GeorgeK Loc: NNJ

I use Affinity Photo and Nik plug-ins for post-processing and have seen several comments from people here that are unhappy with the way Raw files are handled in Affinity. I agree that the "Develop persona" has limited functionality and is destructive in the way it handles Raw files.

Having read good reviews of ON1 Raw I downloaded a trial version, watched some tutorials and began using it. There can be no doubt that it is functionally richer than Affinity with Raw files and, I believe it is non-destructive so that you can revisit and modify changes that you made to a Raw image. On the other hand, much of the additional functionality in ON1 is available in the Affinity "Photo Persona."

This all leaves me wondering about a workflow, i.e. how much processing to do on a Raw image vs a "developed" jpeg file. I would expect that some of this comes down to personal preference but are there technical considerations that I should be aware of?

For the purposes of this thread I would prefer to keep the discussion limited to the software applications that I mentioned as I have no plans to switch to Adobe or other vendors at this time.

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

I posted my Lightroom workflow in a user page. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1584
I have not tried ON1 or Affinity. I am not unhappy with LR/PS and have no plans to spend time learning a new piece of software or developing a new workflow.

As far as the workflow is concerned, I depend on DAM to organize things. At my age I can't juggle 20K image names and find them in my photopile. If I weren't using LR I would need something with competent DAM to replace it. So although I'm an LR/PS user, my comments would apply to any program that includes DAM.

Since I need my photos in the DAM, everything I shoot (except temporary files e.g. shots of a featureless surface used to look for spots on my sensor) goes into the program with the DAM (LR in my case). Since my DAM program also does raw conversion, I shoot raw only (wherever possible) and beyond cropping and/or brightness/contrast adjustments, many of the photos do not need much if anything in the way of PP. It doesn't cost anything to convert to jpg from raw since the image is in the DAM (LR) program anyway.

In addition, although any DAM should not give a damn about what file name is used for the photo (since a DAM can use keywords, which are much more flexible than a file name), I start my workflow outside of postprocessing by transferring my image files from the card to the computer by way of Downloader Pro. DP allows me to change the file name to something useful. This gives me two different organizing systems. Personally, I use the DAM for searches, but since I'm only going to be around for a couple more decades, and since none of my family knows how to use LR or any other DAM, I include the file name system to give them a chance to find photos they might be interested in (mostly family stuff). I have tried to keep my family up on the family photos but there could easily be branches of the family I don't know about yet, and they could also be interested if they find out about my photopile. If I updated my family with new photos on a regular basis, many of them would probably just turn me off. I was not interested in family stuff until I got over 40. When some of the outer family members reach 40, I might be out of the picture. Hence the secondary organization system.

Ourspolair

This boils down to personal preferences, I think. I have a slew of different software for processing RAW files and my workflow usually starts with viewing the raw images in software provided by the camera manufacturer, since I have been led to believe that the manufacturer knows how the raw file output relates to what was "seen" by the camera.
Usually I can get the results I want from the manufacturer's software, but if I want to make some more dramatic changes, I port them to ON1 and go from there.
Sometimes I go deeper into the raw file using Raw Digger to see how the data is distributed - this is used as a guide to help me get the most out of the image.
I have only recently started using Affinity - it does not appear to be "destructive" as a raw editor, the changes made to the image are kept in a "sidecar" file like ON1, PhotoShop et al. You can always return to your unchanged raw file.

GeorgeK Loc: NNJ

Thanks for your input. I just realized that I don’t save my Raw edits in Affinity. I just develop, edit in the photo persona and export my final image. Thus, my assumption that Raw edit is destructive.