Halting PS/LR CC

I maintain a monthly subscription and want to plan ahead...were I to let my subscription permanently lapse...
what must I do to retain all the saved PSD/PSB files that occupy my HD in the event that they are to be printed at a later date?

Nothing.

The CC monster will not delete any files on your drives; HOWEVER, if you stop paying, you will no longer be able to run the subscription-based Adobe software that can open those files.

If you have older, non-CC, non-subscription Adobe software, you can still run that (assuming it is compatible with your system, etc.) and it may be able to open the files saved by the newer versions of CC. Give it a shot and see what happens. There are also non-Adobe products that can open PSD files - give those a shot too to check the compatibility (Photoline comes to mind - it even attempts to recreate the adjustment layers in a PSD with the Photoline version of those adjustment layers).

For maximum compatibility, you would want to save a flattened TIFF in 16bits of each PSD or PSB file that you might want to save for printing. You will loose the ability to edit the PSD layers, but you can open the file with pretty much any piece of software.

kirk

Or, if you have a bunch of PSD files that you want to preserve create an action to save them all as TIFF files. They will be editable in other applications. Also change your current setting in CC to save TIFF files instead of PSD files so moving forward you won't have to convert them.

http://photo.net/digit​al-darkroom-forum/00MBYp

Heres a few actions to save:

https://www.dropbox.co​m …tl1aa3u82m1b/Sa​ve.7z?dl=0

Are you suggesting that each of the files must be opened and saved as a TIFF file?
What about the rather large PSB files?

Use Bridge, select all the files you want to convert and select Tools>Batch and that will launch CC and you select the action to run. Go eat lunch or go to bed....it's just time.

chauncey wrote in post #18005828
Are you suggesting that each of the files must be opened and saved as a TIFF file?
What about the rather large PSB files?

TIFF has a 4GB file size limit so if the PSB files are larger than that they cannot be converted to TIFF. You could flatten some/all of the layers to get the file size smaller before converting and that should work.

Ah...some of them are 14 GB...what then?

Flatten some layers, then save as TIFF. I doubt you'll be able to selectively flatten layers with a batch action, though.

If you're using an action, it can probably flatten all the layers in all the files you tell it to, and save as a new non-layered TIFF, regardless of the original file size.

Stop worrying, Adobe are not going to completely cut you off from either the apps, or your work. Bridge will continue to work as it is now completely free, and you should be able to download/install it independently using the Adobe manager app. I think you can print from Bridge so you will still be fine.

Even better news is that LR will still work pretty much as normal. You won't be able to import new images to the catalogue, but exporting will work as normal. The Library module also continues working as normal, so you get to keep all of your collections etc so finding your existing images will continue being just as easy as it is now. You will not need to do anything with your .PSD files, since LR handles them fine. Should you want to work on them in some other editor as a TIFF then that would be the time to do the conversion. The print module also keeps working as normal, so you can either print directly, or to file. I have tried all of these options in the past when my CC trial expired. I did not try the web or slideshow module options, and no longer have CC installed on my machine, so cannot test those for you.

I even think you can continue to upgrade the program files, to maintain bug fixes etc. It would also allow you to open a new catalogue that might be generated by someone else so that you can view/output those files too.

Adobe have been very good with this really, they do not cut you off from you data when you stop paying, you just don't get to process new data.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18005930
I think you can print from Bridge so you will still be fine.


Alan

I don't think so.

Saving PSDs with Maximize Compatibility set to Always in Settings/File Handling will ease potential problems.

I think that I failed to explain my motivations...want my children to have the ability to view and/or print my images at a later date.
Kind of an inheritance thingy. What do I gotta do?

chauncey wrote in post #18006852
I think that I failed to explain my motivations...want my children to have the ability to view and/or print my images at a later date.
Kind of an inheritance thingy. What do I gotta do?

Well, in that case wouldn't the solution be to just take all of your finished images and export them to a folder as full resolution, top-quality jPegs?
I mean, there is no need to "save your work" - for your purposes you need only save the final result.

Why make things any more complicated than they need to be? Your kids & grandkids certainly don't need to be seeing individual layers, just the final image. If that really is your purpose, then there is no need for 14GB files; in fact, for your kids to be able to view and print your work I can't imagine that there is a need for anything more than a 7MB or 8MB jPeg. My photos have been printed big - 48" by 32" - from 7MB jPeg files, and the results are just what one would want them to be, even when viewed from a distance of 3 or 4 feet.

.

chauncey wrote in post #18006852
I think that I failed to explain my motivations...want my children to have the ability to view and/or print my images at a later date.
Kind of an inheritance thingy. What do I gotta do?

Yeah, Chauncey -- the answer would to me be pretty clear: Follow Tom's advice to save/export to jpegs so that the pics will be available in a one-touch process using any standard/generic picture viewer. You can "archive" the jpegs on a "main" hard drive so that your "audience" won't have to mess with external drives.

As to tifffs or psds, as long as you are working and using capable software, you could archive the files, including RAW files, to an external drive, and then do a regular backup. In fact, if one of your kids happens to get serious about photography and processing, they could have quick access to those files with proper software!

My daughter took up her own photography past-time a number of years ago, using an old Rebel DSLR that I gave her. She uses Lightroom because it's "easy" but doesn't shoot Raw -- she tends to prefer jpeg and one of the Auto modes, and that has worked for her, and of course in the future she will have quick access with basic photo software. Hey, I've been able to quickly access jpegs from Windows Paint and/or Windows Photo viewer, I could print, upload to the Web, whatever! And, for people who aren't active photographers, they can do basic editing/processing on the jpegs...some may prefer to work with tiffs, and you can leave those available, but I doubt that most will have that level of care/experience!