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P
Photography is My Passion
Participant
March 2, 2020
Answered

Is the Photoshop Editing Process Destructive to RAW Files

  • March 2, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 889 views

My workflow is to load my RAW NEF (Nikon Camera) images into Lightroom. During editing I make basic adjustments (not cropping) in the Lightroom Develop Module and then I export the image to Photoshop for more extensive editing including cropping. When I am finished editing in Photoshop the file is saved back to Lightroom as a psd file. My question is whether or not the original RAW NEF file is changed by either Lightroom or Photoshop? At the present time I back up my work folders which include the psd files for those images that I have edited as well as all of the RAW NEF files from a particular shoot. If the RAW files are never modified by the editing process described above I am comfortable that my backup process is adequate. If I were to find that the RAW NEF files are impacted then I would have to consider the need to create 2 additional backup files for the original RAW NEF files.

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Correct answer davescm

Raw files are unchanged . The Lightroom edits are held in the catalogue file, along with the option to store the settings in  XMP files alongside the raw files if specified in Catlog Settings >Metadata

Dave

2 replies

NB, colourmanagement
Community Expert
NB, colourmanagementCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 4, 2020

Saving the RAW is a great idea and very good practice.

You can liken it to going back to the colour negative, nothing has been lost.

I would also archive a full size layered PSD with corrections (adjustment layers) etc, because making a small change in future then just necessitates going back one step, rather than right to the RAW, but archiving the RAW - yes definitiely.

 

When colour correcting in Lightroom do take care with saturation increases - Lightroom uses a massive native colour space potentially allowing for too much enthusism with boosting saturation which can cause all kind of issues down the line when preparing the file for actual use. 

 

 

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net :: adobe forum volunteer

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davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 2, 2020

Raw files are unchanged . The Lightroom edits are held in the catalogue file, along with the option to store the settings in  XMP files alongside the raw files if specified in Catlog Settings >Metadata

Dave

P
Photography is My PassionAuthor
Participant
March 2, 2020

Dave - thank you for your response. I was fairly certain that the Lightroom process was non destructive. My real concern was once I export the image from Lightroom to Photoshop and make more extensive edits in Photoshop. As far as I can tell Photoshop creates a psd file and lakes changes to it and sends the psd file back to Lightroom when I complete my Photoshop work. Can you tell me if the original RAW NEF file is changed in any way by the Photoshop process?

thanks in advance for your help!

pete

davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 2, 2020

Edit in Photoshop creates a separate file opened in Photoshop. When saved it is added to the Lightroom catalogue , so no destruction of the original NEF file

The whole principle of working with camera raw files is that those files are not edited.

 

Dave

 

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