Best option when saving for RAW?

[Ajay]

So I've got a mountain of RAW photos from a wedding to process and I think I've figured out a good workflow for them, but I'm not sure which option to choose when saving them after I'm done with them in RAW.
I know it shows instructions when you let your mouse hover over the different buttons, but they don't all make sense to me.

Should I only save in RAW and open the RAW version in photoshop to process there? If so, which save option is the best?

After I'm done post processing in photoshop, do I save what I've done in one RAW file (or psd, or tiff?) and then save a copy as a jpeg for use on the CD/online? How many copies of each final image should I end up with?

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed here so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I have everything archived in categorized folders, i reference everything from those folders in lightroom, I export from lightroom as TIFF, keeping the edits in a nother folder within the original folder of the day, the edits overwrite the exported TIFF's, the resized jpegs for web, go into a deeper subfolder.

 

[Ajay]

I have everything archived in categorized folders, i reference everything from those folders in lightroom, I export from lightroom as TIFF, keeping the edits in a nother folder within the original folder of the day, the edits overwrite the exported TIFF's, the resized jpegs for web, go into a deeper subfolder.

So you end up with a TIFF and a jpeg, or do you still have a raw file saved also? Is there any use in keeping a raw file once you have gotten what you need out of it in the raw edit?

 

[Sideburns]

You keep the RAW file, and then you have a TIFF and a JPEG.

The RAW file is so that if you ever need to go back, you have the original data that came out of the camera. You don't do edits on top of edits.

Also, you keep the TIFF because then you have an original of your edit...so you don't have to keep resaving jpegs and if you wanna work off that you can...or if you need different sized JPEGS you can get them from that.

Then you have a JPEG of whatever size you need for the application you're doing. You could have 12 JPEGS of the same shot if you needed different sizes...different watermarks...different borders...

 

[Ajay]

Thanks, Sideburns. That makes more sense, I think.
Ok...so...do I leave the original file that came out of the camera the way it came out of the camera...or save the edits I made to the RAW file of the image...and then proceed with a more indepth edit that gets saved as a TIFF...is that right?
And TIFFs are better because they don't lose image quality after multiple saves like a jpeg does?
Am I the only one confused by all of this?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

put your RAW's in a folder, edit them, save the edits as TIFF's, if you want to use them for the internet, resize the TIFF's, save as jpeg.

Keep the RAWs, TIFFs and JPEGs. Just create subfolders to keep everything organized.

 

[Garbz]

I put everything into high quality JPEGs as I don't go back and edit anything. If you're going to be re-editing then I wouldn't choose a lossy format like JPEG, but stick with TIFF PSD etc. If I need to retain layers I normally save as multilayered tiffs.

 

[Ajay]

Thanks everyone!