Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Original, Master and derivative i les
For each digital photograph you make, you will likely produce several (if not
many) image i les on disk, each serving a dif erent purpose. h e number of
versions you can produce from a single image is unlimited, but ei ciency favors
conservatism here.
1
Original: In Lightroom, the original is a i le on disk, for example, the raw
capture in camera raw and/or dng f ormat. Originals can be in any i le format
Lightroom supports. Archive these i les and protect them long-term; these
are like original slides in boxes. If the worst should happen, and all else is
lost, you need to be able to go back to these.
Master: the i le that contains all the i nal processing and from which any
other copies are made. In the end, the master is even more important than
the Original, because it contains all the painstaking work you did to i nish
the image. In many cases, the original will also be the master; for example,
if you completed all necessary processing just using your raw capture, it can
serve as the master. Otherwise, masters are ot en layered tif o r Photoshop
i les.
Derivative: i les saved from the Master and modii ed for specii c purposes such
as printing or Internet distribution. h ese are usually tif o r jpg i les for printing
and for the Web. Derivative i les are ot en temporary and trashed when their task
is done.
When to export
Sometimes you may want to work on your images in other sot ware at er you've
gone as far as you can processing them in Lightroom. h ink carefully about your
plans for the photo and the workl ow steps required. You can export new master
i les to work with in other, specialized sot ware. See Chapter 8 for more about
Exporting.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DNG
dng st ands for Digital NeGative, an open source raw format developed and
standardized by Adobe. Whereas proprietary camera i les require sidecar i les
to save metadata edits, dng i les can store metadata directly in the i le. I always
capture in raw, then convert the raw i les to dng as o ne of the i rst steps in my
workl ow. I don't keep the original raw i les from the camera. I'll talk about dng
in various places throughout the topic.
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