# Question Convert existing Photoshop edits to LR?



## OogieM (Jan 9, 2013)

OK per a question over in the what do you wish you knew when you started thread I have a project described thusly:

Another of my projects is using LR to document a large historical photo collection. I am scanning old glass plate negatives and creating archival digital copies. Then we are cataloging those images in LR. For that I need to know about metadata, tags, collections, how to add custom metadata if possible and other things that make LR a catalog. In that project I already have several version of each of the images. The original archival scans as TIFF files, the lower resolution JPG reference files, the even lower resolution web files and the tiny thumbnails. For some files I have print versions that are at specific resolution for specific printing devices. The different versions were created outside of LR using Photoshop with a clear editing workflow. I have no clue how to tell LR that all those different versions are part of the same image. How do I link them in LR? I believe it is possible but I don't know how to do it. Again finding a way to do the tagging and metadata editing away from my main computer is critical. Ideally I could set up an iPad with a group of photos give that to a historical society volunteer to edit and add the metadata and then when it comes back integrate that with the main catalog. That is another reason I'm looking at Photosmith.

One suggestion was to move the editing out of Photoshop and into LR and only save/catalog the archival TIFF images. 

One problem I have is getting it all to work. 

I am a complete newbie, still trying to wrap my brain around LR so please forgive the silly misconceptions but I'll tell you what didn't work when I tried it. I'll just give you the workflow for the creation of our master file and our reference file. The procedures were adopted based on recommendations from several historical societies and institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Museum as being the best given the limits of time, money and space. All work is done by volunteers and all the equipment is provided by each volunteer who works on it. 

First off here is my existing Photoshop workflow. 
*Scanning Hardwareand Software*
[FONT=Times, serif]Ourscanner is an Epson Perfection 4870 Photo.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Ourcapture software is Epson Scan Version 2.34 A.Update June 2012 Upgraded to Epson Scan Version 3.07A[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Ourediting software is Photoshop CS2 Version 9.0.Update June 2012 Upgraded to Photoshop CS5 Version 12.0.4
[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]*Create Master File
*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif][/FONT]Themaster file is our primary source. To create this file we use thefollowing scanner settings.
Professionalmode
DocumentType is Film
FilmType is B&W Negative Film
16-BitGrayscale
Bestscanning Quality
1200dpi Update June 2012 increased to 2400 dpi
Documentsize W 4.84 H 6.79 inches
TargetSize Original
W4.84 H 6.79 inches
Scale100%
TrimmingOn
Adjustments
NoUnsharp Mask, No Grain Reduction, No Dust Removal, No Digital ICE.
Setthe tone correction curve all three channels so that Input 0 Output10 and Input 255 Output 244.
Youmust verify the tone correction curve after each scan.

*Create Master File*
Scannerholder is placed on the bed and scanner is set for negative scanning.The holder is marked with the hinge side and on/off switch location.
Glassplates are cleaned if not done previously.
Scannerbed is cleaned using compressed air between each scan.
Glassnegative is carefully placed in the holder in the scanner emulsion sidedown. Check that no dust has settled on the negative. Use compressed airif necessary to clean dust off the negative.
Initialscans start with preset 7.
Doa preview scan to verify settings and look at basic image.
Adjustthe histogram and tone curve to get most of the data in the scan.
Doa final scan saving as a TIFF file in Windows byte order.
Openfile in Photoshop CS2. Update June 2012 PhotoshopCS5.
VerifyHistogram data looks ok. Use the references in “Digital Imaging”by Jill Marie Koelling to verify the scans. Re-scan if required.
Thendo an Image, Rotate Canvas 90° clockwise or counterclockwise asrequired for proper orientation.
Thendo an Image, Rotate Canvas, Flip Canvas Horizontal to reverse thepicture so that it is correct since we are scanning it reversed.
Savethis file as a TIFF Windows byte order as the master file.
Carefullyremove the glass plate from the negative holder and re-house it inthe archival 4-flap enclosure.
Writeon 4 flap enclosures with number 2 pencil on edge with the referencenumber for the plate. <Resource Group Number><ResourceType>_<Item Number> and place back in the storage box initem number order.
Whena storage box is full use PAT tested pens to write a label onarchival paper and slip it into the front of the box folded over sothe label is visible from the outside. The label should have the itemnumbers of the plates stored in that box.
SampleLabel:
RG0001PH
0124-0156
Scanned

Currentlyit takes about 7 minutes per negative to create the initial masterfile. Update June 2012 Currently it takes about 30 minutesper negative to create the initial master file. 

*Create ReferenceFile*


[FONT=Times, serif]Referencefiles are the larger JPG files that are sold as digital copies tousers. The goal is 2000 pixels on the long side of an image.
[FONT=Times, serif]Startwith the master file. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]InPhotoshop change the Image, Mode to be 8-bit grayscale. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Goto Image, Image Size and set the Resolution to 300 ppi. Resamplebicubic is on. This will set the size to be W 2037 and H 1452 (or W1452 and H 2037 for portrait format items).[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]FitScreen so you can see the image clearly. (Command 0)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Goto Image, Adjustments, Levels and adjust the white, black and shadowpoints using the levels histogram until it looks good. (Command L)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Saveas a JPEG file set to maximum quality.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]Savein Reference folder with filename <Resource Group Number><ResourceType>_<Item Number>_reference.jpg

[/FONT]
[FONT=Times, serif]The TIFF files are very flat appearing per current recommendations for archive scans. They really aren't very good for actually looking at and seeing the details in the images but each edit after that we lose data. Archive scanning as I was taught is to preserve as much data that exists in the original negative as I can given limits of time, disk space etc. So if I catalog the archive files I have to create something else like the reference file for viewing them as otherwise they are not really usable directly. In particular the adjustment of the histogram levels is critical to making things that as users we see and think looks good but it's not archival quality. When I am looking at an image in LR what I want to see is the reference style even though I know it has less data than my archive scan. When I tried to use LR I could not figure out how to get the develop module to match the workflow above and then save that as the image used to display to me the catalog data. [/FONT]
[/FONT]


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## Linwood Ferguson (Jan 10, 2013)

I can't begin to address the depth of your question, but will start by stating the perhaps obvious - one thing that LR brings to the party is the non-destructive edits.  You can produce a set of edits of an image that are not applied to the TIFF directly, but only when you view it or export it.  You can then make virtual copies of the image and apply yet different edits.  Thus for example you could import a TIFF (X), make a virtual copy and edit it one way (call it Y), make another virtual copy and edit it a completely different way (call that Z). 

Now you can take X, Y and Z and put them into a stack which is a local virtual grouping, so that as you scroll through the library you see only the one (with some iconic indication it is a stack).  You then can have each virtual copy be part of separate collections, so you could have all the X's appear together in a collection (think directory), all the Y's in a collection, etc.  You could then export those to files for viewing, production, or "publish" them to various online services.

The nice thing about all this is that there is one underlying TIFF, so you get less fragmentation of the true collection of documents and a lot less wasted disk space.


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## erro (Jan 10, 2013)

As i see it, you only need to import the master file to LR. Then you can add metadata as much as you want, inside LR. Whenever you need a copy, for whatever reason, you simply select that image (or images) and export at the desired pixel dimensions. Exported files are just temporary derevaties that doesn't need to be saved, since you have the original (the master) imported in LR. You can make new export copies whenever you want.


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## OogieM (Jan 10, 2013)

Stacks is something I have no understanding of at all in LR. Can I choose one of those edits to be the image that LR generally shows me when I view my catalog? (off to try to find it in the help file again)


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## erro (Jan 10, 2013)

Yes, you can sselect which is the top image of a stack


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 10, 2013)

I love the amount of detail you go into!!! 

You obviously want to keep your scan workflow the same.  Can the scan software not do the rotate/flip, to save you going into Photoshop?  If not, that stage could certainly be automated.

Then you could import into LR - check the histogram in there, to check whether you need to rescan. 

From that point on, I wouldn't worry about creating the other versions, as they could be created on the fly, so you wouldn't need to worry about stacks or ways of managing multiple versions.  The LR Develop adjustments are non-destructive, so you'd edit in Develop and then when you're looking at the photos within LR, you'd be looking at the equivalent of your reference image.  If you did want to keep reference JPEGs, I'd use Publish Services to keep the reference folder updated with your lower res JPEGs, but not import them back into LR.


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## OogieM (Jan 13, 2013)

Victoria Bampton said:


> I love the amount of detail you go into!!!
> 
> You obviously want to keep your scan workflow the same.  Can the scan software not do the rotate/flip, to save you going into Photoshop?  If not, that stage could certainly be automated.
> 
> ...



The detail is so that anyone who picks up the project after months or years can know exactly what to do to get started again. 

Nope, the scan SW cannot do any flipping or manipulations at all. I am looking at automating that part in PS but haven't done it yet. 

Still not seeing how I can see a reference version in LR w/o making it a separate file but I'll play more with it this week.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 13, 2013)

LR won't touch the image data (it's non-destructive, so it applies adjustments to its own previews) - and therefore you don't actually need reference files.

If you did want to create reference JPEGs, it's probably easiest to do using Publish Services so that they update every time you make adjustments to the main files in LR, and then don't import those reference JPEGs into LR.  They would be separate files at that point.


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## OogieM (Jan 14, 2013)

Victoria Bampton said:


> If you did want to create reference JPEGs, it's probably easiest to do using Publish Services so that they update every time you make adjustments to the main files in LR, and then don't import those reference JPEGs into LR.  They would be separate files at that point.



I still don't grok non-destructive edits  But that one gives me a key. Once the files are scanned and the original archive and all the reference and other versions made it is expected that the only time you'd go back to that original scanned file is to make a new version for new technology or a new printer. The "working" files if you will are the reference JPEG files. They are the ones we generally rent to people wanting to use the images, they are the base for web sites and for most products (like calendars) that we make with our images. The master files are archived and hardly ever accessed at all. 

I need to go back and re-read your book now that I've played more with LR. What I guess I am asking for is how to make the view I see in preview in LR be the changes I have defined as "best" by creating the reference jpegs using develop in LR. 

As I said some of the basic concepts  of how to use LR are still just not clicking with me. I'm much further along on the cataloging and searching aspects of the tool.


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## erro (Jan 14, 2013)

Do you *always *have to have *all* photos available as "reference JPGs"? Or is it OK to just export temporary copies as whenever they are needed?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 14, 2013)

OogieM said:


> I still don't grok non-destructive edits



Ok, try this... your original archive image in Lightroom is read-only*.  Lightroom reads the image data and creates its own preview that it shows you on screen.  When you edit the photo in Develop, it only updates that little preview, not the original archive image data.  Everything you do in Lightroom is stored as a set of text instructions in the database (i.e. apply 5 stars, add keyword Fred, Exposure +0.5, Highlights -10, Shadows +5, Blacks... you get the idea).  If/when you decide to Export, it goes and finds the original archive image, creates a copy and applies all of those text instructions to the copy.  The original is still only being read, so none of its image data has been destroyed - hence non-destructive.

* There's an exception called XMP, which writes to the file header without affecting the image data, but that only does so if you choose to save the metadata to the files.


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