# What is best format to save in?



## 250Gimp (Feb 24, 2008)

I have been saving my post processed pictures as PSD files, but I got to wondering if that is the best format to save them in.  

Should I be saving my files as a PSD, or as a TIF file? 

I am looking for the least amount of data lost when saving to these files.  Similar to saving back a RAW file.

Cheers


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## shorty6049 (Feb 24, 2008)

I think they're probably both similar, but PSD (thats photoshop's RAW format, right?) is probably better because you can re-edit the photos in adobe camera RAW, where with a TIFF you cant... I might be wrong though, someone let me know if i am


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## domromer (Feb 24, 2008)

shorty6049 said:


> I think they're probably both similar, but PSD (thats photoshop's RAW format, right?) is probably better because you can re-edit the photos in adobe camera RAW, where with a TIFF you cant... I might be wrong though, someone let me know if i am



DNG= digital negative ( I think) I think PS is trying to use the open source version of raw. 

PSD's are great but huge. There also not a raw format.I'm talking over 100 megs per pic. 

What I've been doing is keeping a raw version, then editing a copy in ps and saving it as a tiff. Then you have an untouched raw file and a tiff with all the ps adjustments made. For me that works better than saving a bunch of psds which take up an unholy amount of space.


*Digital Negative* (*DNG*) file format is a royalty free RAW image format designed by Adobe Systems. Its specification was announced on September 27, 2004.[1] The same day, Adobe introduced Digital Negative to the market with its free Adobe DNG Converter program. According to Adobe, Digital Negative was a response to demand for a unifying camera raw file format.[2] Digital Negative is based on the TIFF/EP format, and mandates use of metadata. All Adobe photo manipulation software (such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom) released since the announcement support DNG.


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## 250Gimp (Feb 24, 2008)

Thanks guys.  I never thought of the size of the PSD's.

I will have to think more about it.


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## kidchill (Feb 24, 2008)

Yah, if I shoot RAW then I'll make my changes and save as TIF.  These are still large files, but the only way to decrease that is to compress as JPG (or whatever format).  So, I save it as TIF and then if I want to post it online I change the size and quality and save it as a JPG.  If I ever want to print or show high quality I still have the original RAW plus the TIF!!


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## Carman (Feb 26, 2008)

But TIFFs don't keep your layers etc. do they ? 

I usually keep a the original RAW, a PSD and a TIFF/JPEG to be printed. The reason I keep a PSD is so I can go back and edit it, and all the layers, masks etc. are still there.


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## lifeafter2am (Feb 26, 2008)

Carman said:


> But TIFFs don't keep your layers etc. do they ?



You can have multiple layers in TIFF.  So yes they do.


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## Digital Matt (Feb 26, 2008)

domromer said:


> For me that works better than saving a bunch of psds which take up an unholy amount of space.



A PSD is a compressed file and takes up roughly the same size as a compressed TIFF.  Why would you need to have a bunch of PSDs yet only 1 tiff?


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## Carman (Feb 27, 2008)

lifeafter2am said:


> You can have multiple layers in TIFF.  So yes they do.



Wow I never knew that!!


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## lifeafter2am (Feb 27, 2008)

Carman said:


> Wow I never knew that!!



Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!  (G.I. Joe!!!)
:lmao::lmao::lmao:


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