4 RAW files I'd like to add into the 1 image

[RonanCork]

Hi,

I've been asked by a local restaurant to take 4 drone shots of my local town and create a large picture (to hang on their wall, it'll be approx. 1m x 1m) where the picture will have 4 quadrants/sections with the restaurant name in the middle (something like the attached image - a very basic sketch - but it'll give you the idea!)

I've shot the photos with my Mavic 3 Pro (RAW, AEB-3) edited in Lightroom Classic, all good. These 4 photos are all edited now and ready.

I don't want to export (i.e. from RAW to jpeg) more than I need as it'll degrade.

Is there a way in Lightroom (or Photoshop) I can:

• Create a new RAW file
• Pull in each of my 4 RAW files into the above new file
• Add in my name and banner graphics etc.
• And now export this RAW

Any guidance would be great thanks if anyone has done anything like this already

Thanks Ro

 

[DARKSeifer]

Just do it in Photoshop working in AdobeRGB 16b, saving in .psd and then export to whatever is needed to print, usually JPG 8b sRGB, ideally TIFF AdobeRGB 16b if the printer knows his job, which is not a common thing.

 

[Jim Martin]

In addition to what DARKSeifer said, if you can find out or happen to know who is going to be making the print contact them and ask them what format they prefer. Having a brief conversation with the printer (if they know what they are doing) will save you time and frustration.

If you are not working with a calibrated monitor, you might want to consider it. Even with a calibrated monitor, getting prints that match can be a bit of a challenge. With an uncalibrated monitor, it's a crap shoot.

 

[SkyeHigh]

Camera RAW is an acquisition format. Whenever you import a RAW image into Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW you are taking the data from the imaging sensor with little to no processing. In the Lightroom library you will notice as the images are imported there is a noticeable change in the preview image - often contrast changes. This is Lightroom applying its default profile to the image as displayed and will save it like that as the preview image you see every time you view the image until you make changes yourself.

When you make any changes to the image you are never touching/modifying the original RAW file. All changes are saved in Lightroom’s database and applied to the same image each time open it.

Only when you Export the image are you creating a new file and it is this file that the printer needs. You cannot create a new empty RAW file and you cannot print from a RAW file directly.

Exporting as a PSD photoshop file or a lossless TIFF file are your best options and both will preserve you edited image.

If you are going to combine your four images with the name in the middle, create a new PSD file of the size you need to print and then place each of your images resizing as needed. For professional printing you rarely need more than 150DPI. But if you are intending to have the image professionally printed, ask the printer what file format and DPI they require.

Remember, though, JPEG images can produce extremely good quality prints if handled properly.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Hi,

I've been asked by a local restaurant to take 4 drone shots of my local town and create a large picture (to hang on their wall, it'll be approx. 1m x 1m) where the picture will have 4 quadrants/sections with the restaurant name in the middle (something like the attached image - a very basic sketch - but it'll give you the idea!)

I've shot the photos with my Mavic 3 Pro (RAW, AEB-3) edited in Lightroom Classic, all good. These 4 photos are all edited now and ready.

I don't want to export (i.e. from RAW to jpeg) more than I need as it'll degrade.

Is there a way in Lightroom (or Photoshop) I can:

• Create a new RAW file
• Pull in each of my 4 RAW files into the above new file
• Add in my name and banner graphics etc.
• And now export this RAW

Any guidance would be great thanks if anyone has done anything like this already

Thanks Ro

If your hardware can cope with it: convert RAW to output format of 32 bit floating point TIF and up the DPI to 900. Compression: none. At this level, a TIF file will edit and enhance almost as well as a RAW and the print will be superlative. The above is the standard I use for academic/archaeological output.... no complaints so far. But you will have to find a proper professional printer.

 

[RonanCork]

Just do it in Photoshop working in AdobeRGB 16b, saving in .psd and then export to whatever is needed to print, usually JPG 8b sRGB, ideally TIFF AdobeRGB 16b if the printer knows his job, which is not a common thing.

thanks for the details. Only this is that I've each of my 4 images now edited in Lightroom, it took some time, so I don't want to have to redo all my edits in Photoshop. If I'm understanding you right? Is there a way I can pull my 4 RAW files into Photoshop? - and then i can add in my banners and restaurant name.

 

[DARKSeifer]

thanks for the details. Only this is that I've each of my 4 images now edited in Lightroom, it took some time, so I don't want to have to redo all my edits in Photoshop. If I'm understanding you right? Is there a way I can pull my 4 RAW files into Photoshop? - and then i can add in my banners and restaurant name.

You don't need to load the "fresh" RAWs into Photoshop, you can export them from Lightroom, the editing you did to the photos there is carried over to the new files. You'll see them exactly as they were in Lightroom at the moment of exporting. Select the files you want to export and then Ctrl+Shift+E.

On the other hand, to preserve the editing of RAW files over time, I'd recommend working in DNG (it's already the only option in drones, as they save DNGs instead of proprietary RAW format).

The editing you do to the RAW files can be saved in three ways. In the Lightroom Catalog, as an .xmp sidecar file that creates in the same folder as the RAW files, or inside the DNG files if you converted the RAW to DNG.

If you work in DNGs format, every time you change the edit in Lightroom it saves in real time to the DNG. That way, the files are 100% lossless and you'll also never loss the editing, as it's embedded within the DNG metadata.

You can pick an edited DNG, copy it to another computer, and the editing goes inside the file, the other computer will be able to load the edit without any problem.

About the other two options, Lightroom Catalog can be corrupt over time and is not easy to carry it between computers, so you can lose the editing for all your images. And the .xmp can get lost around or not properly loaded on other editing programs, so you can also lose the editing there.

For maximum futureproofing you can also embed the original RAW file inside the DNG at the time of conversion, but IMO it's pointless, it will double the size of the files and I can't see a reason to go back to the original RAW format. (Well DJI drones save RAW in DNG directly, so this is not an option, although it's interesting to update the DNG and metadata with Lightroom because DJI drones don't use lossless compression on their DNGs, so they take up more disk space than they should).

 

[SkyeHigh]

thanks for the details. Only this is that I've each of my 4 images now edited in Lightroom, it took some time, so I don't want to have to redo all my edits in Photoshop. If I'm understanding you right? Is there a way I can pull my 4 RAW files into Photoshop? - and then i can add in my banners and restaurant name.

When you export from Lightroom, such as a PSD (standard Photoshop file) all your edits are applied to the new file. Any adjustments, colour/contrast/sharpening etc. you made in Lightroom from your original RAW file are preserved as your saw them on screen. Open the PSD file in Photoshop and you’ll see the same image.

The original RAW file stays linked in Lightroom and any changes you made while editing in Lightroom are recorded by Lightroom separately in the Catalog (database). When you next open your RAW file Lightroom will load the RAW file and then apply the changes you previously made to the image on screen. It does not in any way change the image content of your original RAW that you first imported.

Using the Duplicate option in Lightroom allows you to create multiple versions of your image and each of them have their own edits saved independently from each other.

 

[Cymruflyer]

When you do anything to a photo file in Lightroom, you are not actually working on the real file, you are working on a sort of virtual file, so you never have to be concerned about damaging the actual real file, be it JPEG or RAW. The editing is saved with the file. As stated, when you move it into Photoshop, there is no change to anything you did in Lightroom.

When you come to print, you will be surprised how well a JPEG file prints, and at just 1m by 1m that is not a particularly large image size, and a good JPEG will easily print well at a professional printing lab. Therefore, don't get too caught up in having huge files to print from. For most finished prints, a JPEG image is well sufficient.

As for checking a final print from what the file looks like on your computer screen, you can simply crop down to one or two sections of the print that you might be concerned about, and take that selection of say, 10x8 and have it printed. You can then check the finished print against what you are seeing on your computer screen. If the print is off in colour, then you can adjust your file and reprint to get to the colour balance that you wish and then print the final large image.