Last first: Elements doesn’t store any photos, so they are already on your hard drive in a folder somwhere. Elements just opens them.
There are a couple of different approaches to when/how the conversion from JPEG to TIFF or PSD is made. I have my preference, which is to archive all of my original camera images (still in JPEG format) and work only from copies that have been converted to one of the non-lossy formats. So, for me that means I open the original JPEG, immediately do a Save As to PSD or TIFF, and then leave the JPEG alone.
Another forum member does work on his original JPEG but then uses the Save As command to both save the changes and convert simultaneously. That may work for you, too, but I can sometimes get interrupted when I’m working; I find it better to do the conversion right away so I don’t lose track of where I’m at in the process.
The main thing you want to try to avoid, regardless of when you actually do the conversion, is saving any changes while you’re still in the JPEG format.
Bert,
I think I am the "other forum member" that Beth is referring to. The thing to remember is that a file format, regardless of whether it is a JPEG, TIFF, PSD or whatever, is a storage device. Once you have loaded an image into Photoshop Elements, you are editing pixels. You are not editing what is saved on your hard drive. The issue of what format to use only comes into play when it’s time to save your work back to your hard drive. Many people are much more comfortable with creating copies of their original images and then storing those originals in a safe place. This is probably a very good practice. And someday I’m probably going to get caught using the procedure that I do. I open the original JPEG image that I downloaded from the camera, and start using adjustment layers immediately. Since a JPEG image cannot contain multiple layers, when I go to save my edited image I am prompted for a new name with either the PSD or the TIF extension, apparently depending on what I used last. I have made it a habit to create a subfolder to save all my edited images in. And that workflow has been working for me. However, I realize that it is probably somewhat reckless. If you decide that you want to make copies first, it would probably be advisable to save the copy either as a PSD or a TIF image, because both of those file formats are "lossless" so you won’t lose any quality in the conversion. Then, you should feel free to open, edit, and save that image as often as you find necessary, and you shouldn’t experience any degradation in your image, at least from the saving and the resaving. It is my understanding that if image quality is of utmost importance to you, you should do most of your image adjusting on adjustment layers because those adjustment layers will not take anything away from the original image on which you started your editing.
Jim
Incidentally, using this workflow as I explained in my previous message, when I have finished saving my edited TIF or PSD images, my original JPEG images are still on my hard drive, unaltered, still with the same original timestamp. And those are ALWAYS saved to CD-ROM eventually.
Jim, very good summary. When dealing with JPEG’s from my camera (on the occasions when I don’t shoot in RAW) I do it the same way you do. I do have to be careful not to do a simple "Save" if I’ve done adjustments without using layers – which I really shouldn’t be doing anyway. Like you said, once you create and keep the first layer, the Save command will direct you to PSD as the first option; if you insist on JPEG it’ll flatten the image and offer to save it as the same name that it opened. But you have ample opportunities to change that name. I usually keep the camera-generated file number and add "edit" to the name.
Chuck
