Question about adjustments in CS5 RAW

[Deliberate1]

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Friends, I have used CS5 and its predecessors for many years but never spent much time with the RAW adjustments until this evening. Really good tool that minimizes much of the color correction I typically do in CS5. But I have had a problem preserving the original DNG files. For example, I will open a RAW file and work it in Bridge. When I am done, and without saving it, I will open it in CS5. I will immedicately create a duplicate of the image and close the original RAW file without saving it. Problem is that it is automatically saved as a RAW-adjusted file, not the original DNG. So I started making a duplicate of the DNG file before even opening it in Bridge. I make the file name a simple variation of the original file name. I then open it in RAW and work it, and then do the final touches in CS5. This works OK but then I end up with three files of the same image - the original DNG, the RAW adjusted DNG and the PS file. So is there any way of opening the DNG file, work it in RAW without saving those changes once you open the image in CS5, or does this just happen automatically.

Much obliged.

David

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[CalArts 99]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're trying to do, but here goes anyway. You are using ACR via Bridge and then exporting as either .tiff or .dng to PS for final editing. But you want to keep an original .dng unprocessed and a PS file of the processed .dng. But you feel you need to make a dupe before you go to ACR for keeping an unprocessed .dng around. I think that's correct, right?

 

If that's the case then after you process the .dng, you can reset ACR and return to normal. That way you have the .dng unprocessed. You can load settings, save settings, reset new defaults, save new defaults, do the previous conversion, save custom settings, export to XMP, etc.. That way you can 'start all over again.' (click on the little list icon on the basic toolbar heading to reveal those choices.)

 

Anyway, I think this is what you are asking (?)

[Dougg]

Hi David -- Once you have a PSD file saved, is there any reason to keep the Raw-adjusted DNG? You could simply discard it at this point, retaining the untouched original DNG.

 

Using Lightroom, I have it open my original DNG which it does not modify, and output to a full-res TIFF. All subsequent printing or scaling and converting to JPEG come out of the TIFF. I suppose you'll want to keep your PSD for that purpose... and still have only two large files to store.

[CalArts 99]

I think maybe the OP might not realize that camera raw edits are parametric editing and not pixel editing. The metadata sets parameters for the file in ACR. (In a .dng there is no visible .xmp side car file since the metadata is embedded in the file itself.) And there's no reason to make duplicates of the .dng before or after processing (except for archive reasons.)

 

Once you process the .dng in ACR, the change is made in the exported RGB file (which Bridge does as it opens it in PS.) The original .dng out of the camera remains as it is and now with the parameters embedded (or with proprietary files, in a side car.) You can edit those parameters anytime. Or copy them over to other files, etc.. If you're doing a lot of the same kind of image, you'd want to save the conversion metadata to use on the other .dng files. That's part of what makes camera raw so robust. There's no need to make duplicate files of the original .dng except for archiving as safe storage (which is always wise to do.)

 

 

 

btw, the current ACR is pretty deep in what it can do these days. Combined with Bridge, Lightroom becomes redundant (and vise versa.) I think PS is still worthwhile for editing in respect to layers and better masking (with more brushes, etc..) Plus if you've grown up on it, the familiarity and the individualizing of the workspace (especially if there is more than one user) is an important factor.

[01af]

Why would anyone want to save an unadjusted DNG or a PSD/TIFF version of the adjusted DNG in the first place?

[mija1789]

Why would anyone want to save an unadjusted DNG or a PSD/TIFF version of the adjusted DNG in the first place?

 

Common sense, given that the OP seems to be unaware that raw editing doesn't modify the original pixels.

[jaapv]

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The original file is untouched, provided you do not replace it mistakenly. The adjustements you see in Bridge are in a sidecar .xmp file which can be reset.

[CalArts 99]

Just for the record, in a .dng the data is embedded in the file itself and there is no side car. That's what's nice about DNGs, they are very portable and you can't ever lose the sidecar (since there is none.) You can extract that data, too.

 

You do have the option to write to a .xmp side car file nonetheless, using the metadata preference options. That way you can easily see all the data and edit it in a text reader.

[george +]

Why would anyone want to save an unadjusted DNG or a PSD/TIFF version of the adjusted DNG in the first place?

 

The unadjusted DNG file is my original.

 

Like a negative.

 

One that I can always come back to and play with in different ways.

Just like we used to make different prints from the original in the film world.

[250swb]

So is there any way of opening the DNG file, work it in RAW without saving those changes once you open the image in CS5, or does this just happen automatically

 

Just press 'Default' in ACR and you will go back to your unadjusted original RAW file.

 

Steve

[CalArts 99]

The unadjusted DNG file is my original.

 

Like a negative.

 

One that I can always come back to and play with in different ways.

Just like we used to make different prints from the original in the film world.

 

The .dng will always remain as "unadjusted" no matter what you do, just like a film negative. I explained it very early on in this thread (and also mentioned to the OP to simply reset ACR to start over again with the file.) There's no reason to save it as a duplicate except to archive it on another drive in case of hardware failure, etc..

 

I think maybe some people might be confused and assume that camera raw processing is at the pixel level. It isn't, it's parametric. The data that comes from processing it is parameter data. In a .dng that data is embedded inside the file yet can be changed anytime you desire without affecting the actual image file itself (there's no pixel stretching like there is in Photoshop which edits files at the pixel level.) In proprietary raw files (e.g., from Canon or Nikon) the data is saved as a .xmp sidecar file that accompanies and is linked to the image file (which is why .dng is often preferred since you can't accidentally 'unlink' the sidecar, because there isn't one.)