Does a photo stay "raw" after opening from Adobe Camera Raw into Photoshop?
Asked 10/26/2016
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When you open a raw file in Adobe Camera Raw and then click Open Image or Open as Smart Object in Photoshop, what happens to the raw data? If you continue editing with adjustment layers, is Photoshop still working with the original raw information, or has the file already been rendered into a regular raster image? How does this differ when saving as PSD, TIFF, or JPEG?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
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Photoshop is a general purpose raster image editor, and as you state it requires an intermediate step in order to open a RAW file (which is not, as such, an RGB raster image format).
Once Photoshop has opened the image and edited it, there are a number of file formats that you can use to save the image, some of which are capable of keeping the image as 16-bit and maintaining Photoshop layers, etc., but -- as far as I understand -- there isn't a way to deconstruct a Photoshop edited image back to a RAW file that has the same type of information stored the same way as a regular RAW file.
The difference between Photoshop and Lightroom (and one of the reasons Lightroom exists as a separate product), is that edits aren't applied as pixels to a raster image, but are saved as instructions for Lightroom on how to display the RAW file. With this non-destructive editing, the original information is preserved and edits can be tweaked or removed in the future.
(My background -- I've used Photoshop since version 2.5, but I've only recently purchased Lightroom)
Originally by user2228. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2228
9y ago
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A raw file is not edited directly in Photoshop as raw sensor data. Adobe Camera Raw first interprets the raw capture and renders it into an image Photoshop can edit. Once opened normally in Photoshop, you are working on a raster image, not the original raw data itself.
Adjustment layers in Photoshop are usually non-destructive to that Photoshop document, but they do not turn it back into a true raw file. Saving as PSD can preserve high bit depth, layers, and the ability to revise many edits later. A 16-bit TIFF can also preserve a lot of image quality, though layered editability may be more limited depending on how it’s saved. Saving as 8-bit JPEG throws away data permanently.
If you open the file as a Smart Object, Photoshop can retain a link to the Camera Raw settings so you can reopen and re-edit the raw conversion more flexibly. But even then, Photoshop is not storing your edited file as a native raw file again.
So: the original raw file is typically unchanged, but after Camera Raw hands it off, Photoshop is working with a rendered image version of that raw data.
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