What Lightroom export settings should I use for Nik or other plug-ins, and does resolution matter?
Asked 3/27/2014
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When sending a photo from Lightroom 5 to Nik or another external editor, Lightroom asks for file format, color space, bit depth, and resolution. I understand TIFF is preferred, and I’ve seen recommendations for ProPhoto RGB and 16 bits/component to preserve quality. What I’m unsure about is the resolution setting: if the image isn’t being resized and the file size stays the same, is resolution just metadata, or does it affect the image later?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
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The idea is that you don't want to be applying compression to the image that will result in reduced quality. Tiff is a lossless image format and so it will preserve the raster data perfectly fine. I'm unsure about ProPhoto RGB as I've never worked with it. The one thing that is worth noting is that you will need to make sure your adjustments to your RAW file are finished before the export. Exporting will result in working with RGB image data rather than original sensor data, so you will lose some of the flexibility when it comes back, though you can maintain the high bit-depth to keep a lot of the ability to adjust exposure.
Originally by user11392. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11392
12y ago
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For external editing, TIFF is the safe choice because it’s lossless and preserves image data without compression artifacts. Using a wide-gamut color space such as ProPhoto RGB and 16-bit color is commonly preferred when you want to retain as much editing flexibility and tonal/color information as possible.
The key point is that once Lightroom sends the file out, you’re no longer working on the original RAW sensor data—you’re editing a rendered RGB file. That means you lose some of the extra RAW flexibility, even if 16-bit helps preserve quality for further adjustments.
If you are not resizing the image, the resolution setting is generally just a number used for print sizing metadata (for example, pixels per inch). It does not change the actual pixel dimensions of the image by itself, so it typically won’t affect quality or file size unless resizing is involved.
A practical approach: finish your important RAW adjustments in Lightroom first, then send the image as a 16-bit TIFF in a wide-gamut color space for plug-in work.
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