How should I manage large Photoshop files from a Nikon D850 workflow?

Asked 4/7/2021

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I shoot a Nikon D850 and edit RAW files in Lightroom, then sometimes send images to Photoshop. After saving back from Photoshop as a flattened 16-bit TIFF or PSD, the file can exceed 200MB. For important images that may be printed later, that seems acceptable, but for high-volume event and dance photos that are mostly exported as JPEGs for web sharing, it feels excessive to keep so many huge files.

I’d like to preserve my Photoshop retouching in case I revisit an image later, but I also want a practical storage workflow. Should I keep PSDs, save as JPEG, switch to 8-bit, resize the image, or delete some intermediate files? What’s a sensible way to balance editability and storage space?

photoshop nikon-d850 file-management workflow lightroom

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

2 Answers

I keep my NEF & sidecar, also the PSD of anything that went through Photoshop.
Any intermediate TIF is discarded [as it's in the NEF+Sidecar]. You can get an 8TB drive for a couple of hundred $£€ these days. Buy a new one when that's full.
I wouldn't compromise the data on my keepers, I'd just learn to cull harder.

Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user57929

5y ago

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A practical workflow is to keep your original RAW files plus their Lightroom sidecar/catalog edits, and keep a Photoshop file only for images that truly needed Photoshop work and are worth revisiting.

If Lightroom adjustments are already represented in the RAW + sidecar/catalog, you can discard unnecessary intermediate TIFFs. For images edited in Photoshop, keep the PSD (or your chosen master file) if you want to preserve those edits for future changes.

The main advice from photographers handling this is: don’t compromise your important files just to save space. Instead:

cull more aggressively
keep masters only for your best/most useful images
discard redundant intermediate files
plan on adding storage as needed

Saving your only editable master as JPEG is generally not ideal if you may re-edit later, since it reduces flexibility. If an image matters, keep the high-quality master; if it doesn’t, keep the original RAW and final exported JPEG and skip the extra Photoshop archive file.

In short: archive RAWs, keep PSDs only for worthwhile Photoshop images, delete redundant intermediates, and be stricter about what deserves long-term storage.

How should I manage large Photoshop files from a Nikon D850 workflow?

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