Saving RAW file after modifying

I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that I
made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other than
making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

No changes are applied to a RAW file....its the "negative" and you can go
back to it again and again and start fresh. However...the adjustments you
used are saved and if you don't change anything the same settings will be
used again. You don't have to save them....its automatic.

--
Thanks,
Gene Palmiter
(visit my photo gallery at http://palmiter.dotphoto.com)
freebridge design group

"Don Dunlap" wrote in message
...
I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that
I made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other
than making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

I do not understand why you do what you do.
Unless you have a specific need to save a jpeg image why would you save your
finished work that way? This kind of defeats the purpose of working with raw
images to begin with.
If you understand how to use CS with non-destructive layers it would seem
wiser to save in the Photoshop psd format with all layers intact and,
presumably, labelled as to what you have done in that layer.

"Don Dunlap" wrote in message
...
I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that
I made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other
than making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

Hi.

After you convert from Raw, and save the new file, your Raw will look like
the "converted" version, because the settings for the conversion will have
been saved in a XMP file somewhere on your system. BUT the original RAW
has not actually been changed, it is still as it was.

You can check this if you have a folder with a large number of Raws which
have been converted. Open that Folder in the Browser and you will be able
to see the Thumbnails changing one by one from the "Unconverted" versions to
take on the appearance of the "Converted" versions, as the system applies
the XMP data to them.

You can still "Convert" any of your original RAW files to give a different
result from the original "Conversion", it is just that when you open it in
the Converter Window the sliders will be in the positions they were, when
you saved the first Conversion.

Roy G

Don Dunlap wrote:
I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that I
made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other than
making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

You cannot save changes to a RAW file. Never could. What Photoshop
does is save a file with the same name as the RAW file but with an .xmp
suffix that remembers the settings you used for the RAW conversion.

--
Ray Fischer

Don Dunlap wrote:
I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that I
made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other than
making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

To clarify some of the other responses. ACR 2.x, under Photoshop CS,
never changes the raw file.

ACR 3.x, under CS2, will change DNG raw files with the settings. But
not other types of raw file.

(Typically, raw converters don't change raw files other than those
where the raw converter supplier knows the raw format. So Nikon
software may change NEFs, because they understand their own format.
Adobe software, and some others, changes DNG files, because that format
is published).

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.barry.pearson.name/photography/
http://www.birdsandanimals.info/

"Barry Pearson" wrote in message
ups.com...
Don Dunlap wrote:
I am using Photoshop CS and when I make changes to a RAW file and click
OK,
I usually 'Save As" a JPG with a specific name to indicate changes. When
I
would then close the file, I thought that I used to be asked if I wanted
to
save the changes I made to the RAW file and I would select NO.

I am no longer asked that and the RAW file is saved with the changes that
I
made. Is there any way to NOT save the changes to the RAW file, other
than
making a copy before I start and only change the copy?

To clarify some of the other responses. ACR 2.x, under Photoshop CS,
never changes the raw file.

ACR 3.x, under CS2, will change DNG raw files with the settings. But
not other types of raw file.

(Typically, raw converters don't change raw files other than those
where the raw converter supplier knows the raw format. So Nikon
software may change NEFs, because they understand their own format.
Adobe software, and some others, changes DNG files, because that format
is published).

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.barry.pearson.name/photography/
http://www.birdsandanimals.info/


Thanks for the explanation. I believe that I understand it now. I was
looking at the thumbnails that PS makes and they showed the changes, so I
assumed that the file was changed.

Don