Workflow - LR4 & NIK

slowpez · 06-25-2013, 07:31 AM

I have to be making this harder because if it were this complicated, no one would use LR or NIK. All I want to do is reduce the size of my TIFF files after the PP process so I can post them online at the proper size. NIK suggests you sharpen after reducing them in size. Here is what I have to do.

1. Export the files into a folder keeping it as a TIFF but changing the size to what I want.
2. Import back into LR4
3. Open in LR4 and then open the original in NIK pro sharpener to sharpen for the web.
4. Export back into a folder as a JPEG

Please tell me there is an easier way. I end up with so many TIFF files that I am unable to tell which one has had what done to it. There has to be away to reduce the size of the TIFF file in LR without exporting it first then going straight to NIK prosharpener. Right?

Thanks for any help,
Susan.

Anvh · 06-25-2013, 08:12 AM

I had to think hard why you're doing all this but you want to use sharpening tool off nik.

Yeah you can't change the file size of a photo internally in lightroom because that's not how it works, it uses a catalogue instead of using the actually file. Change the actuallly file size is therefore a no go.

This is why i use pixel editors like Photoshop outside of lightroom, you can do all those things you want to do right now and it works with Nik without changing or saving the file in between.

I believe you can do all this inside elements as well, might be worth a look.

slowpez · 06-25-2013, 08:16 AM

Originally posted by Anvh

I had to think hard why you're doing all this but you want to use sharpening tool off nik.

Yeah you can't change the file size of a photo internally in lightroom because that's not how it works, it uses a catalogue instead of using the actually file. Change the actuallly file size is therefore a no go.

This is why i use pixel editors like Photoshop outside of lightroom, you can do all those things you want to do right now and it works with Nik without changing or saving the file in between.

I believe you can do all this inside elements as well, might be worth a look.

Thanks for the quick reply. At least now I now I am not as dumb as I thought I was. I do have photoshop6 but, when I send the TIFFs to it from LR it strips the EXIF for some reason. If not for that, it would be a simple matter to resize. I will have to try and figure out what is happening to the EXIF and see if I can correct that.
Appreciate the help.

aoeu · 06-25-2013, 08:19 AM

I do it like this in LR 3.6 starting with DNG files:

File/Export

Which produces this:

Except that in this case it was short edge.

yygomez · 06-25-2013, 09:41 AM

I do not understand why you dont work in RAW, You are loosing the advantage of non destructive workflow in LR, at the end of the adjustments you could export to TIFF to edit in PS and after LR will Re-import automatically

slowpez · 06-25-2013, 10:16 AM

Originally posted by yygomez

I do not understand why you dont work in RAW, You are loosing the advantage of non destructive workflow in LR, at the end of the adjustments you could export to TIFF to edit in PS and after LR will Re-import automatically

I am using RAW files but NIK works with TIFF and the files are automatically changed to TIFF files when exported into NIK. All I wanted to avoid doing was resizing the TIFF for uploading to Web and then re-importing the TIFF files to upload them into NIK for sharpening. In LR4, the only way to resize a file is through the export link and then they have to be re-imported into LR, uploaded to NIK, sharpened for display, then exported into a folder as a JPEG for upload.
If this sounds confusing, it is and it is very cumbersome to boot. My photoshop version is for students and that may be why I am having some additional difficulties when using it.

slowpez · 06-25-2013, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by aoeu

I do it like this in LR 3.6 starting with DNG files:

File/Export

Which produces this:

Except that in this case it was short edge.

Thanks but my problem is not in exporting as a JPEG. Guess I am unable to make my problem clear but thanks for trying to help.

Anvh · 06-25-2013, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by slowpez

My photoshop version is for students and that may be why I am having some additional difficulties when using it.

There is no difference between normal and student version.

There are a view options inside lightroom and photoshop that strip away the metadata, i should check those.
But EXIF is not that important though... I always strip mine

btw isn't there a resizer program from Nik???

slowpez · 06-25-2013, 11:21 AM

Originally posted by Anvh

There is no difference between normal and student version.

There are a view options inside lightroom and photoshop that strip away the metadata, i should check those.
But EXIF is not that important though... I always strip mine

btw isn't there a resizer program from Nik???

NIK doesn't resize. Wish it did as that would solve my workflow problem.

Anvh · 06-25-2013, 02:32 PM

I thought they had a special plugin for that, might have been Topaz though....

slowpez · 06-26-2013, 06:14 AM

Originally posted by Michaelina2

Here's my LR4.4/NIK workflow:

Thanks for the workflow info but that isn't my problem; I pretty much follow the same route you do but......... I am just trying to resize the TIFF file so I can sharpen for the web in Nik ProSharpener without having to export to reduce the size then re-import to sharper with Nik software. I am gathering that this can't be done so I will continue doing it as I have been doing it. At least, once you get all those TIFF files ready, you can batch edit them in Nik ProSharpener.

emalvick · 06-26-2013, 08:03 AM

Originally posted by slowpez

Thanks for the workflow info but that isn't my problem; I pretty much follow the same route you do but......... I am just trying to resize the TIFF file so I can sharpen for the web in Nik ProSharpener without having to export to reduce the size then re-import to sharper with Nik software. I am gathering that this can't be done so I will continue doing it as I have been doing it. At least, once you get all those TIFF files ready, you can batch edit them in Nik ProSharpener.

Yes, I don't think you can do much more other than get fast at it. I think I've set up LR so that it automatically imports the "intermediate" TIFF files. For efficiency you could probably make couple of export pre-sets that get you to the appropriate NIK module in the size you want (i.e. original for one and reduced size for others).

The only way I think you could potentially (you'd have to test it) be more efficient is if you have Photoshop and you can run your images to Photoshop then run the Nik software from there. This could allow you to run what you need full size, resize, sharpen the resized image, and then "Save As" as needed (i.e. if you want to keep the full-sized edits, you don't want to save alone). THere is also a possibility (I don't really use Photoshop much) that you could open the RAW files directly in photoshop to run all your full size edits (as Smart Objects) and then do the final resize and sharpen for only saving one file out. I'm really not sure how possible that is. And, if you don't have Photoshop, the above doesn't matter.

slowpez · 06-26-2013, 09:23 AM

Originally posted by emalvick

Yes, I don't think you can do much more other than get fast at it. I think I've set up LR so that it automatically imports the "intermediate" TIFF files. For efficiency you could probably make couple of export pre-sets that get you to the appropriate NIK module in the size you want (i.e. original for one and reduced size for others).

The only way I think you could potentially (you'd have to test it) be more efficient is if you have Photoshop and you can run your images to Photoshop then run the Nik software from there. This could allow you to run what you need full size, resize, sharpen the resized image, and then "Save As" as needed (i.e. if you want to keep the full-sized edits, you don't want to save alone). THere is also a possibility (I don't really use Photoshop much) that you could open the RAW files directly in photoshop to run all your full size edits (as Smart Objects) and then do the final resize and sharpen for only saving one file out. I'm really not sure how possible that is. And, if you don't have Photoshop, the above doesn't matter.

Thanks for the advice. I have photoshop but it isn't my go-to program for PP and will never be. It is an old version. Your idea of setting up LR to export TIFF files automatically to NIK prosharpener sounds like it has a great chance of working. Thanks for that. I will try and set that up.

Anvh · 06-26-2013, 10:40 AM

You can get CS2 for free, the serial number is behind the download.
Adobe - CS2 Downloads

Problem solved i think

slowpez · 06-26-2013, 10:55 AM

Originally posted by Anvh

You can get CS2 for free, the serial number is behind the download.
Adobe - CS2 Downloads

Problem solved i think

They have this disclaimer posted:

Adobe has disabled the activation server for CS2 products, including Acrobat 7, because of a technical issue. These products were released more than seven years ago, do not run on many modern operating systems, and are no longer supported.

Adobe strongly advises against running unsupported and outdated software. The serial numbers below should only be used by customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products.

06-25-2013, 07:31 AM	#1
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462	Workflow - LR4 & NIK I have to be making this harder because if it were this complicated, no one would use LR or NIK. All I want to do is reduce the size of my TIFF files after the PP process so I can post them online at the proper size. NIK suggests you sharpen after reducing them in size. Here is what I have to do. 1. Export the files into a folder keeping it as a TIFF but changing the size to what I want. 2. Import back into LR4 3. Open in LR4 and then open the original in NIK pro sharpener to sharpen for the web. 4. Export back into a folder as a JPEG Please tell me there is an easier way. I end up with so many TIFF files that I am unable to tell which one has had what done to it. There has to be away to reduce the size of the TIFF file in LR without exporting it first then going straight to NIK prosharpener. Right? Thanks for any help, Susan.

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06-25-2013, 08:12 AM	#2
Anvh Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 4,616	I had to think hard why you're doing all this but you want to use sharpening tool off nik. Yeah you can't change the file size of a photo internally in lightroom because that's not how it works, it uses a catalogue instead of using the actually file. Change the actuallly file size is therefore a no go. This is why i use pixel editors like Photoshop outside of lightroom, you can do all those things you want to do right now and it works with Nik without changing or saving the file in between. I believe you can do all this inside elements as well, might be worth a look.

06-25-2013, 08:16 AM	#3
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by Anvh I had to think hard why you're doing all this but you want to use sharpening tool off nik. Yeah you can't change the file size of a photo internally in lightroom because that's not how it works, it uses a catalogue instead of using the actually file. Change the actuallly file size is therefore a no go. This is why i use pixel editors like Photoshop outside of lightroom, you can do all those things you want to do right now and it works with Nik without changing or saving the file in between. I believe you can do all this inside elements as well, might be worth a look. Thanks for the quick reply. At least now I now I am not as dumb as I thought I was. I do have photoshop6 but, when I send the TIFFs to it from LR it strips the EXIF for some reason. If not for that, it would be a simple matter to resize. I will have to try and figure out what is happening to the EXIF and see if I can correct that. Appreciate the help.

06-25-2013, 08:19 AM	#4
aoeu Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Oregon Posts: 496	I do it like this in LR 3.6 starting with DNG files: File/Export Which produces this: Except that in this case it was short edge.

06-25-2013, 09:41 AM	#5
yygomez Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Surfside,FL Photos: Gallery Posts: 155	I do not understand why you dont work in RAW, You are loosing the advantage of non destructive workflow in LR, at the end of the adjustments you could export to TIFF to edit in PS and after LR will Re-import automatically

06-25-2013, 10:16 AM	#6
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by yygomez I do not understand why you dont work in RAW, You are loosing the advantage of non destructive workflow in LR, at the end of the adjustments you could export to TIFF to edit in PS and after LR will Re-import automatically I am using RAW files but NIK works with TIFF and the files are automatically changed to TIFF files when exported into NIK. All I wanted to avoid doing was resizing the TIFF for uploading to Web and then re-importing the TIFF files to upload them into NIK for sharpening. In LR4, the only way to resize a file is through the export link and then they have to be re-imported into LR, uploaded to NIK, sharpened for display, then exported into a folder as a JPEG for upload. If this sounds confusing, it is and it is very cumbersome to boot. My photoshop version is for students and that may be why I am having some additional difficulties when using it.

06-25-2013, 10:18 AM	#7
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by aoeu I do it like this in LR 3.6 starting with DNG files: File/Export Which produces this: Except that in this case it was short edge. Thanks but my problem is not in exporting as a JPEG. Guess I am unable to make my problem clear but thanks for trying to help.

06-25-2013, 10:26 AM	#8
Anvh Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 4,616	Originally posted by slowpez My photoshop version is for students and that may be why I am having some additional difficulties when using it. There is no difference between normal and student version. There are a view options inside lightroom and photoshop that strip away the metadata, i should check those. But EXIF is not that important though... I always strip mine btw isn't there a resizer program from Nik???

06-25-2013, 11:21 AM	#9
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by Anvh There is no difference between normal and student version. There are a view options inside lightroom and photoshop that strip away the metadata, i should check those. But EXIF is not that important though... I always strip mine btw isn't there a resizer program from Nik??? NIK doesn't resize. Wish it did as that would solve my workflow problem.

06-25-2013, 02:32 PM	#10
Anvh Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 4,616	I thought they had a special plugin for that, might have been Topaz though....

06-26-2013, 06:14 AM	#11
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by Michaelina2 Here's my LR4.4/NIK workflow: Thanks for the workflow info but that isn't my problem; I pretty much follow the same route you do but......... I am just trying to resize the TIFF file so I can sharpen for the web in Nik ProSharpener without having to export to reduce the size then re-import to sharper with Nik software. I am gathering that this can't be done so I will continue doing it as I have been doing it. At least, once you get all those TIFF files ready, you can batch edit them in Nik ProSharpener.

06-26-2013, 08:03 AM	#12
emalvick Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Davis, CA Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,642	Originally posted by slowpez Thanks for the workflow info but that isn't my problem; I pretty much follow the same route you do but......... I am just trying to resize the TIFF file so I can sharpen for the web in Nik ProSharpener without having to export to reduce the size then re-import to sharper with Nik software. I am gathering that this can't be done so I will continue doing it as I have been doing it. At least, once you get all those TIFF files ready, you can batch edit them in Nik ProSharpener. Yes, I don't think you can do much more other than get fast at it. I think I've set up LR so that it automatically imports the "intermediate" TIFF files. For efficiency you could probably make couple of export pre-sets that get you to the appropriate NIK module in the size you want (i.e. original for one and reduced size for others). The only way I think you could potentially (you'd have to test it) be more efficient is if you have Photoshop and you can run your images to Photoshop then run the Nik software from there. This could allow you to run what you need full size, resize, sharpen the resized image, and then "Save As" as needed (i.e. if you want to keep the full-sized edits, you don't want to save alone). THere is also a possibility (I don't really use Photoshop much) that you could open the RAW files directly in photoshop to run all your full size edits (as Smart Objects) and then do the final resize and sharpen for only saving one file out. I'm really not sure how possible that is. And, if you don't have Photoshop, the above doesn't matter.

06-26-2013, 09:23 AM	#13
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by emalvick Yes, I don't think you can do much more other than get fast at it. I think I've set up LR so that it automatically imports the "intermediate" TIFF files. For efficiency you could probably make couple of export pre-sets that get you to the appropriate NIK module in the size you want (i.e. original for one and reduced size for others). The only way I think you could potentially (you'd have to test it) be more efficient is if you have Photoshop and you can run your images to Photoshop then run the Nik software from there. This could allow you to run what you need full size, resize, sharpen the resized image, and then "Save As" as needed (i.e. if you want to keep the full-sized edits, you don't want to save alone). THere is also a possibility (I don't really use Photoshop much) that you could open the RAW files directly in photoshop to run all your full size edits (as Smart Objects) and then do the final resize and sharpen for only saving one file out. I'm really not sure how possible that is. And, if you don't have Photoshop, the above doesn't matter. Thanks for the advice. I have photoshop but it isn't my go-to program for PP and will never be. It is an old version. Your idea of setting up LR to export TIFF files automatically to NIK prosharpener sounds like it has a great chance of working. Thanks for that. I will try and set that up.

06-26-2013, 10:40 AM	#14
Anvh Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 4,616	You can get CS2 for free, the serial number is behind the download. Adobe - CS2 Downloads Problem solved i think

06-26-2013, 10:55 AM	#15
slowpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 18,462 Original Poster	Originally posted by Anvh You can get CS2 for free, the serial number is behind the download. Adobe - CS2 Downloads Problem solved i think They have this disclaimer posted: Adobe has disabled the activation server for CS2 products, including Acrobat 7, because of a technical issue. These products were released more than seven years ago, do not run on many modern operating systems, and are no longer supported. Adobe strongly advises against running unsupported and outdated software. The serial numbers below should only be used by customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products.