JPEG to other formats...

[frownsarefun]

For the 100 or so .jpeg photo files I have (unedited, untouched) - when ready to edit them, say for example in LR3 - could I / should I leave them as .jpeg once done or should I change them to .tif?

I know the issue with JPEG losing image quality every time you open it and make any changes to the file. So just curious if it would also lose anything by changing from .jpeg to .tif. Seems that first time I open, edit and save the jpeg - by nature of it being a jpeg - I am gonna lose something. But if changing to .tif, in and of itself doesn`t alter the image in any negative way, at least then I can make future edits without losing anything.

So basically, leave a JPEG as a JPEG or convert to a TIF (size isn`t an issue for me).

Also - one last question - is it seamlessly better to keep all my edited RAW files as TIFs or PSDs or some other format. Just want the best quality, edited image where I lose nothing if wanting to go back to it to make an edit or change.

[ceremus]

If you're editing in Lightroom you needn't make any conversions at all, Lightroom doesn't actually save edits as new files unless you specifically direct it to export your changes as a new file. Simply saving your edits in Lightroom only records the changes you made and does not alter the original file itself.

If you're doing editing in Photoshop the most simple thing may be to stick to saving your work in PSD.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by ceremus

If you're editing in Lightroom you needn't make any conversions at all, Lightroom doesn't actually save edits as new files unless you specifically direct it to export your changes as a new file. Simply saving your edits in Lightroom only records the changes you made and does not alter the original file itself.

If you're doing editing in Photoshop the most simple thing may be to stick to saving your work in PSD.

Your first statement doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't use Lightroom so I may be missing something here. If you have a jpg file, open it in Lightroom, then do some manipulations, you need to save those manipulations somehow. If you "Save" it will alter the original file, correct? There will have been a very small amount of quality lost. Not enough to worry about. If you are going to be moving this original file in & out of numerous programs, you will want to "Save As" a TIFF in the first program used. Then when you make your final "Save As", save it as a .jpg.

The point being, you do lose some quality with each .jpg save. So you don't want to keep manipulating & then saving the original file. Hope that makes a little sense.

[ceremus]

Lightroom isn't exactly like other raster image editors like Photoshop. Lightroom doesn't save your editing by modifying the original file. It keeps track of the changes you make to your files, and then only saves those specific changes to a small database that corresponds with the image files in your library. There's no loss of quality and the changes you make are 100% non-destructive.

If you want to see a demonstration of it...

[Matthias099]

Originally Posted by frownsarefun

Also - one last question - is it seamlessly better to keep all my edited RAW files as TIFs or PSDs or some other format. Just want the best quality, edited image where I lose nothing if wanting to go back to it to make an edit or change.

I shoot raw and keep them in it's original state. Whenever I edit them I save them in another format (lossless jpeg or tiff).