Which file to keep

Hi everyone its me again.My last thread was about sharp pictures using my 50-500 Bigma.After some great advice (thanks everyone) Started using f10 at 400mm and all of a sudden sharp,in focus pictures.I am shooting in Raw and was wondering what is the best way to keep the files.
Do I
1)Change the Raw into Tiff,do the necessary tweaks then change to jpeg,keep the Tiff file and bin the Raw file
or
2)Do the necessary tweaks to the Raw file,change to Tiff then to jpeg and keep the Tiff file and bin the Raw file
or
3)tweak the Raw file change to jpeg and keep the Raw file.
Hope I have explained this clearly and once again thaks for the help.I was getting a little frustrated with getting poor pics

Graham

Prsonally I use method 3 but also save the jpeg

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David

Always, always keep the raw files.

What you do with Tiffs and jpegs is going to depend very much on the software you use for processing - with mine I just keep the raws as Tiffs and jpegs can be re-created from the raw files at will but that may not be the same for you. Which software are you using for raw processing?

Rgds,
Rob.

I save the RAW as a Tiff, do the necessary tweaks and save. Jpegs can be produced from the Tiff as required.

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Chris

www.chrismillsphotography.co.uk

" A Hangover is something that occupies the Head you neglected to use the night before".

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K1 - Sigma 85mm F1.4, Pentax DFA 150 -450 F4.5 / 5.6, Pentax DFA* 24 - 70 F2.8

Samyang 14mm F2.8, Pentax DFA* 70-200 F2.8

K3iii + K3ii + K5iis converted to IR, Sigma 17 - 70 F2.8, Pentax 55 - 300 F4.5 / F5.6 PLM

Save the RAW, that's the whole point of shooting RAW in the first place, to have a digital 'negative' that you can keep and develop as required into an image.

Another one for saving the RAW and the JPEG.

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Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

Always keep the RAW.

If you were using RAW+, then I keep the camera's JPG too (putting it in a separate "CameraJPG" directory). The camera's JPG is a useful colour reference

Process the RAW in your favourite convertor (e.g. Lightroom).

If you can get the image to 99% then export straight from the converter into JPG. I have presets in LR for 1000 pixel web-ready images, pre sharpened. It makes life really easy for bulk!

If you need to do some serious post-production, then export to PSD or TIFF (16 bit if you really are going to hammer the image), work on the detailed file. Usually I'll keep just the PSD file with all its layers and tweaks. Then, resize and export for web from there.

HTH!
Matt

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http://www.mattmatic.co.uk
(For gallery, tips and links)

RAW and jpeg here too.

RAW and the original JPG. Both have their uses.

If I want to scan through what I have filed - easy to run through the JPGs and then I can load the RAW/PEF and process that.

RAW and JPEG also. For those shooting JPEG only, then the original plus the tweaked version.

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Best regards, John

for the same reason, I always keep RAW files and export a smaller jpg version ( currently 1600px ) for everything in batch process after editing a shoot in lightroom

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[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283

I understand the tiff theory but I've never come across a situation where I've needed it, for my clients, be it onine or print, jpeg seems to deliver the goods

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Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

Using TIFF is helpful in the following circumstances:

• when masking images. JPEG encoding can produce blocky edges when masking images with tools like Topaz Remask.

• when "pushing" an image. Though rarely a problem, I've had posterisation issues when doing more severe PP that was a result of JPEG.

But, for anything that's almost right out of the raw converter, JPEG is perfect, even for large format prints.

Matt

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http://www.mattmatic.co.uk
(For gallery, tips and links)

You can open up a Tiff time and time again for edits and not endure cumulative degradation from successive lossy compression and decompression. I save all my 35mm neg scans as 16bit TIFFs.

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[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283

It also depends on what programmes you use, or combination of software options .... If I'm using Photoshop for layers, or I need to save selections for example (I might be thinking of coming back to the shot in future) then I'd go for .psd - this will save losslessly at a smaller filezise than the same image in TIFF.

But if I have finished the layer work (or other PS specific stuff) then I'll 'flatten' it and save as a TIFF - most useful if also needing to adjust something in another programme. Ultimately the TIFFs & .psd files will end up in the same category - a 'Master Working' file for archiving.

They are most useful if you want to produce more JPEGs copies in future, say at different sizes or for new specific print sizes, but you've got the advantage of being able to make fresh adjustments without quality loss (such as on the JPEGs like Smeggy was saying above).

So for me, I have a storage system that saves the DNG's immediately, then another folder for 'Master Working' TIFFs / .psd, then collections of max quality JPEGs (for printing) and higher compressed JPEGs for web use (like the forum / facebook etc). I do keep them all for now, and backup using DL DVD discs. In future I may revise this and choose to delete 'Master Working' files maybe from years past, if there's no possibility I'd ever revisit the shots.

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