Can I use Photoshop Content-Aware Fill and still keep a RAW/DNG workflow in Lightroom?
Asked 4/7/2019
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I stitched a panorama and need to fill some blank white areas around the edges. Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill works well for this, but Lightroom doesn't have an equivalent tool. When I send the image from Lightroom to Photoshop, it becomes a TIFF/PSD, including when using a Smart Object. I’d like to know if there’s any workflow that lets me use Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop and then continue working with the image in Lightroom as a RAW/DNG rather than a large TIFF/PSD. Is that possible, and what is the role of Smart Objects here?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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DNG files are "RAW" files and are not made to be directly edited. Trying to export DNG after Photoshop editing is like trying to get a painting in two packages: one for the blank canvas and another one for the paint.
Saving DNG files is possible with Lightroom because all the changes you can make with it are saved in a "sidecar file" (XMP) or in the metadata part of the image: the original image stays untouched.
Now, regarding the edited file size, some lossless compression should be able to mitigate that (you DNG file is probably losslessly compressed).
Originally by user26456. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user26456
7y ago
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No. Content-Aware Fill is a pixel-level raster edit, so it cannot be saved back into a true RAW/DNG workflow the way Lightroom adjustments can.
RAW/DNG files aren’t directly edited; Lightroom stores instructions/metadata for how to render the image. Photoshop tools like Content-Aware Fill actually change image pixels, so Photoshop must create a rendered file such as a TIFF or PSD.
Smart Objects help by preserving access to the underlying raw processing, so you can reopen and adjust the raw settings more flexibly. But once you do a raster operation like Content-Aware Fill, you’re editing rendered pixels, not the raw data itself.
So the practical workflow is:
- do as much global/raw adjustment as possible in Lightroom/Camera Raw,
- send to Photoshop when you need pixel edits such as Content-Aware Fill,
- save as TIFF or PSD and continue managing that file in Lightroom.
If file size is the main issue, use lossless compression options where available, but there isn’t a way to perform Content-Aware Fill and keep the result as an editable RAW/DNG in Lightroom.
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