Editing in Camera Raw and Lightroom vs.Photoshop

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- [Instructor] One of the most common questions that I get is when and what type of editing should I do using Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic or Lightroom versus what types of edits and when should I do my editing in Photoshop? So when you're working with photographs especially Raw files captured from a digital camera or your mobile device, you'll want to use Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic or Lightroom to make as many edits or enhancements to your photographs before you ever opened them into Photoshop. And here are three examples, so the originals are on the top and then the edited images are on the bottom. And in the first example there, you can see that I have straightened the horizon and I've cropped a little bit of the image, I've also adjusted the colors and the tones. I've also done some lens correction on that image. It might not be obvious but I have using the Camera Raw technology. In the middle example here, we can see that I've changed color and tone as well but I've also added some effects like clarity and texture. And then in the third example, not only have I changed color and tone, I've gone specifically into HSL and change the saturation and the luminosity of the sky giving it a little bit more contrast with the iceberg in the front, where I applied a local adjustment. So the good news is all three workflows use the same Raw processing technology. It just looks a bit different depending on the application. So if you're starting in bridge and you double click a Raw file it will open up in the Camera Raw plugin. Whereas if you're using Lightroom Classic the Camera Raw technology is in the Develop module. And if you're using Lightroom, the Camera Raw technology is in the Edit Stack. Now there are three primary reasons that you should make edits to your Raw files in Camera Raw or in Lightroom Classic or Lightroom. And the first is speed. So the changes that you make are done using a parametric image editing model. And that means that the application quickly applies just a set of instructions to alter how the image is displayed on screen. And that type of editing can be significantly faster if you're comparing it to a pixel editing application like Photoshop, where Photoshop has to go in and change every pixel value as you make a change. The second advantage would be flexibility as well as ease of use. So the Camera Raw technology is streamlined for image editing. So it really provides the tools that you need and none of the tools that you don't. And you can change your mind as many times as you want, If you don't like an edit you can refine it or you can reset it all using sliders. And the third advantage would be quality. So if you're applying edits to the Raw file that's going to maintain the highest quality image because it never actually touches the original Raw information. Those edits are only applied when you move to Photoshop or when you export the files. However, there are a lot of things that Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic and Lightroom can't do and that's when the power of Photoshop really shows. So we're going to take a look at just four examples. The first would be advanced retouching. So if you're trying to remove distracting elements or combine multiple images to remove the objects and the background, like we are in this image, you can see the original in the upper left. The edited file is below it, in Lightroom or Camera Raw, but to make the edits on the right, you really need to use Photoshop. In the second example, again, we have an original and then the edited version is below it. But if I want to do complex compositing where I'm creating masks and selections, and I'm putting multiple images together, again, all want to do that in Photoshop. And the third example, we have the original and then the edits again made in Camera Raw or Lightroom. But if I want to add filters or painterly effects like the motion that's in the image on the right, again, that's all Photoshop. And finally, if I want to add design elements so texts or shapes or maybe I want to paint or draw or mock up screen designs or anything like that, again, I'll want to move to Photoshop. So when we're working with our photographs, we'll want to make as many edits and enhancements before opening them into Photoshop, but we'll want to do our advanced retouching and compositing, add filters and painterly effects and design elements in Photoshop. So let's get started.