Save DNG as JPG and load it back into LR (preferably stacked with original)

[gYab61zH]

Lightroom Version

LRC 12.5

Operating System

1. macOS 13 Ventura

I have noticed that for bird photography Topaz AI denoise just isn't very good (at least not in auto mode) because a lot of detail in the feathers is lost. LR, on the other hand, does a superb job, but unfortunately saves them in linear(?) DNG format which is 6x the size of the compressed raw format I use. That is not acceptable since I denoise quite a lot, so I am presently manually converting those DNG files into JPEGs, saving them in the same folder, and then syncing that folder so as to retrieve the newly created JPEG and load it back into the catalogue. I then delete the DNG file.

Does anyone know if this can be automated in any way, so that the file is saved and reloaded into the catalogue in one go? Perhaps a plugin?

 

[Hal P Anderson]

Will this do it for you?

That will do everything except delete the DNG.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

You could convert to lossy DNG instead, using the Library menu > Convert to DNG menu command. Still has JPEG compression, so it's a similar size to JPEG, but replaces in-place and still has the white balance editability.

 

[gYab61zH]

Victoria, do you mean convert to DNG before the enhance operation? If so, I then lose my raw file.

 

[gYab61zH]

Will this do it for you?
View attachment 21616
That will do everything except delete the DNG.

Thanks a lot Hal, that is a good way of doing it.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Victoria, do you mean convert to DNG before the enhance operation? If so, I then lose my raw file.

No, converting the linear DNG to a lossy DNG shrinks the size by applying lossy compression.

 

[gYab61zH]

No, converting the linear DNG to a lossy DNG shrinks the size by applying lossy compression.

Ah, thanks. I had not realised one could convert a DNG to another type of DNG. Now I have two methods I can use. Thanks to both of you.