Lightroom problem, please help

[Shawn7656]

I decided I was going to try focus stacking, but I'm having a problem with a command in Lightroom (3.2). The right click option under "Edit In" called "Open as layers in Photoshop" is greyed out, even though I have 15 photos selected. I'm following a tut I found here
Macro Photography: Focus Stacking 101 | JHPVideoTutorials.com
This is the common procedure on other sites as well

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

[zona5101]

do you have Photoshop installed on your computer? if no - then....

[Shawn7656]

Haha yes... I have CS3... Is this not an option with it? I was doing some research on other ways to do this, and someone said you could use Bridge, but the option in bridge didn't exist for me either
It's supposed to be under Tools > Photoshop ... Then there should be a "Load photos in Photoshop Layers" option

[inkista]

It is there. If you have CS5. CS3 doesn't have the "Open as layers" command that CS5 does. In CS3 you have to go to File -> Scripts -> Load files to Stack. You probably can't open anything as a Smart Object, either.

Make sure your Lightroom preferences are set so that it knows where your Photoshop install is.

[Shawn7656]

Well I found a workaround, but I'm still interesting in finding out why Lightroom isn't letting me do it.

I figured since the first step once you open all the layers is to "Auto-Align" the layers, I tried File > Automate > Photomerge...
I used the "auto" feature and it looks as if it had the same effect as the auto-align, but if not, I still have all the photos in layers, so yay!! Here's a screenshot of what it looks like

I'll post the finished results in here, too

[Shawn7656]

Originally Posted by inkista

It is there. If you have CS5. CS3 doesn't have the "Open as layers" command that CS5 does. In CS3 you have to go to File -> Scripts -> Load files to Stack. You probably can't open anything as a Smart Object, either.

Make sure your Lightroom preferences are set so that it knows where your Photoshop install is.

Didn't see this until after my last post...
Thank you for that This is probably a less destructive way to open the pics, as I'm not too sure what "photomerge" did exactly haha

EDIT:
And now I run into another problem.... The "auto-blend" option just an "auto" adjustment... There's no options.... Maybe it's because I did the photomerge?

I'll try opening the way you told me to and see if that helps.

[inkista]

There's always at least a dozen different ways to accomplish something in Photoshop. Photomerge, though, is more for panostitching, iirc, instead of creating a multi-layer image where each member shot is on a different layer. Could be wrong, though. I spend most of my time in Lightroom, and do my stitching in PTGui.

[Shawn7656]

Well you wouldn't happen to know a different way to carry out the process of stacking would you? As I said in the edit, the option for "Stacking" under "auto-blend" isn't an option for me..

I'm just starting to think I should download some freeware dedicated to image-stacking.. haha

[inkista]

As I said above, in CS3: File -> Scripts -> Load files to Stack should give you a stack to manipulate. From there, you can follow the directions in your tutorial.

[DanielLane]

the open as photoshop layers first came about in CS4, and continued in to CS5. So with out either of those, you have to do the script thing...