# Huge file size after editing in PS/NIK



## msbc (Oct 12, 2013)

I have D800E RAW NEF files which I've converted to DNG in Lr 5.2. After making some basic adjustments I open in PS CC and use Nik Color Efex Pro filter plug-in. After I close the Nik plug-in I save from PS and the resulting TIF shows up back in Lr. All good. Only problem is the size of the TIF - 723MB !! The original DNG is 38.2MB. I didn't flatten the image in PS so it has one layer for the Nik plug-in. Should this cause the file size to increase by such a huge amount?

Mark


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## clee01l (Oct 12, 2013)

Keep in mind the 36 mp image files are huge,  The DNG is a compressed conversion of the 14 bit  EF.  The TIFF is going to be 16bit of color PER LAYER.  If you save the TIFF as a compressed TIFF, what size is it?  If you flatten the layers into one composite layer how big is it?  An uncompressed 36mp TIFF file is going to be Huge and having multiple layers will only compound the size requirements. Still, 723MB does sound like it is larger that you might expect.


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## msbc (Oct 12, 2013)

The original NEF is 44MB. Flattening the TIF reduced it to 218MB.


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## Kiwigeoff (Oct 12, 2013)

If it is 16bit that would increase size as well and if it happens to be 32bit well then huge files can be expected. is there any HDR in these??


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## clee01l (Oct 12, 2013)

msbc said:


> The original NEF is 44MB. Flattening the TIF reduced it to 218MB.


 A 213MB uncompressed 16bit TIFF file from a D800 NEF is typical,  I just exported one  43MB NEF from LR to a 16 bit uncompressed TIFF and it was 217MB.  And exporting  as a lossless compressed TIFF, it was 168MB. There was no post processing other than that done in LR.   So,  I think what you are seeing is normal. 

With your D800, you probably need to rethink your workflow.  Do you really need to send all 36mp to PS?  Will a smaller crop be a better composition?  Is there any benefit to saving a layered image out of PS? You can bypass PS if you run the Nik ColorEfexPro filter as a LR plugin.


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## sizzlingbadger (Oct 12, 2013)

My D800 example...

NEF    45MB
Tif     284MB (Flattened)
Tif     175MB (Zip Compression)
Tif     557MB (ColorFX Pro layer in PS zip compression)



Also...  are you backing up your NEF files in case you need them later on down the track ?


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## msbc (Oct 13, 2013)

Seems the numbers I'm seeing are not 'abnormal' then. I'll experiment with using NIK from Lr rather than Ps to see if that reduces the TIF size.

@kiwigeoff - no HDR, straight NEF converted to DNG.
@clee01l - Your probably right, I don't need to keep the NIK filter in a layer, so can flatten out of PS.
@sizzlingbadger - yes, keeping the NEF's. Just started using DNG in Lr.

Thanks for everybody's input.

Mark


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