Hey everyone. This might be a very odd and silly question, but after I open a RAW image in Photoshop and am finished editing it, is it possible to save that image as a RAW file? Thanks in advance!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
A Question about Saving RAW Files
- Thread starter I AM THE MAN
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A RAW file is just the camera's way of preserving all data from the image, compared to saving it as a JPEG. Once you edit the photo in Photoshop, you cannot save it as a RAW again, but you can save it as PSD or TIFF. Those two formats should preserve just as much data, unlike JPEG which compresses the image
Not really. Once you export from RAW into any other format you have already made a few choices (white balance and so on). Any PSD or TIFF file has a subset of the original RAW data.
The data as originally captured by the sensor is converted from a bayer matrix to a RGB matrix and from this point on there is no going back. From now on you can only manipulate the RGB values of each pixel.
Somebody please correct me if I am wrong here...
If you need simple edits, like levels, dust spot removal, white balance, cropping/straightening, and even some basic cloning, you can edit in Lightroom and not worry about losing the original.
In reality, Lightroom is not saving the actual image file but rather a "history of edits" which you can un-do anytime.
Hope that helps!
~ Jeremy
If you need simple edits, like levels, dust spot removal, white balance, cropping/straightening, and even some basic cloning, you can edit in Lightroom and not worry about losing the original.
In reality, Lightroom is not saving the actual image file but rather a "history of edits" which you can un-do anytime.
Hope that helps!
~ Jeremy
This is all true, but the OP is asking about editing in Photoshop and saving in Photoshop and Photoshop is not made for non-destructive editing.
Thanks...
Yes, I realize it was slightly off-topic, but was hoping that it might solve something for the OP.
In other words, maybe they asked if Photoshop saved RAW files thinking that Photoshop was the only option. If so, now they know about a possible alternative, depending on their requirements.
Nikon's Capture NX will open, edit and resave all NEF format files. I think I recall something else doing it, but I can't find a reference in my notes.
Paul
I didn't know that. Do edits that can be saved include any brush work (selective editing on just a part of the picture like cloning) or for example cropping, rotating or gradient filters?
As far as I recall, a save is a save- it's just an image file format after all (edit, well actually several- since not all NEFs are alike)-- but I try to avoid NX, as this is something I actually don't want to do, and I find RPP much, much more pleasing, even if I have to add heavy sharpening.
Paul
THank you all
Thank you everyone for your replies! I was just curious about this because someone told me that's possible.
Thank you everyone for your replies! I was just curious about this because someone told me that's possible.