog in Lightroom (Lightroom [PC: Edit]>Preferences). This will keep colors from shifting and provide a great match in color and tone. While it’s true that ProPhoto RGB uses a different gamma curve than the default in Lightroom, the differences on your monitor are negligible. Lightroom does recommend exporting TIFF files into Photoshop, but if you’re stuck in your ways and prefer to keep PSD files, that’s fine. Just make sure to click the Maximize Compatibility checkbox when you save the file in Photoshop. (Note: To check your current Maximize Compatibility settings in Photoshop, go to Photoshop [PC: Edit]>Preferences>File Handling. In the File Compatibility section, you’ll see a drop-down menu for Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility. Your options are Never, Always, and Ask.) Don’t concern yourself with the Resolution number, the default of which is 240. It has no effect on the file you’re editing.
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PHOTOSHOP CS6 COLOR SETTINGS Before you bring your images into Photoshop, it’s important to make sure that the color settings in Photoshop are set to make transferring from Lightroom as accurate as possible. You can access these choices under Edit>Color Settings. The most important selection is the first one—the RGB Working Spaces. You want to make sure that ProPhoto RGB is chosen. The three choices below don’t concern most photographers, so leave them at their default settings.
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Below that is a section called “Color Management Policies.” The important thing here is to always select Preserve Embedded Profiles. The rest of the options here won’t concern you in this workflow, nor will any of the choices available when you click the More Options button—those defaults are fine.
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B E F O R E YO U D O A N Y E D I T S , C A L I B R AT E YO U R M O N I T O R It’s always important to mention that any editing you do in Photoshop or Lightroom assumes that your monitor is calibrated. You’re making edits to your images based on how it looks on your screen, so you need to know that the image you see on the monitor is accurate. The single biggest complaint from most users is that they get prints back from their lab or off their printer that are too dark. An overly bright monitor (as most are) is the greatest cause of dark prints because you’re judging your images based on your bright display. A monitor calibration system is a must for anyone doing their own image editing. You need your monitor to show your image as accurately as possible and you can’t do this by eye. A device like the ColorMunki Display from X-Rite (http://kel.by/VFub0l) is an easy-to-use tool that will get your monitor calibrated without any need to know about color management. If you don’t get your monitor under control, then your edits are just guesses!
N O W YO U C A N M A K E YO U R I M A G E E D I T S I N PHOTOSHOP CS6
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With your color policies in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6 now set to bring you the most consistent color and tone, you can safely make your edits. With your image selected in Lightroom, go to Photo>Edit In>Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS6. Make all of your edits in Photoshop and when the image looks the way you like, simply Save the image (not Save As). When you go back to Lightroom 4, you’ll find the saved PSD or TIFF file sitting next to your original RAW file in the Filmstrip. Remember that the file type was determined by the choices you made in your Lightroom 4 preferences for external editing. All of your layers will remain intact when you open this file again in Photoshop using the Edit Original option in the Edit Photos with Adobe Photoshop CS6 dialog. You can now prepare your image for printing from Lightroom and take advantage of the soft proofing features, which we’ll cover next issue. n
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ALL PHOTOS BY JOE BRADY