[RustySterling]

I'm very different from dcclark: I shoot exclusively with RAW and convert to jpg later in my workflow process. The reason for this is that the RAW image is my digital negative. And it does not matter what I do to it in a RAW processing program, I can always go back to what I originally see. in the RAW file.

After processing in my RAW converter, I can then tweak in PhotoShop or PaintShotPro -- whatever turns you on. In Adobe, after opening from Adobe Camera Raw, I can do lots of layer adjustments and individual layers with masks to process my final photo.

In my workflow, I use Adobe Bridge to create folders for a project and then create subfolders within that project folder to create separate folders for various stages of my post processing workflow as I process images.

For example, I'll save ACR processed photo to an ACR noted folder. From there, I will open photos, do my work in Adobe PhotoShop and save the PSD files and JPG files in yet other folder appropriately noted as either PDS or JPG -- depending upon the file to be saved. This makes it easy for me to find the shots I've already processed and that I'm considering to do more processing.

If you are going to do more post processing on a photo, then I suggest you save it in a format compatible with your processing software -- in my case it is Adobe PhotoShop CS 4, so I save a file in PSD format, which maintains my layer edits. If I want a jpg image, I do that after saving a file as a PSD. That way I save a unique file and maintain my editing file.

Everybody does it differently. So just find what works for you.