I am fairly new to photoshop elements, but have done a lot of reading. I have read on some websites that repeated editing and re-saving of a jpeg file will cause a loss of quality. I have two proposed practices that I would like to get opinions on.

Scenario #1 - Heavy editing, (i.e. filters, masks, color changes, etc.) Open original jpeg file in editor -> save as PSD file -> do all editing -> save as jpeg with desired quality.

Scenario #2 - Light editing (i.e. red eye removal, crop, levels, etc.) Used mainly for upload to a web site. Open original file in editor -> do editing -> save as jpeg with desired quality. One editing session only. No repeated edits and re-saves.

My question is: Should I feel guilty for not saving each and every picture I edit as a PSD file before editing? I don't think I can see a loss in quality with editing a jpeg as opposed to editing a PSD file.

I tried to find a previous post on this but wasn't able.

Thanks,
Blaine

I always work on a copy of the orginal and unless I know for sure that I am going to go back and do more work on an image then I save as a psd. If it is a one time only edit then I save as a jpeg. I am sure there will be more advice on this. This is just how I do it.

Blaine,

Probably 20% of my shots are deleted "in camera"
85% to 90% of what's downloaded into Elements is no better that "snapshot quality" - I flatten those and save as Jpegs. From what I have read, you have to reopen and resave Jpegs a lot of times before you start seeing any degradation of quality.

For those shots that I think are "good" I save two copies: 1-PSD and then 1-Jpeg (flattened). You can open and resave PSD files as many times as you can imagine; there is no loss of quality.

Rusty

My question is: Should I feel guilty for not saving each and every picture I edit as a PSD file before editing? I don't think I can see a loss in quality with editing a jpeg as opposed to editing a PSD file.

Thanks,
Blaine

Don't worry... Here are a few facts:
- saving as a PSD BEFORE editing is useless.
- saving as a PSD AFTER editing is totally safe. Produces a much bigger file.
- Opening a jpeg and closing it without editing won't change anything.
- Opening a jpeg, editing and saving as jpeg loses some quality... You may have to do that 10 or 20 times to notice a difference... You can test it and judge by yourself. Trust your eyes!
- Keeping the original jpeg unchanged and working on a copy is a key rule. I have yet to find someone to tell the contrary.
- Another excellent habit: when you open a file, make a copy of the background and leave the background unchanged.
- For those who work with raw files (ACR, Lightroom...) : the original data is kept and your editing steps are recorded. You may need to edit in PSE or Photoshop only a small percentage of your edits. For the best one, you'll keep a PSD or TIFF. For the others, you can start again with most of the edits already saved.
- You can also edit jpegs in ACR with the latest versions. Your original data is always kept, and your editing workflow in ACR is stored as metadata in your original file, without altering the pixels. If disk space is a concern, it may be a good idea. Best do this on a copy of the original.

This is what i do:
1-Copy the original PSD to Edit, when finish:
2-Copy the edited and save as Tiff and as Jpeg
3- Keep ea. image on properly identify separate folders PSD's,JPEGS and Tiffs
When ever I need and image it will be ready for my pourpose.

no, don't feel guilty about saving every pic as a psd (that would take up a LOT of space). Basic edits and touch ups I do not save as psd. Major creations made for customers, yes...until the editing/preview is completed. In all cases, you have the original to go back to.

Thanks to all for your responses. It is very interesting how there are a lot of different "best practice" opinions out there depending on the user the their preferences. I was getting concerned about the disk space problem created saving any edited picture as a PSD file.

I always save my originals from upload to a new folder on my EHD and then make a copy of it on my computer to work on. I eventually copy that folder to the EHD too after I have finished the edits.

I do save my edited files as psd or tiff without flattening as I do my own printing and tweaking a change is more easily accomplished this way(like I might want a print to come out warmer or colder than the mood I was in when editing). My photo library is kept on an external hard drive to save disc space(as well as burned to dvd). When I need something for another purpose, I just do file>duplicate and flatten; thus leaving my original alone.

Blaine,
There was something very important in Linda's post - don't miss it.
When she said "File>Duplicate", the beauty of that is that Elements changes the name of your file by adding "copy". You don't have to remember to "Save As" or otherwise take steps to avoid overwriting your edit file.

Rusty