How to edit between 2 softwares without having to lose much information?

[samueltan]

Hi there, I'm wondering if there is any way to edit an image without losing much detail? I use lightroom and

photoshop elements, shoot in jpeg with a D90. I use lightroom to enhance to image and elements to make the

digital frames. I know of the process whereby after finish editing in lightroom, you can choose the 'edit in

photoshop elements option'. Will the image lose some information/detail if I do that?

[chris_werner]

You need to shoot RAW. Everytime you save a jpg, it recompresses and loses additional information.

[ronald_moravec1]

If you can save from LR as a photoshop or TIFF it would be best. If the changes you make to raw file will carry over, that would be better yet.

[chris_werner]

Ronald is right about that as an option, but for my money, why shoot jpg? Storage is cheap, and if you shoot RAW you get tremendous flexibility with non-destructive edits in Lightroom without any hassle of having to save in alternate formats.

 

But, Ronald or you may appreciate some nuance I don't that would make shooting jpg or that workflow better. So my thoughts are worth every bit of what you paid for it. ;-)

[samueltan]

Thanks Ronald. When I choose the 'edit with photoshop elements' option, there would be a duplicated file in tiff format with my adjustment from LR. So I guess this is the best way to minimize compression/lost of detail?

[sknowles]

I agree, shooting raw is better, but with respect to jpegs and the comment, "Everytime you save a jpg, it recompresses and

loses additional information." isn't true with newer versions of the photo editors. They're all lossless saving, and only after

extensive editting and repeated saving will you begin to see the appearance of loss which are the changes from edits. The

problem with jpegs is the obvious changes are hard to undo once saved, and why you always should make a copy at the

start of the work so you can always trash the image and start over.

[chris_werner]

Scott,

 

Interesting - I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure how you could save changes losslessly when the format writes a lossy compression upon save, but then I'm always learning something new.

[samueltan]

I understand the advantage when it comes to post processing. But I don't have enough funds for a higher end computer that could process raw. Even with 3MB jpeg, the time I spend on the image could amount up to 1/2 hour. (yea, that's how bad my current pc is) So until I get enough funds for a higher end pc, I'm stuck with jpeg.

[KenPapai]

If you shoot JPG only at its highest quality in-camera, and you do edits in PS and save at MAX Quality (level 12) then you'll lose little to nothing. However you always SAVE AS (new filename) rather than over the original image file (that should be obvious and intuitive by now).

 

For the record I shoot RAW 95% of the time.

[r_johnston]

First, you lose NO detail in the Original when editing a JPG, because it does nothing to the original. It creates a file with the alterations you make, then produces a print or copy with the changes.

 

IF you set your options, so when it goes into an editor, it creates a TIF file, you than avoid the destructive problems of JPG files. Make your changes in the editor, save a copy. Or if you want another JPG of the changes, you can convert the TIF to JPG....

[samueltan]

Thanks everyone for the info. I know what I should do now.