Overview
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ThePhotoGeek's Elemental Lightroom Plugin.

The Elemental plugin integrates Photoshop Elements (PSE) with Lightroom, enabling external editing of images using a workflow similar to Lightroom's native integration with Photoshop.It allows images to be PhotoMerged, Opened as Layers or Smart Objects, and more in the Photoshop Elements Editor directly from Lightroom.

Elemental adds new menu items to the File > Plug-in Extras and Library > Plug-In Extras menus, emulating the integration available to users of the full Photoshop product.This includes letting the user select photos and launch them directly into the Photomerge dialog, or open them as Smart Objects (a feature not normally accessible in PSE).It even adds some new options for good measure, namely Remove Lens Distortion and the ability to directly Open in PSE.It does this without invoking the Camera Raw dialog as this merely reflects the edits already performed within Lightroom's Develop module.

Elemental is compatible with Photoshop Elements version 6 onwards.

Copyright 2009-2010 Matt Dawson

More information available at either: 
http://thephotogeek.com/lightroom/elemental/ or
http://photographers-toolbox.com/products/mdawson/tpgelemental/

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Installation
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   1. Download the plugins zip file.
   2. Copy the zip file where you want the plugin to permanently reside, then unzip the file.  This should create a sub-directory called <plugin name>.lrplugin.
   3. Open Lightroom, then select the File -> Plug-In Manager menu option.
   4. Press the Add button, select the <plugin name>.lrplugin directory created in step 2, then press OK.
   5. The plugin is now installed and enabled.  Press Done.

More information available at either: 
http://thephotogeek.com/lightroom/elemental/ or
http://photographers-toolbox.com/products/mdawson/tpgelemental/

Usage
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When you open the File menus Plug-In Extras sub-menu, a number of new menu items will be available.All of these will allow you to open your RAW and DNG files in Photoshop Elements without rendering them as TIFF or PSD files first and will also bypass the Camera Raw dialog.Users willtypically perform their non-destructive edits in Lightroom before invoking an external editor so rendering files and encouraging non-destructive edits directly in Camera Raw dialog somewhat defeats the workflow that Lightroom supports.

If you are a Lightroom 3 user on Windows you will be able to open this sub-menu using the Alt + F, then S key sequence and access these menu items using the described accelerator keys. Lightroom 2 users on Windows can enable the same accelerator key functionality by following the advice in http://thephotogeek.com/keyboard-accelerate-lightroom-plugin-extras/ .

New File > Plug-In Extras Menu Items
    * Open in Photoshop Elements menu item will open all currently selected files individually in the PSE Editor.  If you have enabled keyboard accelerators (see above) you can use the Alt + F, then S, then O key sequence to open the menu item.
    * Open as Smart Object in Photoshop Elements menu item will open all currently selected files as separate smart objects in the PSE Editor.  Please note this will be of limited use unless you are planning to work on these same photos on a system that has Photoshop installed later.  While Smart Objects can be created in PSE they cant be easily modified there.  If you have enabled keyboard accelerators (see above) you can use the Alt + F, then S, then S key sequence to open the menu item.
    * Merge to Panorama in Photoshop Elements menu item will open the PSE Editors New > Photomerge Panorama dialog and load all currently selected files into it.  You will have an opportunity to modify the panorama type and whether automatic blending is performed before the merging process begins.  If you have enabled keyboard accelerators (see above) you can use the Alt + F, then S, then M key sequence to open the menu item.
    * Open As Layers in Photoshop Elements menu item will open all currently selected files as layers within a single file in the PSE Editor.  This can be useful if you want to perform some processing (e.g. resizing) of the photos before performing another operation such as merging to panorama.  If you have enabled keyboard accelerators (see above) you can use the Alt + F, then S, then L key sequence to open the menu item.
    * Remove Lens Distortion in Photoshop Elements menu item will open all currently selected files individually into the Camera Distortion filter within the PSE Editor.  If you have enabled keyboard accelerators (see above) you can use the Alt + F, then S, then D key sequence to open the menu item.

General Plugin Operation
When you first try to use one of these menu options the plugin will attempt to locate your installation of Photoshop Elements.  If you have installed a supported version of PSE in the default install location the plugin shouldnt require any configuration.  If it cant find PSE then it will open a dialog asking you to locate the PSE editor before you continue.

You can change this setting at any time by opening the Elemental entry in File > Plug-In Manager dialog.

There are also a few other dialogs you may see during regular operation.

First is a reminder to save your files before opening in PSE.  Saving your metadata (Ctrl + S, or Cmd + S) writes the Lightroom edits to the photo or XMP sidecar making them available to other applications.  If you dont save your files first PSE will show the initial, unedited image which is unlikely to be what you intended.  Once youve gotten into the habit of saving before opening you can configure the warning to not show again. 

Next is a warning that displays if one of the selected photos is a virtual copy.  Virtual copies do not have a dedicated, matching image file so you cant save the metadata to the file or sidecar and they cant be opened in PSE.  For virtual copies you will be given the option of opening the master file instead, or ignoring the virtual copies entirely.  Once again the dialog can be set to not show again if you have a preferred option you will always use whenever virtual copies are selected.

More information available at either: 
http://thephotogeek.com/lightroom/elemental/ or
http://photographers-toolbox.com/products/mdawson/tpgelemental/
