Hi folks. I'm stumped by the export option. I'm still working with scanned images that have been saved as tiffs. Thus far my edits in the develop mode are pretty minor. When exporting, one of the export file settings choices is "original". If I select it, are the edits applied to the image?
In LR, edits are non-destructive. You can fiddle your TIFF as much as you like, and LR will not touch a single pixel. Instead it stores a 'recipe' of the changes you made in its internal database. Everytime you see that picture in develop mode, it loads the original, and then applies the recipe. As such, you don't have to 'save' the adjustments, it happens automatically. There is an option, under File menu > Catalog Settings > Metadata tab > to enable also storing the adjustment data within the TIFF file, simply check to enable that. With that setting checked, the adjustment 'recipe' will be stored in your TIFF file, not as pixel data, but as the 'recipe' written in a format termed XMP. You can store that data, by selecting an image and pressing ctrl-s, or you can have it automatically stored by enabling XMP auto-write in the same dialog as above.
At this point, you have a TIFF file that only LR (and Bridge) know what to do with. To all other software, it looks like the original file. For any other software to recognize the changes, you have to commit them to the pixel data, we say "bake in the changes" (recipe, get it?) . You do this by exporting. You can select all of the typical TIFF save parameters, and export the file. Now you have an adjusted file that any graphic program can handle.
Probably best if you don't export it to its original name/location, because that will overwrite your original, destructing the "non-destructiveness", and occasionally known to cause a LR hang in the process. I'm not positive about "Original" applied to TIFF, but the intent of this is to avoid problems with compression of JPG pixel data, during multiple sequential saves. If you choose Original with a JPG, the adjustment data is saved in XMP format in the JPG file along with the 'original' JPG pixel data. So, the answer is kind of like "yes and no". It's an intemediate format when you think you'll be re-editing. I don't work that way, so I'm not sure of the overall workflow ramifications.
Is there any benefit to choosing the "do nothing" option after export? What if I don't export at all? Better yet, what happens when the same image is exported repeatedly? Are more image files being created on my hard drive each time the image is exported? The more I read, the more confused I get.
