# Suggestions on file formats for back and forth between LR & PS?



## crimbfighter (Aug 15, 2016)

So I've been doing a lot more lately than I used to in PS for things like curves adjustments, local adjustments, blending, etc. When I open the images from LR to PS it converts to .tiff, which creates massive image files (140-190mb each) which is just needlessly eating up hard drive space. When I have 70+ images from a shoot and 30 to 40 of them I bring into PS for adjustments, you can do the math on how much space that eats up over time. 

I honestly haven't taken a dive into the menus in LR too much yet for options, but is there a better way to set this up so I'm not creating these huge .tiff files for every image I bring into PS from LR?

I also currently do not convert to .dng upon import so I'm working with the .NEF files when editing.


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## john.margetts (Aug 15, 2016)

I would have thought Lightroom would save as either PSD or JPEGs. There must be an option in Lightroom preferences to set the format.


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## crimbfighter (Aug 15, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> I would have thought Lightroom would save as either PSD or JPEGs. There must be an option in Lightroom preferences to set the format.


I'm sure there is, but I haven't looked very hard yet. In general, I'm just wondering what the best method or file type would be to not have massive files, but also not lose a lot of usable data.


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## DScience (Aug 15, 2016)

In my opinion it wouldn't be worth editing in anything but tiff, otherwise you would just loose too much data. I'm surprised your files are that big, but still, I would think of a workflow so that after you are finished editing, you export the final tiff or whatever to a large data drive and then erase them from your LR library.


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## zombiesniper (Aug 15, 2016)

I just use the tiff format if I have to go to PS.

I store all my files initially on the computer for editing but then I transfer to a 5Tb external.


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## crimbfighter (Aug 15, 2016)

DScience said:


> In my opinion it wouldn't be worth editing in anything but tiff, otherwise you would just loose too much data. I'm surprised your files are that big, but still, I would think of a workflow so that after you are finished editing, you export the final tiff or whatever to a large data drive and then erase them from your LR library.



I do currently have my workflow set up so I do all my initial edits on my primary drive which is an SSD, then move the files onto a large capacity HDD for storage, but still, it would be nice if there was  way to reduce my storage needs a little because over time, it just keeps filling up. I'm not in danger of running out of room right now, and I can always buy a bigger drive, but it would be nice to reduce image sizes a bit. And bottom line is I don't know enough about the differences in file types (tiff, PSD, etc.) to know if you are really losing usable data when going to say PSD instead of tiff. File size isn't always as important as how the data is stored and managed, so basically bigger isn't always better. However, I don't know that for sure in this case.



zombiesniper said:


> I just use the tiff format if I have to go to PS.
> 
> I store all my files initially on the computer for editing but then I transfer to a 5Tb external.



I actually have my images also duplicated onto an external drive as well as the internal HDD I move them to after editing.


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## Braineack (Aug 15, 2016)

A 2TB drive is less than $100.


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## john.margetts (Aug 15, 2016)

With PSD, you lose no data at all. I don't know how it compares with TIFF format but PSD saves your adjustment layers and such.


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## crimbfighter (Aug 15, 2016)

Braineack said:


> A 2TB drive is less than $100.



I actually already run a 3TB HDD as my internal storage drive, but will eventually be upgrading that to two 5TB drives running in RAID 0.



john.margetts said:


> With PSD, you lose no data at all. I don't know how it compares with TIFF format but PSD saves your adjustment layers and such.



This is the kind of thing I need to research more, I think. PSD files I think were smaller, and if they don't lose data, I may try that route and see.


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## KmH (Aug 16, 2016)

To set the file type and other things use the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences > External Editing).
+1 for using PSD instead of TIFF.
TIFF and PSD are the only 2 choices.

You might wonder what else you're unaware of by not being familiar with the menus.

Peachpit TV for Photographers - Roundtrip Editing with Adobe Photoshop on Adobe TV


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## crimbfighter (Aug 16, 2016)

KmH said:


> To set the file type and other things use the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences > External Editing).
> +1 for using PSD instead of TIFF.
> TIFF and PSD are the only 2 choices.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the suggestion, and the link. I am actually fairly well versed in the menus, and I knew roughly where to find the settings I was looking for, but I just hadn't gone and changed anything in hopes of learning a little more about the advantages/disadvantages of different file types before taking my usual approach of buffaloing my way into changing things without knowing...


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## donny1963 (Aug 28, 2016)

crimbfighter said:


> So I've been doing a lot more lately than I used to in PS for things like curves adjustments, local adjustments, blending, etc. When I open the images from LR to PS it converts to .tiff, which creates massive image files (140-190mb each) which is just needlessly eating up hard drive space. When I have 70+ images from a shoot and 30 to 40 of them I bring into PS for adjustments, you can do the math on how much space that eats up over time.
> 
> I honestly haven't taken a dive into the menus in LR too much yet for options, but is there a better way to set this up so I'm not creating these huge .tiff files for every image I bring into PS from LR?
> 
> I also currently do not convert to .dng upon import so I'm working with the .NEF files when editing.


If you wish you edit your images in PS after you do your thing in LR,  you can export the images as a JPEG If you wish to edit in PS  all you need to do is export them to another directory and then open them in PS, and the pictures will not be so big, the reason they are big in TIF format, that is because TIF is 32 Bit VS JPEG is 16 bit.


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## Ysarex (Aug 28, 2016)

donny1963 said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > So I've been doing a lot more lately than I used to in PS for things like curves adjustments, local adjustments, blending, etc. When I open the images from LR to PS it converts to .tiff, which creates massive image files (140-190mb each) which is just needlessly eating up hard drive space. When I have 70+ images from a shoot and 30 to 40 of them I bring into PS for adjustments, you can do the math on how much space that eats up over time.
> ...



No. JPEG is not 16 bit. JPEG is defined as three channels of 8 bit each. Editing a JPEG is a bad idea. The point of moving a TIFF or PSD from LR to PS is to retain full information for editing before creating an archive JPEG.

Joe


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## john.margetts (Aug 28, 2016)

Cannot LR send the file to PS without saving to disc first?


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## donny1963 (Aug 28, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> Cannot LR send the file to PS without saving to disc first?



Yeah you can open a picture in LR and then tell LR to open it from there to PS, But the picture is already saved to disk.


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## crimbfighter (Aug 29, 2016)

Ysarex said:


> donny1963 said:
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> > crimbfighter said:
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Thanks for the thought donny, but I agree with Joe. A jpeg looses way too much data to make it useful for future editing once the transformation is made. 



john.margetts said:


> Cannot LR send the file to PS without saving to disc first?



Unfortunately it doesn't seem so. I would imagine that since LR is non-destructive, it has to create a new file in order to be able to package up the original image with all the edits to sent it to any outside program and I doubt NEF or RAW files could be altered to contain the edits in a way where another program could usefully extract them. So in the end, converting the files to a universal format is probably a must for any back and forth with another program.


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## dennybeall (Aug 29, 2016)

If you have gone through your photos and trashed the ones not worth keeping then the ones that are left deserve to be stored in a lossless format so you have the ability to do anything you want with them later. I personally save originals in tiff with layers intact.
Storage is just too cheap to not retain all there is to retain.


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## john.margetts (Aug 29, 2016)

crimbfighter said:


> john.margetts said:
> 
> 
> > Cannot LR send the file to PS without saving to disc first?
> ...


it is certainly possible. I am a Linux user and use UFRaw as a RAW converter and that will send the converted RAW file to Gimp without saving anything to disc. I then get the option in Gimp to save the file for the first time in any format I want.


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## donny1963 (Aug 30, 2016)

crimbfighter said:


> Ysarex said:
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> > donny1963 said:
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I never said to do post with Jpeg's   RAw gives you more room for adjustments, that is what i was trying to get accross..


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## greatchimney (Oct 17, 2016)

They have a good tut here if you want to follow it.

How to jump from Lightroom to Photoshop (and back again) - Laughing Lion Design - Learn Photoshop & Lightroom


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## Scatterbrained (Oct 17, 2016)

donny1963 said:


> crimbfighter said:
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> > Ysarex said:
> ...


Reading your post would imply that you are saying someone should export jpegs from Lr for editing in Ps.  That's just not good advice.  Also, TIFF files are only 16bit, unless you're dealing with HDR TIFF files which can be 32bit.   Opening a jpeg in any sort of editing program and then saving it again will result in a loss of data, as the image data is re-compressed each time.  Beyond that the data simply isn't there anymore to work with in Ps, limiting you to smaller adjustments.   


As for how I work my images,  everything is saved to an external drive upon import.  I have external RAID enclosures that are connected via e-SATA connectors to my tower.   My Lr catalog doesn't retain the images, just the previews.   When I send to Ps it is sent as a TIFF.  When I save from Ps I save as a TIFF.    My uncropped TIFF files from the A7RII run right around 102MB per images.   A fair sized file for sure, but not too much to worry about really, given how inexpensive memory has become.


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