You can store them in the same folder, or move them to separate folders deleting one will not delete the other - they are independent.Ģ. This means that when you import your shoot, you will see both the raw files and jpegs in the Import dialog, and unless you uncheck one or the other in the Import dialog, both the raw file and the JPEG will be copied to your hard drive and imported into Lightroom, just as if they were two separate photos. Box checked: JPEG files next to raw files ARE treated as separate photos
Ultimately I can’t make a recommendation to you on which option to use, as it will depend on why you are creating the JPEGs, but here is how the two options work:ġ. This is specified on the General tab in Preferences (Lightroom>Preferences on a Mac, Edit>Preferences on a PC). You have two choices: to treat the JPEG and raw files as separate photos or not. If you choose to do this, you will need to make a decision on how Lightroom is to handle these two copies of your photos.
Shooting raw+JPEG can give you both the flexibility of the raw color version and the black and white JPEG version. Another example would be if you like your camera’s black and white conversion – this does not get applied to raw files, only JPEGs. So for those of you who need to get a draft version of your files out to someone immediately after capture, this can certainly make sense. For example, the JPEG can be sent off to someone without any processing at all - meaning without having to import it into Lightroom, potentially work it, and then export a JPEG copy. Still Want to Capture Raw + JPEG?Īll that said, I certainly have heard valid arguments for capturing both.
If you are on a PC and can’t preview your raw files in Windows Explorer/My Computer and want to be able to, just like you can your JPEGS, you can install a plug-in from Microsoft that will allow you to do so (at this link, check to see if your particular camera file type is supported). (You will probably still need to add more saturation and contrast.)Ĥ. If there is something about the colors of your JPEGs that you really like and want to apply to your raw files, you can use camera profiles to start out closer to the look of your jpeg. You can create a JPEG from your raw file (to email out or post on the web, for example) anytime you want, very quickly, using Lightroom’s Export functionality.ģ. The workflow in Lightroom is exactly the same for raw files as it is for JPEGs - so there is nothing new to learn!Ģ. You will be OK Shooting Raw Only!įor those of you new to capturing raw files, here’s why I think you can safely give up capturing those JPEGs as well:ġ. And this is in fact what I would encourage most of you to do. As soon as I took the plunge into raw only, all of these issues melted away - less hard drive space, no confusion, and no jpeg for comparison, so I simply worked the raw file to my taste. I I also found it extremely frustrating that the raw file didn’t look like the JPEG, and I could never get it to look like the JPEG. I would often accidentally work on the JPEG instead of the raw file, and then have to redo my work on the raw file.
Not only did this mean that I had twice as many files to manage, which took up a lot more hard drive space, but it was frustrating as well. When I first started shooting in raw, I chose raw + JPEG because I wasn’t yet comfortable with raw files, and I wanted some insurance that I could revert to using the JPEGs. However, for those who choose to capture both, I will explain the file management options available to you. Frankly, I hope to convince most of you who capture raw + JPEG to stop doing it and capture just a raw file.
For those of you convinced to shoot raw files, your camera most likely gives you a choice to save just a raw file, or to save both a raw file and a JPEG of each photo you capture. More and more photographers are aware these days that raw files provide higher quality information and more flexibility in processing than JPEGs do.