Lately I have been getting a lot questions on the subject of integrating an external image editor, such as Adobe Photoshop CS3 (or Nikon Capture NX) into the Lightroom workflow. I usually use the following workflow.

1. Select an image in the Lightroom Library and open in the Develop module.

2. Make all the image adjustments and enhancements you desire in the Develop module.

3. Go to the Photo menu and select Develop in Adobe Photoshop CS3 app.

You will notice that under the What to Edit selection box you will have only one option and that is to Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments, the reason for this is that a RAW image an not be edited directly. The RAW file you have been working with in Lightroom has to be converted into either a TIFF or PSD image before a pixel based editor such as Photoshop CS3 can work on it.

4. Select your File Format, Color Space, Bit Depth, and Compression.

5. Click the Edit button and wait for the Photoshop CS3 application to open your image.

6. Once the image is open in Photoshop CS3 you can edit the image to your heart's content.

7. When you are ready to save your image you will have to select the Save command to bring the image back to Lightroom. The image will be saved as a separate file in the file format you selected when you sent the image to Photoshop CS3 with the Edit Photo with ...... command.

8. After making the Save (back to Lightroom), I also often do a Save As of the edited file to another file format. This copy of the image will have to be saved to a new file folder and if you wish it to exist in your Lightroom Library will have to be Imported as a new file.

9. The same workflow can of course be used for any external image editor.

You might also be interested in the following Podcast by George Gardine, explaining the use of the Edit a Copy and Edit Original options. http://www.mulita.com/blog/?p=48