Lightroom Edit in Elements 11 Question

Is there a way to pass raw files from LR 4.2 to Elements 11 without a new file being created until the "Save" command is used in Elements?

For example: now when I want to edit a file i goto Photo>Edit in>Elements Editor then a new file "img001-edit.tiff" is created and opened. If I end up deciding that I dont actually want to do any edits in PSE then I have to go back into LR and delete the newly created file.

While this isn't an that big issue for single images (although slightly annoying), I could see it being a problem when I want to open multiple files in PSE and only select a couple to edit or perhaps to make 1 new image from the lot. I'd then have to go back and clean up a ton of newly created files that I didn't really need.

According to thisvideo on the Adobe site it IS possible at least with CS5.1 (She actually mentions exactly what i'm asking about at 2:20 in the video)

I just ordered Lightroom, so I'm afraid I can't be much help, but I also recently ordered Elements 11 when the price dropped. (I plan to use Lightroom 4 as my primary editor and use Elements for more detailed work if needed).
This may or may not be pertinent, but when you pass a raw file to Elements, I believe it's converted to jpeg? In the short amount of studying / brain picking I've done with Elements, thats the biggest drawback I've heard.

IIRC this is only possible when both software packages use the same version of ACR.

LR 4.2 uses ACR 7.2 whereas Elements 11 uses ACR 7.1.

Lightroom passes the file to be edited in Elements as either a TIFF or a PSD. Those are the only two settings available. The TIFF or PSD can be 16 bit, but Elements will ask to downgrade it to 8 bit if needed for compatibility with some of it's adjustments.

I have used LR4.2 with PSE9, and they weren't running the same version of ACR. By the way, Elements 11 is currently running ACR 7.2.0.46.

Regarding Hoooshlava's original question, I've never found a way to do that. My understanding from what I have read here on POTN is: what you have in Lightroom isn't really an "edited" file, it's just your original RAW file and a bunch of instructions written to the catalog that aren't applied until the image is exported (as a TIFF, JPG, PSD, PNG, etc.). So, in order to pass the image and your edits to an external editor, Lightroom has to create a new file.

Read THIS, secret 1.

Nordwil57 wrote in post #15299140
This may or may not be pertinent, but when you pass a raw file to Elements, I believe it's converted to jpeg? In the short amount of studying / brain picking I've done with Elements, thats the biggest drawback I've heard.

No, it depends on your external editing preferences, but there are only two options there, tiff or PSD. When you save it, it is either one of those that photoshop saves them as, unless you were to use the "Save As" jpeg in Elements

DunnoWhen wrote in post #15300203
Read THIS, secret 1.

John --

Thanks for the info, very interesting. As near as I can determine this does not apply to Elements (I've never found any way to do it), but perhaps someone else can report on their experience. I'm currently running ACR 7.2 in both LR4.2 and PSE11.

Rimmer wrote in post #15300128
Regarding Hoooshlava's original question, I've never found a way to do that. My understanding from what I have read here on POTN is: what you have in Lightroom isn't really an "edited" file, it's just your original RAW file and a bunch of instructions written to the catalog that aren't applied until the image is exported (as a TIFF, JPG, PSD, PNG, etc.). So, in order to pass the image and your edits to an external editor, Lightroom has to create a new file.

This is partially correct. Lightroom does non-destructively "edit" your images using a sidecar .xmp file in the case of raw and by writing essentially a "header" with the metadata for your edits to other file types. This means that if you view the image outside of LR then you see the original but if used inside LR (and perhaps other Adobe Suite apps) the sidecar file, or header, is read and your edits appear.

From what I understand though, at least with Photoshop CS#, when you pass a raw file LR can also pass the sidecar file so your edits are applied to the image you see in the graphics editor.

Rimmer wrote in post #15300128
John --

Thanks for the info, very interesting. As near as I can determine this does not apply to Elements (I've never found any way to do it), but perhaps someone else can report on their experience. I'm currently running ACR 7.2 in both LR4.2 and PSE11.

Thanks, Hopefully someone knows how to get this working. If not perhaps a new "feature" to suggest to Adobe.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #15300203
Read THIS, secret 1.

I just read this and I do not think it is actually 100% correct. I am currently using LR4.1 and PSCS5. You can open CR2 files directly, in that they are rendered into PSCS5 and displayed with the CR2 extenstion while using Process 2012. The PSD file is then created (and auto imported to LR) when you hit save (not Save As). I seem to recall seeing that this was comptible back to PSCS4. I started using LR4 with PSCS3 and with this and earlier versions you get the compatablity error which requires that you render the file to PS as a PSD or TIFF. In this situation the file is again auto imported to LR but at the point of creation so if you decide you do not want to keep that file you have to delete it from both the catalouge and disk.

The only problem is that on most of my images this causes some very weired artifacts to be created. These are not visible in any view in LR. They also disapere if I explisitly export a PSD file in the export dialouge, but that then has to be manually imported and stacked after editing. So you can have different versions of ACR.

What dosen't work is sending as a smart object, unless the process version is set to 2010, which as I really want the new recovery controls of the new process version. So you only actually need exactly comparable versions of the process version for Smart Objects to work.

Alan

Rimmer wrote in post #15301342
I'm currently running ACR 7.2 in both LR4.2 and PSE11.

Just double checked and I am too. What I'm asking about must only work between LR and PSCS and not LR with PSE

Hoooshlava by default LR saves all edits non destructivly within the catalouge database file. This means that by default Bridge/ACR/PSCSx cannot see the edits. It is possible for LR to generate xmp sidecar files either automatically for all images or jut for ones that you specify. If you make a change to the xmp outside of LR, or create an xmp file, the next time it is looked at inside LR you are asked which you wish to use. The passing of the CR2 file image from LR to PSCSx dosen't make any use of xmp sidecar files.

PSCS5 (and possibly some earlier versions) defaults to using xmp sidecar files, but can also use a database structure simmilar to that used by LR but I've not used it so cannot comment further on it.

Alan