file help? do you save the raw?

[lisabranka]

I'm starting my switch over to backblaze from mozy and I shoot in raw with my nikon D60 because I like being able to tweak it before I save the ones I like to jpg.

So most of my photos are saved in raw and the ones I want processed in jpeg. So in my folder, is one folder called raw with all the raw files and then the jpeg ones.

If you shoot in raw do you save the raw file or ditch it once you process it and save it in jpeg?

This would cut down on the amount of back up I have eto do

[KateD]

I shoot in raw (with the Nikon D200), but my process is very different from yours. I have the camera set to save the picture both in raw and as a small jpeg file because it's easier to look at the pictures as jpeg's - especially now that I'm using windows 7. I don't print many pictures, so I'll process the raw photo, import it to my LO, then close the raw file without saving the changes. Even if I saved the jpegs, I'd still keep the raw files, in case I wanted to go back and do something different with the photo later, or just re-process it because my skills have improved. I like options

[nikkiARNGwife]

I save RAW and jpeg on almost all photos..my camera is set to take RAW/jpeg simultaneously also

[Stacey42]

I save the raw & the jpg versions. I use Lightroom to process them so the changes to the raw are not permanent. I back up the jpgs to SmugMug, which does not back up raw format. I back up the raw version to EHD & disk.

[ColleenSwerb]

I keep them. I try to be really good about deleting bad/blurry/unrecoverable ones while I'm going through LR. Since I'm not using up space with bad photos, I feel ok about saving the rest.

[glumirk]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

I keep them. I try to be really good about deleting bad/blurry/unrecoverable ones while I'm going through LR. Since I'm not using up space with bad photos, I feel ok about saving the rest.

Ditto. I delete all the bad ones and duplicates that I can, and then after processing I save them as JPEGs so that we can use them on our blog/layouts easier. I still keep the RAW files just in case.

[MandaT]

I shoot in only RAW. I keep them for the current year, but I convert & process everything to JPG, so I have no un-edited/un-processed RAW files. I keep them in case I want to go back & edit or something, but I figure if I haven't gone back in a year, I most likely won't go back at all.

I try to only keep the best images, sometimes that doesn't always work, mommy goggles come out & even a blurry one is okay sometimes. depends on the moment that was captured. I don't usually print photos either, unless it's into a bound book.
*I should really get more of them off & into albums, the kids love looking at them.*

[DawnMarch]

When I take my card out of my camera and put it into my computer, I immediately back-up all my raw images to disk. That way I know I have a set that are "safe" if I need them. Then I edit the ones I want and save them as jpeg on my computer. I can always go back to the RAW files if I need them but they don't clog up all that space on my drives. And now that you can tweak jpegs in ACR or Lightroom, it's even less likely that I'll ever go back to the original RAW files.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

When I take my card out of my camera and put it into my computer, I immediately back-up all my raw images to disk. That way I know I have a set that are "safe" if I need them. Then I edit the ones I want and save them as jpeg on my computer. I can always go back to the RAW files if I need them but they don't clog up all that space on my drives. And now that you can tweak jpegs in ACR or Lightroom, it's even less likely that I'll ever go back to the original RAW files.

I love ACR and Lightroom! Is there a huge difference between shooting in JPEG (as opposed to RAW) and editing them in ACR?

[ColleenSwerb]

There's a huge difference Leah.
Your camera makes automatic adjustments to a photo, and flattens the info into a jpeg. You lose a TON of information in that process, which means you can only do so much processing to a jpg image. Raw files are so huge because they keep all that data, giving you infinitely more control over the information and how you tweak it.

It's great that the programs can process jpgs, but you're not going to get anywhere near the same results if you're using jpgs instead of raw.

[DawnMarch]

Yep, Col is right. I always do my original editing from the RAW version -- the results are much better and you have much more ability to change the settings (e.g., white balance) without losing data or degrading the quality. I like that I can go back and use ACR for editing a jpeg if I want to (e.g., to convert to B&W after the fact), but I rarely reprocess -- which is why it isn't worth it to me to keep the RAWs on my computer after the original edit. But, yes, do shoot in RAW for best results.

[Leah]

I quit shooting in RAW because it was too much of a pita to view them on my computer (Windows 7), but I like the idea of RAW + JPEG and have changed my camera settings.

[ColleenSwerb]

I convert my RAW files to DNG's when I import them into LR. Plus, I never really look for photos outside of LR, so that's not a problem for me either. The only time I look for a photo outside of LR, it's for a scrapbook LO and it's a photo I know for sure that I already processed and saved as jpg.

Shooting RAW+jpg would bug me immensely. I wouldn't want to have to go through and delete my blurry raw files, and then go back and do the same with my jpgs. Especially when I'm not going to edit the jpgs, I'm going to edit the raw files in LR and then save THOSE as jpgs. It just doesn't make sense for me.

[KateD]

If I had LR I probably wouldn't take RAW + JPG either. Maybe someday...

But, for now, it's the best option for me. It's not a huge pain because I look at the JPG's and if I don't want to keep the picture I delete both the JPG and RAW right then in Windows Explorer.