Non Destructive RAW in Photoshop

Posted by Philip in Photo Philosophy, Photo Processing, Photo Technique

I enjoy listening to other podcasts and reading other blogs.  I was listening to one of favorites the other day when I heard some wrong information.  On this podcast he was answering a question from a listener who was asking about file resolution and he said to capture your image in the highest resolution RAW file as possible.  I agree, but then he went on to say that destructive programs like Photoshop constantly degrade your image on every action you take.  WRONG.  Every action you take changes the data, but it doesn’t need to destroy.

The only time you really need to be concerned is when you save the file.  However, you can easily maintain the original quality of the image without losing data or the ability to go back to the original image.  Like my paranoia about losing photos, I have a paranoia about losing data in my photos, albeit not as strong.

Here’s my workflow for working with photos and maintaining the original data: