Photography Keeping raw files

[Jack]

Quick question, do you guys keep Raw files after editing? Or you delete them after you achieved what you were looking for.

If you keep them, do you have external hard driver or you keep them in the cloud?

 

[panos_adgr]

Quick question, do you guys keep Raw files after editing? Or you delete them after you achieved what you were looking for.

If you keep them, do you have external hard driver or you keep them in the cloud?

I always keep all my RAW files.

Well let's start by saying '' I shoot raw''!😁😅

I do keep all my raw files anyway. There have been many times of going back and reviewing old photos, finding some which I never noticed well in the past. Sometimes we mature with the passage of time and we recognise something good in old photos which some years ago we couldn't notice or understand.
So I keep them. I use HDDs to store them and soon I will add more HDDs because I want to create doubles / back ups.
Whatever image I process is saved in TIFF format and archived in the same folder of the origin file. My files are archived by camera body file, in numbered files which also have the location. i.e. 045_Thessaloniki, for easy search. And whatever image is used in internet is in half resolution and jpeg format. After I upload or use them the jpeg file is erased. And the reason is because each jpeg file is just a downscaled copy of my original finished (TIFF) work.

 

[Andy Smith]

I keep all my processed photos as TIFF files, backed up on 2 separate HDD's. I keep certain RAW files but not all of them, because I stack a lot of images I usually delete the RAWs once the stack is done and save a stacked version as a DNG file instead. I usually convert my saved RAWs to DNG format if I am going to save them, but I then go through the saved images every 6 months or so and delete the ones I don't like.

 

[Morexp57]

Yes, I keep all my RAW files. As panos_adgr says, there are photos that I didn't appreciate the potential of that surface from time to time and, more importantly, my taste and ability to edit RAW files, changes and improves with time.
I use external drives for archiving.

 

[Jack]

What do you mean by TIFF panos_adgr Andy Smith . Unfortunately I don't really keep Raw files. After I edit the photo and happy with it, is exported in jpg format and saved on laptop and uploaded on my website on very low resolution.

If I would have to keep Raw files. This will take huge amount of space. But maybe I should consider saving them 🤔

 

[Jack]

Yes, I keep all my RAW files. As panos_adgr says, there are photos that I didn't appreciate the potential of that surface from time to time and, more importantly, my taste and ability to edit RAW files, changes and improves with time.
I use external drives for archiving.

I want to buy a new HDD for images only. But personally, I don't keep Raw files. It's just takes lots of space in my laptop. And never had this in mind to come back to the same photo and edit it again. 🤔

 

[panos_adgr]

I want to buy a new HDD for images only. But personally, I don't keep Raw files. It's just takes lots of space in my laptop. And never had this in mind to come back to the same photo and edit it again. 🤔

TIFF is a lossless compression format. It allows you to save the edited image while keeping the most information.
I use external HD Drives exclusively for my photos. I buy Western Digital Purple because they are ideal for surveillance. This means they are very reliable as they are designed for constant use in surveillance systems that work 247

It is better to keep your images in an external disc and even better if you have them in double HDDs

 

[Andy Smith]

What do you mean by TIFF panos_adgr Andy Smith . Unfortunately I don't really keep Raw files. After I edit the photo and happy with it, is exported in jpg format and saved on laptop and uploaded on my website on very low resolution.

If I would have to keep Raw files. This will take huge amount of space. But maybe I should consider saving them 🤔

TIFF files are a way of storing files in a much more detailed format than JPG, I use TIFF because if I want to print then it is a higher quality image than JPG.
You can also look at saving your RAW files in DNG format which saves space for storage.

 

[Morexp57]

TIFF files are a way of storing files in a much more detailed format than JPG, I use TIFF because if I want to print then it is a higher quality image than JPG.

This is good to know!
I had no idea that TIFF files were better for printing, thanks a lot for this information Andy.

 

[Chavezshutter]

I keep everything 😂.. I shoot RAW! (I like the Fro knows reference too panos_adgr, i need the t-shirt 😆) almost exclusively and I love nothing better than going through all photos to edit them with new editing skills or simply look at with a fresh, more knowledgeable eye. I have a saying - "For photos you cannot re-take them, once the moment is gone you cant travel back in time and place to reshoot them but editing is a never ending process that can be revisited time and time again". Another reason I also keep all my RAWs is that for me they are like a memoir of all my successes and failures and so I keep them to remind myself of what I have tried, improved, left aside, etc. They are like my catalogue of attempts and my journey through photography so for me they are too valuable to delete. I store my files on external HDDs and SSDs

 

[panos_adgr]

I keep everything 😂.. I shoot RAW! (I like the Fro knows reference too panos_adgr, i need the t-shirt 😆) almost exclusively and I love nothing better than going through all photos to edit them with new editing skills or simply look at with a fresh, more knowledgeable eye. I have a saying - "For photos you cannot re-take them, once the moment is gone you cant travel back in time and place to reshoot them but editing is a never ending process that can be revisited time and time again". Another reason I also keep all my RAWs is that for me they are like a memoir of all my successes and failures and so I keep them to remind myself of what I have tried, improved, left aside, etc. They are like my catalogue of attempts and my journey through photography so for me they are too valuable to delete. I store my files on external HDDs and SSDs

Well said friend!
I agree 100% with you!😉

 

[Jack]

TIFF files are a way of storing files in a much more detailed format than JPG, I use TIFF because if I want to print then it is a higher quality image than JPG.
You can also look at saving your RAW files in DNG format which saves space for storage.

how can you convert to TIFF?

 

[Jack]

This is good to know!
I had no idea that TIFF files were better for printing, thanks a lot for this information Andy.

I wasn’t aware about that as well.

 

[Jack]

I keep everything 😂.. I shoot RAW! (I like the Fro knows reference too panos_adgr, i need the t-shirt 😆) almost exclusively and I love nothing better than going through all photos to edit them with new editing skills or simply look at with a fresh, more knowledgeable eye. I have a saying - "For photos you cannot re-take them, once the moment is gone you cant travel back in time and place to reshoot them but editing is a never ending process that can be revisited time and time again". Another reason I also keep all my RAWs is that for me they are like a memoir of all my successes and failures and so I keep them to remind myself of what I have tried, improved, left aside, etc. They are like my catalogue of attempts and my journey through photography so for me they are too valuable to delete. I store my files on external HDDs and SSDs

Well said C Chavezshutter . I do agree with you, will need to start saving raw files then. The problem is, they take a lot of space .

 

[Morexp57]

how can you convert to TIFF?

In my editing program, when I want to export my image, I can choose between the file type (jpeg, TIFF, etc.).
You should also have this choice.

 

[Jack]

In my editing program, when I want to export my image, I can choose between the file type (jpeg, TIFF, etc.).
You should also have this choice.

Thanks, I’ll have to check Morexp57