Today’s Question: I typically use Lightroom [Classic] initially to process a photo and then use Photoshop to remove distractions like wires, telephone poles, etc. The file is then saved as a TIFF file and appears in my Lightroom catalog. If I want to add additional changes using Lightroom should I start all over or just do the changes on the TIFF file after the Photoshop step?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can most certainly continue to apply additional adjustments to the TIFF file in Lightroom Classic, and I would recommend doing that rather than repeating all of the image cleanup work in Photoshop again after refining your original image.
More Detail: When you send a raw capture from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, the source image isn’t actually opened within Photoshop. Instead, a new derivative image will be created as a TIFF or PSD file (depending on the current setting in Preferences within Lightroom).
After saving and closing the TIFF or PSD file in Photoshop, the resulting image will appear alongside the original capture in your Lightroom catalog. You can then continue working with that image in the Develop module as much as you’d like. At this point, of course, those adjustments are probably going to be relatively minor as you fine-tune some of the effects you had applied with previous adjustments.
There’s no need to go back to the original source image to refine your adjustments. Doing so would create a potentially significant negative impact on your workflow, since you would then need to re-create all of the work you had previously done in Photoshop and create a new derivative file as part of that process.