The Recommended RAW Workflow in Lightroom Classic for Topaz Photo AI

Topaz Photo AI will automatically install a plugin to your Lightroom Classic. This plugin sends your RAW file directly to Topaz Photo AI and enables:

  • our demosaicing algorithm, displaying your RAW image with more detail.
  • our RAW denoising algorithm, the best noise reduction for your RAW image.
To use the plugin and maximize your RAW image quality:
  1. Select your RAW image in Lightroom Classic.
  2. Go to File > Plug-in Extras > Process with Topaz Photo AI.
  3. Save your image in Topaz Photo AI and automatically import the DNG file to your Lightroom catalog.

An Example Workflow Using the Plugin

Follow this workflow to improve your RAW image quality and prepare it for editing.

  1. Import your images to Lightroom Classic.
  2. Review, rate, and cull images to select the best ones to edit.
  3. Select the RAW images you want to continue editing and use File > Plug-in Extras > Process with Topaz Photo AI to maximize your image quality.
  4. Make image quality adjustments in Topaz Photo AI and save the file back to Lightroom Classic.
  5. Select the improved DNG file and continue editing, applying exposure changes, color changes, masking, cfop, etc.

Tips for Using the Plugin

RAW Edits (XMP Support)

Topaz Photo AI does not read the edits made to your RAW image. This means that no edits that are made in LrC will show in Photo AI (this includes any crops or custom Adobe Color profiles, they will not show in Photo AI).

Photo AI will display the image as shot in camera. We recommend processing your RAW images in Topaz Photo AI first and making edits on your output image that is back from Photo AI.


Batch Processing 

To batch process with the plugin, select multiple images from your Library Grid View or the Filmstrip and use File > Plug-in Extras > Process with Topaz Photo AI. This will send all selected images to Topaz Photo AI in one batch. Save all files to process each one and import it back to Lightroom Classic.