• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
1

Is Photoshop Elements a Non-Destructive Editor?

New Here ,
Nov 15, 2019 Nov 15, 2019

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Is Photoshop Elements a non-destructive editor like Lightroom or is it more like Photoshop in that it is primarily destructive but with layers provide a means for non-destrutive editing?

TOPICS
Actions

Views

1.3K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Nov 15, 2019 Nov 15, 2019

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Destructive, like Photoshop.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Nov 15, 2019 Nov 15, 2019

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Yes you are correct. It is possible for example to work on a duplicate layer so your original is protected provided you save as a layered document e.g. .psd or .tif

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Nov 15, 2019 Nov 15, 2019

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I never work on the original, only on a copy.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Nov 15, 2019 Nov 15, 2019

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

There are many editing workflows and some may destroy the original files. You can't imagine an editor which would keep only the original file. Either the editor creates a changed version or it creates a companion file storing the editing process.

So it's very misleading to classify editing softwares as destructive or not, it depends how you are using them. Your workflow may be destructive or not and softwares like Photoshop or Elements can be either destructive or not depending on how you use them.

There is another distinction which is much clearer as suggested above. It's called 'parametric' editing. That's the way Lightroom and all raw convertes work. You store the editing parameters, the sliders values you change in your workflow. The result is a combination of the original file and a small text file storing the editing 'recipe'. That's not so different from creating an action you can apply to an original file. The result is 'virtual', you can create the version when you want.

There, the comparison between Lightroom, Photoshop and Elements shows that all three are tue parametric editors when Photoshop and Elements use the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plugin. The main ACR interface is very similar and the editing software engine has the same base. On the other hand, Photoshop and Elements are primarily are mainly 'pixel' editors. That allows a lot more power and flexibility to use layers and detail editing features. You never need to destroy your originals, but you need to create and editing version. With parametric editing, you generally don't need to 'export' a derived version, which saves a lot of disk space.

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines