Elemental

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 when using Lightroom 2, Photoshop Elements version 8 onwards when using Lightroom 3, Photoshop Elements version 10 onwards when using Lightroom 4, Photoshop Elements version 11 onwards when using Lightroom 5, and Photoshop Elements version 14 onwards when using Lightroom 6.

Note: Please change the Photoshop Elements Editor to Edit -> Full or Expert mode, as depicted below, before attempting to use the Merge to Panorama or Open as Layers menu items.

Payment and Updates

The trial version operates on up to 2 images at a time. Donating towards the plugin will give you a registration code that will remove this restriction. All future updates are free.