Today’s Question: There are two ways to send an image to Topaz Photo AI from Lightroom Classic. With the Edit In command a TIFF file is created. With the Plug-in Extras command the raw file is sent to Topaz and a DNG file is created. I either don’t see or, more importantly, understand why one method is that much better or preferable than the other. Am I missing anything here?
Tim’s Quick Answer: The two reasons to opt for the plug-in route are to achieve (at least in theory) higher image quality and to end up with a smaller file size.
More Detail: With certain plug-ins for Lightroom Classic you are able to send the raw capture to the plug-in, rather than having Lightroom Classic generate a derivative file (such as a TIFF) first.
The key principle here is that there is an advantage (at least in theory) to having software process the raw capture rather than rendering the raw to a standard image file format first. This enables the software to process the original raw data, rather than being based on how Lightroom Classic rendered the data.
This advantage is largely theoretical, by virtue of the fact that raw-processing software in general has improved significantly, and that there is generally only a modest benefit to applying adjustments as part of processing the raw capture rather than applying those adjustments after the raw capture has been rendered. Therefore I would say that sending the raw capture is a best practice, but it isn’t likely to result in any difference you can clearly see in the processed image.
The more impactful issue relates to the file format used in this particular example. If you use the Edit In command to send the image to Topaz Photo AI, the result will be a TIFF file that will typically be several times larger than the DNG file that is created when you use the Plug-in Extras command. That can add up to significant additional storage consumption if you process a large number of images with the plug-in.
Of course, if you later send the DNG file to Photoshop, you’ll end up creating another file with a different file format (such as TIFF), which would result in even more storage space being consumed compared to simply generating a TIFF in the first place and editing that same TIFF in Photoshop without creating a derivative copy.
