Use of LR4 in Aperture 3

I'm a long-time Aperture 3 user, but I have begun to find that the exposure controls in LR4 are better for me than those of Aperture 3 (exposure, dodge / burn, shadows / highlights). That being the case, I would like to use LR4 for those adjustments only and then do the rest of the work in Aperture.

I've listed LR4 as the external editor in Aperture. When I right click a photo and select "edit in LR4," LR4 opens and the picture is editable. When I am finished and close down LR4, the photo is not copied to or available in Aperture. I've used other external editors (and plugins that work the same way), but LR4 doesn't seem to work. Of course, I can save in LR4 and export and then import into Aperture, but that is cumbersome. Am I missing something?

Finally, can local color adjustments be made in LR4? The issue is that adjustments made to colors anywhere in the photo seem to always have an impact on the skin tones, which I don't want. I would like to exclude skin tones from all color adjustments (easily done in Aperture by brushing them out). Is there a LR4 equivalent process? Thanks.

Interesting. I keep using them side by side and still can't make myself like Lightroom. I was a Lightroom user for many years after they bought out my preferred RAW converter, but there were always so many things about it that I didn't like. I did notice that with the newest update, the colors from LR are much closer to what I get in Aperture. They used to be very different.

You can not share adjustments between Lightroom and Aperture. Aperture writes all adjustments to it's own proprietary database and this information can't be shared with Lightroom. You can export your master file along with an XMP file, but this will only have your metadata in it and not adjustment information. Lightroom writes all adjustments to it's own proprietary database or to an XMP file. Aperture can read the metadata from that XMP, but not the adjustment information.

When you export from Aperture to Lightroom, the file that opens in LR is going to be a PSD or TIFF; you will no longer be working with your original RAW file. That eliminates most of your benefit.

Unfortunately, you can not brush Lightroom's effects in or out like you can in Aperture.

Hi Mark-B
Does Aperture support DNG file? what would happen if you were using referenced DNG file and work on both these apps?

Just Curious

First off, when you are working with Raw files, Raw processors don't "share" -- if you Edit in Lightroom, yes, you have to export as a tiff (or psd or jpeg) and bring that back into Aperture.

But, with the Lightroom local adjustment brushes you certainly can do selective color adjustments, and with LR4 you can do selective White Balance adjustments as well. As to whether you prefer them to the Aperture brushes, well, "different strokes for different folks!"

honeyf wrote in post #14677082
Does Aperture support DNG file? what would happen if you were using referenced DNG file and work on both these apps?

I don't know. I've never seen any practical use for DNG other than to strengthen Adobe's hold on the imaging market. I've never used the format.

tonylong wrote in post #14677333
But, with the Lightroom local adjustment brushes you certainly can do selective color adjustments, and with LR4 you can do selective White Balance adjustments as well. As to whether you prefer them to the Aperture brushes, well, "different strokes for different folks!"

Aperture has local brushes also, but that's not what he was talking about.

Aperture has all of it's adjustment settings broken up into blocks similar to Lightroom (basic, tone curve, detail, etc). For each of those adjustment blocks in Aperture, I can apply those settings globally, then brush small parts of that adjustments out as needed. I can also use the brush setting to reduce the opacity of those adjustments.

For example, I can apply a curves or levels adjustment to the entire image. If I don't like the way it affected a specific building, tree, person, etc then I can brush the adjustment out of that one specific item. This works like masking in Photoshop. Also, if I think the adjustment is fine throughout the whole image but is maybe a little too strong, I can set the brush to a lower percentage, touch anywhere in the image, then tell it to apply that brush stroke to the whole image. This reduces the strength of that setting and works like opacity in Photoshop. Very useful feature that Lightroom doesn't offer.

Here's an example where I applied a global levels adjustment that works great for the foreground, but I don't like it in the sky. I'm going to brush it out of the sky completely so that only the bottom portion of the image is affected.

Hmmm... I have no opinion on the practicality of the OP's methods but the last paragraph here caught my attention.

In Lightroom you can use multiple graduated filters to adjust the sky and the foreground independent of each other. Also, graduated filters are stackable so you can add as many as you need to achieve the effect you want. So, for example, I can use a graduated filter with contrast set to 25 to adjust the foreground, then add another graduated filter set to 10 for the sky (Contrast has approximately the same effect as a tone curve used in RGB composite mode). I can also use negative settings to remove the filter effect where I don't want it.

Then I can also use a adjustment brush (as opposed to a graduated filter) to fine tune my adjustments or to remove the adjustment from specific areas.

What you're describing can also be done in Lightroom without having to resort to Photoshop.

Mark-B wrote in post #14679061
Aperture has local brushes also, but that's not what he was talking about.

Aperture has all of it's adjustment settings broken up into blocks similar to Lightroom (basic, tone curve, detail, etc). For each of those adjustment blocks in Aperture, I can apply those settings globally, then brush small parts of that adjustments out as needed. I can also use the brush setting to reduce the opacity of those adjustments.

For example, I can apply a curves or levels adjustment to the entire image. If I don't like the way it affected a specific building, tree, person, etc then I can brush the adjustment out of that one specific item. This works like masking in Photoshop. Also, if I think the adjustment is fine throughout the whole image but is maybe a little too strong, I can set the brush to a lower percentage, touch anywhere in the image, then tell it to apply that brush stroke to the whole image. This reduces the strength of that setting and works like opacity in Photoshop. Very useful feature that Lightroom doesn't offer.

Here's an example where I applied a global levels adjustment that works great for the foreground, but I don't like it in the sky. I'm going to brush it out of the sky completely so that only the bottom portion of the image is affected.

Another feature that Aperture offers is being able to add multiple instances of any of those adjustment blocks. Speaking in Lightroom terms, I could apply the Tone Curve so it looked good on the ground without caring what it did to the sky. I could brush out the sky portion, then add a second Tone Curve adjustment and adjust it so it looked good in the sky. It wouldn't matter what it did to the ground because I could just brush that part out. Adobe doesn't offer this because this is Photoshop territory for them. If they added multiple adjustment layers with opacity and masking, that would seriously reduce the number of people who needed to buy one of the Photoshop product.

honeyf wrote in post #14677082
Hi Mark-B
Does Aperture support DNG file? what would happen if you were using referenced DNG file and work on both these apps?

Just Curious

Yes it can.

However, Aperture and LR Will only share (some) IPTC/Metadata.

I'm waiting for the day that either/both/each will be able to use, filter on and create smart albums with the full IPTC

PixelMagic wrote in post #14679266
Hmmm... I have no opinion on the practicality of the OP's methods but the last paragraph here caught my attention...

Sure, there are many ways to get your desired effect, but this was a comment on a specific question about a feature that is present in Aperture but not in Lightroom. Both programs have features that the other doesn't. Workarounds to achieve the same effect don't change that.

Really? Show me how to add 3 separate Tone Curve adjustment layers, then brush the effects in or out. Aperture can do it. Photoshop can do it. Lightroom can't. This doesn't mean that Lightroom is a bad program or not as good as Aperture - it's just a simple statement about a feature that one program has and the other doesn't.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #14679547
I'm waiting for the day that either/both/each will be able to use, filter on and create smart albums with the full IPTC

Aperture can already do this.

Mark-B wrote in post #14679730
Sure, there are many ways to get your desired effect, but this was a comment on a specific question about a feature that is present in Aperture but not in Lightroom. Both programs have features that the other doesn't. Workarounds to achieve the same effect don't change that.

Where is the question to which you were responding?

Aperture does layers?

Mark-B wrote in post #14679747
Aperture can already do this.

Almost, but not quite to the "full" Amount.

PixelMagic wrote in post #14679843
Where is the question to which you were responding?

In the original post where he asks if you can "brush out" in Lightroom like you can in Aperture. He was referring to the "Brush Setting Away" menu item that you can see in this reply.

You mean like in Photoshop where you can choose the menu command "Layer --> Duplicate Layer"? No, Aperture doesn't do this.

You mean like in Photoshop where you can choose the menu command "Layer --> New Adjustment Layer"? Yes, Aperture can do something very similar to this for Levels, Curves, Vibrance, Saturation, Highlights & Shadows, and a few others.

.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #14679868
Almost, but not quite to the "full" Amount.

What's missing?

Mark-B wrote in post #14680207
What's missing?

Some of the IPTC 1.1 specs ( approved in June 2009).

For me it's the people/model data that I want.