i’m sure this has been asked before, but i can’t seem to find it.
i’m making edits to a .rw2 raw file in photolab and it looks like photolab edits are being saved to a .dop sidecar.
my question is, can i continue my edits in photoshop on the same raw file, while also bringing over the photolab edits? it doesn’t look like photoshop is recognizing the .dop sidecar.
i realize i can export the file from photolab as another format like dng or tiff, then open it in photoshop, but would that still allow me the same degree of leverage in photoshop that the original raw file would?
PhotoLab is a non-destructive editor, which means that any edits are saved to a DOP sidecar file. This is a DxO proprietary format file which cannot be read by anything else.
The only way to continue working on the image in something like Photoshop is to export to a format like TIFF or JPEG. But, having done that, you cannot go back on any of the changes you first made in PL and, if you want to go back to PL, you would have to continue working on the TIFF or JPEG file you saved from Photoshop.
You would also have to apply any noise reduction when you first export from PL, because that is part of the demosaïcing process of the RAW file.
Why do you think you need to use Photoshop as well?
i need to do some compositing and masking using multiple images. i feel more comfortable doing this in photoshop. if i do it the other way round (photoshop first then photolab), can dxo read the xmp sidecar from photoshop so that i can continue working with the raw file after photoshop?
Photoshop can’t make any changes to a RAW file. It converts it, either to TIFF or PSD, and from then on, that’s where it stays. The XMP sidecars that PS creates might contain a record of the edits made but, just as Photoshop can’t read DOP files, PhotoLab can’t read the editing changes from the XMP file.
IF you want to benefit fro PhotoLab’s superior noise reduction and lens corrections, you need to run the RAW file through PhotoLab to take care of all those and then export to TIFF for the competing and masking.
Sending the resulting TIFF file back to PhotoLab will not allow to to change anything you have done in Photoshop and will no longer apply de-noising and lens corrections.
I think this is an entirely possible workflow.
- Edit RAW file in PL and Export as DNG to file (or maybe straight to PS or LrC)
- File / Open in PS as a Smart Object
- Use ACR within PS to further edit the RAW DNG file as required
- Full PS functionality is available (though it may be limited by what you can do to a Smart Object without rasterizing to a (duplicate) layer)
I believe that PL can read XMP files. It appears to when I send RAW files from LrC to PL.
If you also have LrC, you could Export as DNG to LrC and then open in PS from LrC directly as a Smart Object. ACR can then be used to edit the RAW DNG file when ever requuired.
But only metadata and not edits to the image itself.
Agreed, only the metadata is readable by PL. However, when my processed image returns to LrC the edits made within LrC to the original RAW are then applied to the returning DNG. So it doesn’t matter to me.