Editing question

[Guest]

I am new to photography and editing software so I don't really know how it works.  if I have a 16 megapixel picture and I enhance the color (like deepen the saturation lets say) and maybe crop it when all is said and done will the final product still be a 16 printable megapixel product?  Is that what non-destructive means?  I want to be able to do a few things and still print a quality picture......

Thank you

[zeremkarty]

Whenever you crop you reduce the number of pixels in an image. But, as long as you keep the resolution at 300dpi you will still get a good sized print. (I won't do the math for you). Non-destructive editing means the original file is not affected by edits you make. You can always reset the image to the original file setting. If you want to save a version with all the edits you can export it to Photoshop, and Save As. That's how I do it but you might be able to do the same within Lightroom.

[Guest]

Thank you!!

[JP Hess · Accepted solution]

Nondestructive editing means that the underlying image is never modified. The images that you import into Lightroom are never changed. All adjustments are stored in the catalog.  Because of this, if you get to the point where you just want to start over on  an image all you have to do is reset it and it will revert to the condition as it was displayed when it was first imported. If you crop an image then you will reduce the number of pixels that Lightroom is displaying  and therefore printing. Or, if you export an image to send to lab to be printed it will have fewer pixels than the original. When you talked about a 16 MP image I assume you are talking about file size. What you need to be concerned about is the number of pixels in relationship to the size of print you want to create. For instance, if you want to print an 8 x 10" print ad 300 pixels per inch  you would need an image that is 2400 x 3000 pixels.

[Guest]

Thank you!