Post Processing in Camera Raw

You said “my version of camera raw will not support any camera on the market.” Is that because you’re staying with an older version of Camera Raw, for example are you avoiding the subscription?

Another big question is, do you like to edit, export a final version, then never edit that image again? Or, do you like to go back to older images and make them better using new tools and techniques?

My workflow is: Shoot and archive raw files only. If needed (as little as possible), convert raw files to TIFF only to use features not available in Camera Raw. Export JPEG copies for publishing and sharing.

I am not saying that’s the only right way, but here are my reasons:

I don’t need the in-camera JPEGs. I edit the raw files to my taste and export JPEG copies of those, so I wouldn’t be using the out-of-camera JPEGs for anything so I don’t want unneeded duplicates taking up storage space on camera cards and computer storage.

(In-camera JPEGs can be useful for event/news photographers who don’t have time to edit because their editor needs them to send photos for publishing ASAP. Or, some people like the look of in-camera JPEGs enough that they don’t feel like editing them much, and today’s cameras make very nice JPEGs.)

I use current versions of the software, so the raw files of all my cameras are supported. That’s why I asked if you need to stay on an older version.

I have gotten a lot of satisfaction out of re-editing old work. Partly that’s because I’m better at editing than I was in the past. I can open a raw file I edited from my first digital camera 20 years ago and create a much better image today. But it’s not just about technique…

…In recent years, Adobe has added raw editing features such as improved raw demosaicing for better details, vastly improved highlight/shadow processing, improved local contrast editing (Clarity, Texture, Dehaze…), and AI/GPU-assisted features such as AI masking, resolution enhancement, reflection removal, and the revolutionary Denoise. These not only make editing easier, they also make it possible to rescue images that used to be unusable, or make it possible for good images to look at lot better. These features are not available in older versions of Camera Raw, and some of them work only with raw files, or work best with raw files. Some of those features don’t work at all with TIFF or JPEG. So I have a strong incentive to keep original raw files so that I can get the most out of my images in the software, both today and in the future. 

Another reason is storage space savings. A raw file is a few megabytes, because it’s just a single channel of a sensor data readout. A TIFF version of the same image is many times larger than the raw/DNG original, because the raw file has been demosaiced into three RGB channels. If it was demosaiced to 16 bits/channel, then the file is twice as large as at 8 RGB bits/channel. If the TIFF file contains layers, then it’s even bigger. So 2000 photos from a trip could take hundreds of megabytes more storage space as TIFF files than as raw files. (JPEG files can be smaller than raw files, but the tradeoff in image quality is too high of a cost to pay.)

I convert raw to TIFF/PSD only when an image needs edits that can’t be done at the raw level with Camera Raw/Lightroom. But as Camera Raw has gotten more powerful, today I only need to send very few raw images to Photoshop, saving me a lot of storage space. 

So my image storage looks like this:

• Almost all raw originals, except for images from cameras that don’t shoot raw such as HEIC from smartphones or my TIFF scans of film. 
• A few raw files have a TIFF version as needed…but I still keep the raw original. 
• The raw/TIFF originals that are worthy of sharing are exported as JPEG. (So not every raw image is converted to TIFF or JPEG, only as needed.) 

You don’t have to do it the way I do, but for me, keeping the raw source file and working from it as much as possible gives me the best combination of present/future editing flexibility, while also helping simplify file management and storage needs. But it requires keeping software current.

I never discard RAW files. I've recently been going through photos from a 2012 and retouching some nuggets I've dug up. Using current noise reduction and processing is going well.

Everything is processed (started with Bridge/ACR, use Aperture for years, now use Lightroom at home and Bridge/ACR at work) and then EVERYTHING goes through Photoshop and saved out from there.

When you convert your RAW images to DNG format you can embed the original in the DNG file so that it can be recovered if ever needed. I would absolutely NEVER delete the DNG files. It would be akin to throwing away your negatives in the old days. Some folk keep ONLY their DNG files (and sensibly keep multiple backups) and produce other format images from them as and when needed. That is quick and easy to do  using Photoshop's Image Processor as one convenient possibility.