Topaz photo AI file size

[david dono]

Just purchased Photo AI intending to use it as plug in for Lightroom.Camera Nikon d 850.
The resulting file size seems to be enormous.Isthere a way to reduce this file size? I am not exporting the file so it remains within my Lightroom library.

 

[jeffnles1]

Not sure what is happening there. I do not use Lightroom but it may be storing the original copy and the edited copy both embedded in the Lightroom catalogue thus you will have a larger file. When I export an image edited with Topaz Photo AI the exported file tends to be smaller than the unedited file exported from my Apple Photos library.

Does Lightroom allow a "revert to original" option within the application? If so, it is probably storing both the original file and the edits which will increase the size of the file stored but the exported edited file will typically be a little smaller than the exported original. At least that is my experience coming from the Apple Photos library.

 

[bleirer]

One thing I can add is the fact that Lightroom does not store any files. It simply links to the files in the folder where you store them and stores the recipe for Lightroom edits within the Lightroom catalog.

I'm not sure exactly how topaz works in lightroom as I use it in photoshop. What is the file type (suffix) of the image you get back from Topaz? When I use it in Photoshop it works with tiff files that topaz modifies and returns a tiff back to Photoshop. Lightroom could export a tiff or it might be another file type but either way Lightroom is exporting a demosaiced image ( meaning it turns the raw data into an rgb image) and then importing (linking to) that new file after topaz modifies it, not changing the original raw, so you should see in the Lightroom library the original raw next to the imported new file. The tiff or whatever file type it is will be bigger than a raw file because the raw file is not really an image yet but only data that stores info about only one color per pixel - red or green or blue, while the tiff will have been converted to an rgb image with 3 colors for each pixel - red and green and blue.

 

[MartyD]

When you use the Edit In option of Lightroom Classic to edit an image in Topaz Photo AI, LrC creates a TIFF file to edit in Photo AI. The TIFF file is considerably larger than a RAW file. I believe this is the case when using any of the external editing options. LrC will allow you to choose TIFF, JPEG, or a PhotoShop PSD to use in the external application. The external editors will store a copy of the original file in the same directory as the original file with an edit suffix.

 

[jerrylwatson]

If the enormous file is a tiff, the changes that topaz made are stored in it. LrC stores any edits you make in LrC either in an ".xmp" file or the catalog depending on your setting.

 

[bleirer]

Lightroom stores all edits in the catalog. In addition If you hit ctrl s or choose save from the menu, or have preferences set to automatically save it will also write a sidecar xmp file with the same info. This is only useful if you want to use the image in another Adobe product or if the catalog fails and you don't have a backup and want to recover the edits. The main thing that is confusing is that Lightroom never saves the whole raw file, just the recipe for the edits to the raw file. To get an image file with all the edits baked in you have to export a tiff or jpeg or other file types. I believe this is what happens with topaz. Lightroom exports a tiff or whatever, topaz does its thing to that tiff, then in lightroom you can further edit the tiff.

I don't believe topaz is demosaicing the raw the way dxo does, but rather it works from the image after Lightroom has already done the demosaicing part?

 

[jerrylwatson]

Lightroom stores all edits in the catalog. In addition If you hit ctrl s or choose save from the menu, or have preferences set to automatically save it will also write a sidecar xmp file with the same info. This is only useful if you want to use the image in another Adobe product or if the catalog fails and you don't have a backup and want to recover the edits. The main thing that is confusing is that Lightroom never saves the whole raw file, just the recipe for the edits to the raw file. To get an image file with all the edits baked in you have to export a tiff or jpeg or other file types. I believe this is what happens with topaz. Lightroom exports a tiff or whatever, topaz does its thing to that tiff, then in lightroom you can further edit the tiff.

I don't believe topaz is demosaicing the raw the way dxo does, but rather it works from the image after Lightroom has already done the demosaicing part?

Yes Bill you stated it correctly. I should have stated "and" not "either". I do not know, but suspect, if you edit a tiff file after it is returned to LrC the changes go into the tff file.

 

[bleirer]

Yes Bill you stated it correctly. I should have stated "and" not "either"know, but suspect, if you edit a tiff file after it is returned to LrC the changes go into the tff file.

I'd agree, in the sense that at that point everything is baked into the pixels of the now demosaiced image file. I think but am not sure that Topaz is in contrast to something like dxo where the image is demosaiced by dxo but the resulting dng still lets you do things like change color profile and white balance from the dropdown, where I think topaz at that point you couldn't?

 

[aolander]

Yes Bill you stated it correctly. I should have stated "and" not "either". I do not know, but suspect, if you edit a tiff file after it is returned to LrC the changes go into the tff file.

I don't believe that is true. Edits to a tiff in LR are also non-destructive, i.e. contained in the xmp and/or catalog.

 

[jerrylwatson]

I don't believe that is true. Edits to a tiff in LR are also non-destructive, i.e. contained in the xmp and/or catalog.

So when I open a tiff in another viewer why are edits showing?

 

[aolander]

So when I open a tiff in another viewer why are edits showing?

As an experiment, I sent an image from LR (Edit in) as a tiff to Topaz DeNoise AI. After the tiff was returned to LR from DeNoise, I greatly reduced the exposure of the image. When I go to the image in Explorer and open it in Photos, the exposure is the correct exposure, not the underexposed version. If you view the tiff in a viewer that reads the xmp, then it would show the edited version. If you Export the tiff from LR, then the edits would be baked in.

 

[bleirer]

As an experiment, I sent an image from LR (Edit in) as a tiff to Topaz DeNoise AI. After the tiff was returned to LR from DeNoise, I greatly reduced the exposure of the image. When I go to the image in Explorer and open it in Photos, the exposure is the correct exposure, not the underexposed version. If you view the tiff in a viewer that reads the xmp, then it would show the edited version. If you Export the tiff from LR, then the edits would be baked in.

Is a choice given when you send the tiff out, edit original vs include Lightroom edits? I know this happens when I view tiffs in lightroom that I've previously edited in Photoshop. If I click edit original it will give me my layers in Photoshop, if I click the other it will give a flat file baking in the Lightroom edits.

 

[jerrylwatson]

As an experiment, I sent an image from LR (Edit in) as a tiff to Topaz DeNoise AI. After the tiff was returned to LR from DeNoise, I greatly reduced the exposure of the image. When I go to the image in Explorer and open it in Photos, the exposure is the correct exposure, not the underexposed version. If you view the tiff in a viewer that reads the xmp, then it would show the edited version. If you Export the tiff from LR, then the edits would be baked in.

What happens when you edit the tiff in another app with the option to include LR edits?

 

[jerrylwatson]

Is a choice given when you send the tiff out, edit original vs include Lightroom edits? I know this happens when I view tiffs in lightroom that I've previously edited in Photoshop. If I click edit original it will give me my layers in Photoshop, if I click the other it will give a flat file baking in the Lightroom edits.

Beat me to it