DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Close.
Use more than one external drive for archiving.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

True... But it gets more complicated.

Lightroom is the only non-destructive photo editing software I know with only one layer. The competition (ON1, CaptureOne, Luminar, etc.) all work with multiple layers, just like PS.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

To me it's irrelevant that Photoshop is a destructive program. It's not difficult to learn to use it non-destructively. I've been using Photoshop since way before Lightroom came along, and I use it for all my editing. I had already developed my own organization system, I process RAW files in Photoshop ACR, which is just as non-destructive as processing them in Lightroom, and then all my Photoshop editing is done on layers. There are things I can do with Photoshop I couldn't do in Lightroom.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The real power of LR is the database approach to managing your workflow. Catalog your images. Cull edit, rate them, perform global development edits, export, print, map... it’s a hub from which you can move into other, connected apps or plugins. It mimics software used by the largest photo labs.

PS is for advanced, pixel level editing, layering, masking, advanced retouching, typography, dodging, burning, color separations for CMYK offset printing...

These two are COMPLEMENTARY. PS is a terrible workflow tool and can be a black hole time eater. LR is a lightweight bitmap editor. Most people need both.

AZNikon Loc: Mesa, AZ

Simply put, Lightroom makes a list of the changes you want done when you export the photo as a JPG. The RAW remains untouched, hence non-destructive. HTH

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Exactly! It just seems that some computer users don't seem to understand the difference between SAVE and SAVE AS. Funny since SAVE and SAVE AS are found in MS-Word and good old WordPerfect and many other programs.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

It's a trade off. Your raw workflow using ACR/PS (depending on what you do) will force you to redo work if you decide to go back and make a change. Once there's anything in your PS work that's rasterized it's like an anchor that can't be moved. If you decide a change is in order for example back in ACR then that anchor trips you up and you're faced with redoing work unnecessarily. A parametric editor avoids that but on the flip side a parametric editor can't do as much. As parametric editors continue to improve their capabilities the workflow advantage shifts in that direction.

There's also the file size/disk usage difference that's worth noting. Parametric editors require a small fraction of the disk storage space that a pixel editor uses.

boydcrochet

LR or Photoshop?
Do you save your files in original RAW or convert to DNG?

Explanation:
Lightroom keeps all edits in a "sidecar" file that Lightroom associates with the original.

I prefer to save original Camera RAW, NEF in my case. If it is NEF I know it's the original file because Adobe does not write or save back to an NEF file!

Lightroom Catalogs are a great way to store and backup your images. Just don't do any reorganizing or editing outside Lightroom's file system. Go to Photoshop from Lightroom, right click "edit in" When you save it will create another file in your Lightroom Catalog as a TIFF or DNG (set in preferences), regardless if you used destructive edits in or not. If you converted Camera RAW to DNG and save back to a DNG, Photoshop will add "edit", Edit 1, Edit 2 to multiple edits. ACR, Adobe Camera Raw, is also nondestructive. When used a a filter inside Photoshop, I'm unsure. But in my/Lightroom's file handling it isn't relevant. When you reopen a layered file from Lightroom back to Photoshop, you get an option of the original layered version or the Lightroom "flattened" version, Lightroom never sees layers. Any edits to a layered file in lightroom are in a sidecare file. You can't carry those edits back into Photoshop as the original layered file. But you can open the original layered file back in Photoshop and after another save copy the settings from the previous version.

I hope that explains how it works.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I re-edit my PSD's all the time. That’s why I save them as PSD's in the first place. I have my Elements Save presets to save all edits as PSD's in Version Sets. all the edited versions are then tied to the original file and renamed as "edited 1, 2…" so I can look at them sequentially.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

You are getting the same net result, just using a bit more cheap HD space.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Lightroom catalogs are a great way to organize your images. You can download and store them through Lightroom.
BUT Lightroom does not back up your images. Lightroom can be set to back up the catalog, but that does NOT back up the original files, only the catalog...



You can also save as psd.

TRAVLR38 Loc: CENTRAL PA

Maybe some of you Lightroom experts can help me with this. I have found a way in which Lightroom is destructive every time. I need a way to avoid it.
When I make edits in LRCC, they show up in the History in Develop mode. I can always click on Reset to go back to the original.
BUT, if I send the image to Photoshop and make changes, and then save to LRCC, none of my edits in LR and in PS are visible in the History. And I cannot reset to the original any more. And if I cannot go back to the original, isn't this destructive?
What I would really like to do is to be able to work on an image in LR, send it to PS for the things like cloning that PS is better for, save to LR and STILL have all of my edits, made preferably both in PS and LR, but at least in LR. If I do not like the result of this work, I would like to be able to go back to the original, by pushing the reset button.
How, if at all, can this be done?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

(1) shoot raw. Neither LR nor PS changes the raw file.
(2) If you shoot jpg, import to LR, then edit in PS, you should be able to return to LR with a psd file instead of a jpg. That will give you two entries in the LR catalog: the original and the PSEdited version.

If you edit an image in LR, and want to go back to the original but keep your edits, do your editing, then make a virtual copy. The virtual copy will have the edits and the initial copy will show the edits. If you reset the initial copy you will have the original and the virtual copy will still have the edits.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

You are correct. The way you edit pics is not destructive. As long as you open, edit, then save-as and give the new file a different name you have not and will not destroy or be altering the original. But what they mean when they say non-destructive PP is that the file appears to be changed, but with the push of a button all the edits can be thrown away and the file goes back to the way it was. An original raw file from 99% of all cameras can't be altered or destroyed.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Begin by reviewing how you've defined your external editor. From the Library Module, Edit / Preferences and select tab = External Editing.

The definition for Photoshop should be format - PSD, in colorspace - ProPhoto RGB, at 16-bits, the other settings don't matter.

When you edit your RAW in LR, do as little or as much as desired within LR. When you desire to go to PS, simply right-click the image and select "Edit in" and then select PS. When prompted, select the option that includes your LR edits into the file sent to PS. When you finish your editing in PS, save (replace) those changes to the PSD and return to LR.

What you should now have in LR is a 'stack' with the original RAW that has a relation to the PSD. You might choose to stack the PSD over the RAW so you're presented only with the PSD. You can even continue to edit the PSD in LR, although on the flattened layers from PS, not on any specific layers. You can continue to edit the RAW too, if there's some reason to do so.

The approach above maintains the LR history on the RAW prior to creating the PSD. After returning from PS, the PSD will have a new history on this file, beginning with the import step. The PSD history is distinct from the RAW history as these are separate entries in the LR catalog.