File Types

[akeigher]

Quick question.

After converting from RAW, in what format do you save your processed photo? jpegs, tiffs, psds, something else?

And why?

Thanks in advance

[dougj]

I usually output & save them in whatever size & format they will be used for - reduced JPG for the web, high res TIF or JPG for printing or whatever the end user wants. I occasionally save the PSD file if there are layers and I might want to do something more on it later. I keep the original raw files so I can reprocess if needed for other uses in the future. Although hard disks are relatively inexpensive, I prefer to minimize the number and types of files stored to save space and minimize the time necessary to find files.

[akmc_in_au]

Most of my photos never end up being processed; they just sit there in RAW format unless I decide to process them for display in a web gallery. Although I'm much more assiduous about assigning keywords these days I agree with a point that Doug raised; I need to be more "ruthless" in making culls. I have 1.5 terabytes of storage at hand, but that can still be used up. (And this is on the 40D; when/if I finally make the jump to a 5 series full frame... oy! ) If I'm in any way undecided I mark it as a Reject in Bridge so that when the time comes to do a cull I can find them easily.

For the ones that are processed, though, it depends on how much processing needs to be done. If it's nothing more than a quick "crop and convert" I'll just keep the RAW and the resulting .jpg. If it's something more extensive then I'll save as a .psd first and keep that as well. I haven't done any printing yet, but when /if I do I can't discount using other formats as well, depending on what the printer advises.