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Jim34776715p5a6
Participant
January 13, 2024
Answered

Export jpgs with photo editing

  • January 13, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 426 views

Hello community

Yesterday I wanted to export/publish my photos (which I sorted out and edited after a long time) to Google Photos. In addition to many DNGs, I also have a few JPGs (they come from a time when I didn't shoot in RAW). I also edited these JPGs. I saved both file types with “save in metadata”.

So, now I have set the export setting for the DNGs to convert them to JPG. The “Metadata” field is then active and I can tell it that all metadata should be uploaded. For the JPGs I set the setting to "Original" because the source file is already a JPG. However, the metadata field is then grayed out.

Well, as I discovered, the JPGs were then uploaded without any image editing, i.e. just as (ugly) as they were before. Only if I selected “JPG” as the export setting for the JPGs was the photo uploaded including image editing. But don't I convert a JPG into a JPG (i.e. compressed into even more compressed) or how should I imagine that? Even in Windows Explorer the photos appear "unedited" even when I open them in IrfanView or ImageGlass. Then, for example, I have photos from a wedding from 2019 that I must have edited at some point... these are also edited everywhere (Windows, export to Google Photos), so they are displayed correctly. How can that be? I've only ever edited photos using Lightroom Classic. Is there an option to save image edits permanently in the photo?

I had already done this test back when I was still using Smugmug. Exporting JPGs to JPGs at 100% resulted in def. a different file size than "Original".

I would be very grateful if you could help me make the right settings in advance, as it is sometimes a pain to delete individual photos on Google Photos and unfortunately the Publish Plugin from New P Products can delete the deleted photos despite the "command". not deleted.

Thanks in advance

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    As explained in the LightroomQueen forums too: Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means that it does not apply edits to the pixels of the original image, but stores them as instructions in the catalog. If you want to apply the edits to an image, then you must export the image as a new JPG, even if the original is JPG. If you export 'as original' because the original is a JPG, the you will get what you asked for: the (unedited) original.

     

    3 replies

    R
    Community Expert
    richardplondonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 13, 2024

    TLDR:; If you want to export a JPG, choose JPG regardless of which file types the images concerned were imported as.

     

    Export to JPG makes an entirely fresh JPG from scratch, with different content than the originally imported file (reflecting your edits as well as cropping, resizing, and suchlike). One of the best aspects of LrC is that you can simply disregard what particular file types various images may have, for almost all kinds of operation. 

     

    Export to Original delivers an unmodified copy of the original picture data, in the form of a simple copy of the starting file. This is why resizing is disabled, for example. EXCEPT: metadata instructions are attached conveying what your latest editing would consist of, if it was to be seen and applied by specialist editing software which understood those instructions. This means in practice, by some sort of Lightroom or some sort of Photoshop which could call on Adobe Camera Raw. Failing that only the starting appearance of the image will be seen, the same as it originally was before import to LR. 

     

    IOW: an export to Original is not aiming to produce an end-result . It is just an intermediate step, within some kind of wider specialist workflow.

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 13, 2024
    quote

    Even in Windows Explorer the photos appear "unedited" even when I open them in IrfanView or ImageGlass. Then, for example, I have photos from a wedding from 2019 that I must have edited at some point... these are also edited everywhere (Windows, export to Google Photos), so they are displayed correctly. How can that be? I've only ever edited photos using Lightroom Classic. Is there an option to save image edits permanently in the photo?

    I had already done this test back when I was still using Smugmug. Exporting JPGs to JPGs at 100% resulted in def. a different file size than "Original".


    By @Jim34776715p5a6

     

    By default, the edits are in the catalog only, although you can optionally choose to include the edits inside jpg files as XMP metadata. Even if you do that, only Adobe applications can read the edits, so Windows Explorer, Irfanview and other image viewers will display the unedited image. You have to export the image for these applications to include the edits.

     

    The file size of a jpg is likely to change when you export it, even if you did not do any edits. A new image is created, and the compression is applied to the new image. The original is untouched.

    And if you sharpened the image in LrC, the file size is likely to increase. Using a lot of noise reduction might reduce the file size. This is how jpg compression works – an image with predominantly smooth, flat or out of focus areas will have a relatively small file size, whereas an image with lots of sharp, busy detail will have a relatively large file size.

    So image content – and the nature of the content – has a big effect on file size.

      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      January 13, 2024

      As explained in the LightroomQueen forums too: Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means that it does not apply edits to the pixels of the original image, but stores them as instructions in the catalog. If you want to apply the edits to an image, then you must export the image as a new JPG, even if the original is JPG. If you export 'as original' because the original is a JPG, the you will get what you asked for: the (unedited) original.

       

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
        H
        Holger5FB5
        Known Participant
        January 13, 2024

        Thank you very much for this help 🙂 

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