Is there a way to edit RAW images but not overwrite the image itself?

Discuss Photomator and photo editing.
User avatar

2022-01-19 04:59:26

I want to edit RAW images from the files app off of my SSD. I just edited one and after clicking 'done' the file itself is saved with the changes (like, when looking at the RAW file icon in the files app it shows all my edits, not the original RAW file). I don't want that. I want to retain my original RAW file, and have a second file of the edited image. I do see that along with my RAW file I also have the linked .PHOTO file. I think I understand that if I delete that, the edits will merge to the RAW file destructively. I also don't want that.

Do I have to do the edits, export the image, then click 'revert' to undo the changes to the RAW file? If I toggle off 'Preserve Edits' what happens?
User avatar

2022-01-19 12:19:45

Hey Nadeem. Whether you have "Preserve Edits" turned on or off doesn't really matter when working with RAW images on an external drive. Since RAWs are read-only and can't be edited directly, the edits must be saved to a mediator file which is .PHOTO, in the case of Pixelmator Photo (other editors may also use sidecar files such as XMP, for instance). So in your particular workflow, you have two options.

The first one you've already noted yourself — you can make changes to the original RAW image, export it to the file format you want, then choose not to save changes when exiting back to the Files browser.

The second method takes advantage of the batch processing tools in Pixelmator Photo. If you tend to edit your RAW images the same way, you can save the combination of color adjustments you typically apply to images as a preset. Then, create a workflow that automatically applies this preset and exports the image to a chosen file format. When you run a workflow like this on a RAW image, the .PHOTO file is not created and you're left with the original and the target file formats only.