Raw workflow

[dennykyser]

When working with raw, do you save files as Tif, or PSD? I dont want to save as Jpeg because I know if I work with it and save it several times it will loose quality. I have been noticing that PSD takes up so much room. Just wondering what you guys do?

[Scottes]

My advice is: It depends. If you work like I do then you'll always work with flattened TIFFs, and you'll usually be doing it wrong. :) If you do it right, you'll almost always use PSDs.

I generally develop a TIFF, manipulate it bit, and flatten it and Save As another TIFF. I do this because I rarely make mistakes (Hah!) on an image, but more likely I've learned something new. Even more likely, I've learned many new things. So I'll go back to the original RAW or TIFF and do it all over again, except that chances are very good that I'll do them better because I've learned something.

That's me, and I do not recommend this method.


I recommend that you do everything in Layers - Adjustment Layers when possible. Always leave your original intact and untouched. For every action you do, leave yourself a way to change it (like Adj Layers, or by using layer opacity settings, or by saving something in a hidden layer).

When done, save it as a PSD - many layers, especially adjustment layers, take up less room in a PSD.

[chris.bailey]

I would agree with Scottes. I save out as a flattened .tiff but keep the RAW file. My logic is that two months down the road I will have forgotten what I did to get to the .tiff file, I will want it printed at a different size etc etc so will go back to RAW anyway. Then there are better RAW conversion methods and as Scottes says, every week you learn a bit more or just get better at using PS. A lot of that is doing less, i.e. the re-touches are more subtle.

To me a key element in processing digital is to read others workflows and then develop your own way of working that you feel comfortable with