Was this information helpful? Over the last few weeks, I have received a few questions about how ON1 deals with files so I just wanted to put this together.
This is so incredibly helpful. I've searched all the ON1 tutorials and even paid for their premium membership, plus searched all their RUclips videos and they have not explained this. Yet here you are doing their job for them. Bravo.
Thank you for this comment, and everything you explained is the reason I made this video. I actually need to review this video to see if anything has changed since the 2021 version. I don't think anything has changed, but thank you for reminding me of this video and I am super excited to hear it was helpful for you. If you run into any more questions about ON1, please send them my way and I will do my best to answer them.
Excellent tutorial! This was something I have never found to be properly explained. You did an fantastic job of illustrating and describing the different files that are created after applying your effects to a raw file image. Also, I did not know that using the magic eraser is considered a destructive edit. I’ve been an exclusive ON1 user for three years now and have found it to be a very good software editor program. They had an issue recently that I reported to them where I lost a lot of my non- destructive edits from previous versions. However, the last update seemed to resolve the issue. Roger
Puddy, Thank you for the feedback on the tutorial. It's interesting that you lost some of the edits. Were the XMP files not being read at all, or was it just a few of the adjustments wouldn't render when you opened your file?
Liked the video. Good explanation on the xmp that was added. I didn't realize how small most edits (XML) files are and how large they a new file type (onphoo) is created with layers .
Thank you Dave! I really appreciate your feedback. My goal is to provide as much knowledge as I can about ON1 Photo Raw to make the photo editing process more smooth for the community. Thank you for being an active member in the community as well.
Very well explained. Your description has confirmed to me that I'm doing everything right with photo management in ON1. So far I wasn't sure (I changed from Lightroom).
Thomas thank you for the feedback. I understand fully the challenges of switching from Lightroom to ON1. There are some unique differences That are not as transparent but offer some really cool flexibility.
Yeah good video, explains the ON1 system clearly. So, as regards printing, which is typically the final destination out of ON1, you open a raw file, allow ON1 to work on proxy file, then you flatten the layers, take note of the large file size. Then what file format should you print out of ON1? For example export to TIFF and print? The original RAW file will be always preserved, so long as you change the adjusted files name, what is the best file format to send to the printer?
Thank you and that is a good question. I personally send TIFF or High Quality JPEGs to my professional print shop. If I print at home on my HP Photo Printer, I just hit print in ON1. I have not compared printing TIFF vs JPEG, so I may have to try that. I don't know if this helps or adds more confusion, but I would suggest sending a TIFF if you are uploading to a website for a print shop to produce the final image.
Amazing video! Would you know if anything has changed since you made the video? I'm mostly interested if they have an option to store changes in a different location than the where the photos are
Thank you for this comment! You do have an option to save exported files to a different location, but the XML sidecar file will stay with the original file so it can recall the edits you made. Can you give an example as to why you would want to separate the two files and I can offer some suggestions on how to make it work.
@@FreeWillPhotos I use my slower drive for storing the image. I though that previews and changes to the photo can be stored in another location, like on my SSD drive. I think Lightroom does that.
@@MrHEPBO3AH You can change the cache location in the preferences and the scratch drive as well. That may help with speed, but the XML file to the best of my knowledge stays in the same folder as the original photo.
Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm the type of person who needs to know how things work and this answered some questions I have had. You mentioned that the Magic Eraser is a destructive edit in ON1. Are there any others? This is very important to know! Thanks again!
Tom, I'm glad this video was helpful. Technically, the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush and magic eraser are all destructive edits. The only tool that is not, is the spot removal tool because you can reopen the tool and modify the adjustment later on, or just remove it. You don't get the same ability with the magic eraser, clone stamp or healing brush. Most of the edits are in the filter module, they serve as a layer essentially that can be shown or hidden at any time. Even if you reopen the file later down the line. I will keep an eye out for anything else that is destructive as well. A way to get around this destructive edit, is to - create a duplicate layer - use the magic eraser on the bottom layer - Mask in the corrected areas - right click on the top layer and select "New stamped layer", and then make all of your edits to that layer. This will preserve your original image, but it does create a .onphoto file in the process. I am making a video to help illustrate what I am saying here as well. Good luck and I hope this helps.
Love your explanations. Interesting to see that On1 does not seem to change the XMP, it only creates a separate *.on1 file to record it's information. So my original *.xmp files, created by Lightroom will not change?
That is correct, ON1 can read those files, but since ON1 has unique effects that are not found in Lightroom, it has to create its own version of the XMP file to save the on1 specific tools. Most of the xmp file data from Lightroom is more on the metadata side of things.
great explanation, i have been asking on1 to produce a file management tutorial and they just don't get it....maybe you have another tutorial, but how do i work with both on1 and lightroom. for example, if i go thru on1 browser, and make my edits, then i want to add to my lr catalog, what is the best method to handle the image. Obviously on1 has some nice features, that LR does not, but i am locked into LR with all my organizing.
Hey Brad, great question and I would say that since the release of ON1 2022 the process is a little hard. What I would recommend is to start your photo editing process in LR. You can send the file to ON1 using this method: ruclips.net/video/a0eFJi-ZBAE/видео.html. Be sure to change the file export type to DNG if you want to have RAW capabilities. Once you are done editing the image, you would have to save the file to the folder where the original image is stored. You can then open LR and right click the folder and select "synchronize folder". This will bring that file back into your LR Catalog with the ON1 edits. Just note that this will make a new file each time you do this method. Now if you have the ON1 2023 Effects plugin, you could just right click the image you want to run through ON1 and when you click save it will store it back in your LR Catalog automatically. This method only allows you to work on a PSD, TIFF or JPEG though. I know I just said a lot, so if any of it is confusing, just let me know and maybe we can arrange a time to hop on a Google Meeting call to discuss walk through it step by step. I hope this helps.
This was a great explanation about what is going on with ON1's file management. As a techie, I really appreciated it. You seem to do a great job digging into the operation of the package, which has helped me a lot. Could you provide your recommendations for a workflow for importing and managing photos? I have tried to build a process and would be curious how you do it. Thank you for all the great tips.
Mark thank you for the comments and the question. I will do my best to answer this, but I think it would be best explained in a video. I will get that added into my production list. I will use a step based process, and be as universal as possible, because some of the management things that I do are specific to a Mac computer. I will also note that I use an extensive (maybe even over complicated) file organization system. The system that I outline below is the skeleton of my management system, and is also the system I use on my main machine. I am also not always consistent with this process, but I do use it most of the time. When I am on the road or editing on my iPad, I only use steps 3-4, and 7-9 using an app called Darkroom. On my laptop, I do have ON1 2020 on it, and I use steps 3-9, and 10 once I make it back to my main computer. I hope these steps help, but I think I will make a video that shows this process in full. 1. Create a master folder on your Hard Drive 2. Create folders of sub genres (Macro, Landscape, Portrait, Product, ect.) 3. Create a folder inside of your "Sub Genre" folder where you will store your images (optional to create a folder for your "RAW" files) 4. Copy your images to the folder you just created and rename the files to something that is not the camera serial sequence (Make backups to an additional drive if possible) 5. Navigate to this folder in ON1 6. Add Metadata to your images as necessary 7. Cull your images using your personal rating system 8. Once all of the editing is done create an export folder in the same area that the "RAW/Original" files are saved 9. Export your final images into this export folder 10. Copy your final images to your back drive if possible
@@FreeWillPhotos Thank you for the quick and in-depth reply. This does help me. I was wondering whether to edit the metadata as part of the import or do this after the import. I like your process of doing this after the import. Since I do mainly travel photography, my folders are organized around a trip and the days/locations within the trip, which seems to work. I like that ON1 is extremely flexible in the way you can rename the photos on import. One question though. Do you import all your photos after a big shoot at one time or do you import in smaller batches to better control the location? I have gone back and forth on this. I am also not a great culler and need to focus more on this. Although I am new to ON1, I find that the photo management is extremely robust and I am hoping it can help me gat my arms around my photo collection. Looking forward to your videos.
Mark I apologize for such a late response. I personally import all of my photos into one location and then separate them from there if necessary. Since I usually reformat my memory cards before shooting again, all of the files are from the same shoot when I get to importing. One of the features in ON1 Photo Raw 2021 is "Smart Organize". This uses AI to help you group similar photos in the folder you are searching. In theory you could upload photos from all over on your trip and allow ON1 to figure out which photos need to be separated into sub-folders. You can tell ON1 to group/sort photos by time and date in the tool and then make adjustments from there. This is a feature I plan to test out more, but this could be exactly what you need to simply for photo organization after a trip. Let me know if it works out for you.
@@FreeWillPhotos I also apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I am back from my trip and have a ton of photos since I was experimenting with bracketing. I did discover a way to import my photos easily. I use a Windows 10 system and found that the Photo & Video Import tool will import my photos into folders by date and can even recognize new images. I import into a temporary location, then edit the labels for location. From there, I move them into the target locations which I include in my ON1 catalog. I have not played around with the Smart Organize feature, but will do so at your recommendation. The second lesson I learned is to focus on photos I absolutely want to keep and those I may want to keep - I flag these with 5 and 4 stars. All the other photos can be put aside, which is easy in ON1 as I can move them all to subfolders and, eventually, to other storage. This is a work in progress, but I am getting better each time.
Mark your process sounds like it is sustainable and reasonable. I am not as familiar with windows features since I I am a huge Mac user and have been since 2012. With that said it is important to have a consistent workflow and there isn't anything wrong with adjusting it in stride. I think if you are looking for solutions all inside of ON1, I would say smart organize is a unique feature that only ON1 2021 users get access to right now. Bracketing shots is always a hassle and developing a import-culling-mergeing-editing-exporting process for those is crucial to processing in bulk. With that said, ON1 does have a mass HDR merge feature. I haven used it yet, but I think I will give it a try and make a video on it. I am not one to get into the habit of suggesting features that I have not at least tried once, but just thought I should share that with you.
I understand that on1 support non-distructive editing so I can deslect any effects. However, If I made changes in the develop tab (AI match, exposure, tint, midtones, etc). I can't dial back the edits one by one. My only open seems to be reset that will clear all of my develop edits. Right?
No you should be able to click AI Match or AI Auto and then modify any of the sliders under the develop module. The only slider that grays out after clicking on AI Auto or AI Match is the "Auto" slider. This only happens when you modify one of the other sliders under the develop after clicking the auto button.
Currently, I transfer files from my SD card to a folder I created on my Mac rather than importing. From here I open the. folder and brows through On1 Photo.. Other than renaming files in bulk and adding meta data, are there any other benefits to importing?
Great question! I can really only see two benefits other than the ones you mentioned. 1. Pre-culling your images on Import 2. Adding a photo editing preset during import Being able to select the images you want to add to a file during import keeps you from wasting storage space and makes it easier to edit later down the line. You can also keep from importing duplicates if you have already saved the card at some point. ON1 has a way to show you previously imported images. Being able to add a preset during import can save you time on your editing, especially if you shoot JPEG and then only need to add a LUT or style to your image that does not impact exposure. I use the preset option on some of my imports to save time in the editing room, because I import 2000-3000 photos at a time. When I come back to my computer, they are renamed, Keywords are added, and they have a preset on them so I am about 80% done with my work. All I have to do from that point is cull through each image to see if I want to deliver it as is or modify it. Now I will say that my workflow is specific to high volumes of images. Since I photograph events, having an import tool that can get me really close to the final product makes my life easier and allows me to turn photos quick for my clients. As a bonus tip, if you are using ON1 2022 or later you can created generated folders based on metadata in the image. The only time I use this option is when I am on a multi day trip. I often have photos from different days on a single card, so it makes it easier to separate the files by events using the generation folders option.
These files are saved in the same folder as the original photo that ON1 has created the file for. The XMP file has a .ON1 ending. It should be titled with the file name and then have a .ON1.
@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks. I tried to delete the files and reopened the raw files in ON1, to my surprise the edits are still there. I wonder if there is some kind of backup mechanism?
Hi, thanks for your great video as it (finally) explains a topic thats been bit of a mystery to me. Got one question though: if I understand correctly the effects of the edits (which are stored in the sidecar) on the RAW image can only be seen if you view them through ON1, only after you’ve exported it as JPEG/TIFF will you be able to view the edited photo with other programs because the edits are then “baked” into the raw image and the result is no longer raw. If that’s so than whats the purpose of saving it in the ON1 cloud space that comes with the subscription? I am seriously considering ON1 subscription but cant figure out what type of files are saved in their cloud and can i only view those with ON1 or not?
Great question. You are correct; effects will not be available in other programs until you save them as a TIFF, JPEG or PNG. You can save changes to a Photoshop document but that over complicates things. To that note, if you start the workflow in Photoshop and you add it to the layer as a smart filter, then you will be able to edit the changes in ON1 later down the line if you would like to. This is a common way of working with ON1 effects. To answer your question regarding the cloud feature, the truth is, it works best if you are using multiple computers. For me, I have my main editing station here in my office, but I also have my laptop that I travel with. Having access to my library through the cloud on the go really can come in handy. This is not like working with Lightroom and Lightroom mobile. Although ON1 has a mobile application, the "on the go" experience is lacking and feels a little annoying. Many of the filters that you use in effects are not on the mobile application. Because of this, you will not be able to edit many photos on the mobile application. The cool thing about the cloud is that all of your brushes, textures, and presets are saved there, so you will have access to many of the same tools as you would on your main computer should you need it. I can see the cloud being a valuable feature if you are a photo journalist and need access to your catalog of images for a trip, but don't want to carry a Hard Drive. You can upload the originals to the cloud and work with them as you need to. I hope this helps to explain a little better. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
@@FreeWillPhotos hi, thanks for your feedback. Please allow me to explain background a little bit. I started photography in March 2020 when the 1st lockdown occuurred. Since then I’ve shot approx 13,500 photos. I would estimate 1/3 is birds and BIF, 1/3 family etc and 1/3 night city skylines). Recently I was invited by Nikon ME to join in a milky way shoot workshop up in the mountains. Reason Im sharing this is that I never gave much thought to library etc as I kept it all in the icloud. But when I startred shooting RAW, thats when the headache began. I am using Nikon NX Studio as converter plus like the colors. I am using Apple Photos as library and general editing. And I used Luminar which initially worked fine but as I learn more, it feels bit too much AI. So thats why I am looking at ON1. On paper I created a concept workflow which porbably will have double steps and probably miss a few, and feedback on it would be appreciated: 1) IMPORT I intend to import from camera to 1 master library split in RAW, JPEG and Doubles probably will use NX Studio although I read ON1 can add batch metadata on import 2) Go quicjkly thru the latest imports and delete bad photos straight away 3) Then I will make 3 of that master unedited libraries 1 on my iMac, 1 as back up on external drive using Timemachine and 1 on Dropbox. 4) So now I have the master list of to be edited or maybe discarded. And here is where I need your help. If I edit a raw file with ON1 then the sidecar file will be “attached” and stored on location where it is. But imagine I also want to edit using NX Studio. NX also produces its own sidecar file and attaches it. The question is: do I only need 1 original raw file and per raw file one can attach as many sidecars as you like since one sidecar doesnt affect the other sidecar? Or should I use different versions in ON1 or should I. duplicate the original raw file for every time i wish to edit?
Jurry thank you for the explication and that is awesome that you started photography a little over a year ago. It's cool that Nikon invited you to a workshop and I hope that goes well or went well depending on when that event takes place. After reviewing your concept, I think you have a great understanding of your post production workflow. I see you have some redundancy built in with multiple libraries, but I don't know if you need those as much as you would think. Keeping a copy of your originals/ RAW files on a few Hard Drives and maybe even a cloud service should do just fine. I am assuming you have a main drive that you work off of connected to your computer, and once you are complete with editing you send your final copies to your portfolio and archive drives. Short answer: No you do not need to make multiple copies of the RAW file to edit in multiple software. However if you want to edit a copy of the photo from NX Studio you will need to export your image to a TIFF or JPEG before working in ON1 or vice-versa. Now as for the software I will note that I am not as familiar with the Nikon NX Studio files. If I understand correctly, you are going to cull in NX Studio and then send out your finals to ON1. With that said to the best of my knowledge there are not any programs that can read two XMP files at the same time. So you would have to burn a copy of your edits into your image before continuing your edits in ON1. Once you are done with editing your files in ON1, you will then need to burn them back into a JPEG of TIFF file. Needless to say, you risk losing some information in this process. What I would recommend you do is setup a mass import folder on your main editing Hard Drive. Next to this folder you should make two more. 1 folder for NX Studio edits and another for your ON1 Photo Raw edits. This will keep your XMP files separate as you work in each program. Now you can import your images into NX Studio, make your edits as necessary and export the highest resolution TIFF file NX studio will allow you to. Save this TIFF in your ON1 Folder so you can find it easy when you get to ON1 photo raw. Once you have edited your ON1 version, I recommend you save the file to your portfolio folder. Make sure you save the final version to your archive and maybe even the NX Studio TIFF and ON1 files. This method will leave your with 3 versions of your image on your Hard Drive (RAW, NX Studio TIFF and ON1 Photo TIFF - Final Image). I will be honest, if you can remove NX studio from your workflow, I recommend using ON1 Photo Raw as your primary import, culling and organizing software. It will simplify your life and workflow far more than trying to use multiple applications. With all of that said, you may be able to open NX Studio from ON1 which really would be a great way to work. ON1 has the ability to send photos to third party applications like Photoshop, Luminar, Affinity Photo and Lightroom. I am sure NX Studio should be able to work with this process.
@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks, great information. Meanwhile I have purchased ON1 and changed my setup slightly. I am using ON1 now to import etc. Just use NX as a standby medium plus copy a unedited copy to back up. Thanks
Was this information helpful? Over the last few weeks, I have received a few questions about how ON1 deals with files so I just wanted to put this together.
This is so incredibly helpful. I've searched all the ON1 tutorials and even paid for their premium membership, plus searched all their RUclips videos and they have not explained this. Yet here you are doing their job for them. Bravo.
Thank you for this comment, and everything you explained is the reason I made this video. I actually need to review this video to see if anything has changed since the 2021 version. I don't think anything has changed, but thank you for reminding me of this video and I am super excited to hear it was helpful for you. If you run into any more questions about ON1, please send them my way and I will do my best to answer them.
Excellent! Great tutorial. Keep them coming!
Mark thank you for the feedback and support. I will do my best to keep brining valid useful content.
Excellent tutorial! This was something I have never found to be properly explained. You did an fantastic job of illustrating and describing the different files that are created after applying your effects to a raw file image. Also, I did not know that using the magic eraser is considered a destructive edit. I’ve been an exclusive ON1 user for three years now and have found it to be a very good software editor program. They had an issue recently that I reported to them where I lost a lot of my non- destructive edits from previous versions. However, the last update seemed to resolve the issue.
Roger
Puddy, Thank you for the feedback on the tutorial. It's interesting that you lost some of the edits. Were the XMP files not being read at all, or was it just a few of the adjustments wouldn't render when you opened your file?
Liked the video. Good explanation on the xmp that was added. I didn't realize how small most edits (XML) files are and how large they a new file type (onphoo) is created with layers .
Glad it was helpful and informative!
Best explanation yet.
Dave
Thank you Dave! I really appreciate your feedback. My goal is to provide as much knowledge as I can about ON1 Photo Raw to make the photo editing process more smooth for the community. Thank you for being an active member in the community as well.
Thank you for this! Very helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Very well explained. Your description has confirmed to me that I'm doing everything right with photo management in ON1. So far I wasn't sure (I changed from Lightroom).
Thomas thank you for the feedback. I understand fully the challenges of switching from Lightroom to ON1. There are some unique differences That are not as transparent but offer some really cool flexibility.
Yeah good video, explains the ON1 system clearly. So, as regards printing, which is typically the final destination out of ON1, you open a raw file, allow ON1 to work on proxy file, then you flatten the layers, take note of the large file size. Then what file format should you print out of ON1? For example export to TIFF and print? The original RAW file will be always preserved, so long as you change the adjusted files name, what is the best file format to send to the printer?
Thank you and that is a good question. I personally send TIFF or High Quality JPEGs to my professional print shop. If I print at home on my HP Photo Printer, I just hit print in ON1. I have not compared printing TIFF vs JPEG, so I may have to try that. I don't know if this helps or adds more confusion, but I would suggest sending a TIFF if you are uploading to a website for a print shop to produce the final image.
Amazing video! Would you know if anything has changed since you made the video?
I'm mostly interested if they have an option to store changes in a different location than the where the photos are
Thank you for this comment! You do have an option to save exported files to a different location, but the XML sidecar file will stay with the original file so it can recall the edits you made.
Can you give an example as to why you would want to separate the two files and I can offer some suggestions on how to make it work.
@@FreeWillPhotos I use my slower drive for storing the image. I though that previews and changes to the photo can be stored in another location, like on my SSD drive. I think Lightroom does that.
@@MrHEPBO3AH You can change the cache location in the preferences and the scratch drive as well. That may help with speed, but the XML file to the best of my knowledge stays in the same folder as the original photo.
Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm the type of person who needs to know how things work and this answered some questions I have had. You mentioned that the Magic Eraser is a destructive edit in ON1. Are there any others? This is very important to know! Thanks again!
Tom,
I'm glad this video was helpful. Technically, the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush and magic eraser are all destructive edits. The only tool that is not, is the spot removal tool because you can reopen the tool and modify the adjustment later on, or just remove it. You don't get the same ability with the magic eraser, clone stamp or healing brush. Most of the edits are in the filter module, they serve as a layer essentially that can be shown or hidden at any time. Even if you reopen the file later down the line. I will keep an eye out for anything else that is destructive as well. A way to get around this destructive edit, is to - create a duplicate layer - use the magic eraser on the bottom layer - Mask in the corrected areas - right click on the top layer and select "New stamped layer", and then make all of your edits to that layer. This will preserve your original image, but it does create a .onphoto file in the process.
I am making a video to help illustrate what I am saying here as well.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
Love your explanations. Interesting to see that On1 does not seem to change the XMP, it only creates a separate *.on1 file to record it's information. So my original *.xmp files, created by Lightroom will not change?
That is correct, ON1 can read those files, but since ON1 has unique effects that are not found in Lightroom, it has to create its own version of the XMP file to save the on1 specific tools. Most of the xmp file data from Lightroom is more on the metadata side of things.
great explanation, i have been asking on1 to produce a file management tutorial and they just don't get it....maybe you have another tutorial, but how do i work with both on1 and lightroom. for example, if i go thru on1 browser, and make my edits, then i want to add to my lr catalog, what is the best method to handle the image. Obviously on1 has some nice features, that LR does not, but i am locked into LR with all my organizing.
Hey Brad, great question and I would say that since the release of ON1 2022 the process is a little hard. What I would recommend is to start your photo editing process in LR. You can send the file to ON1 using this method: ruclips.net/video/a0eFJi-ZBAE/видео.html. Be sure to change the file export type to DNG if you want to have RAW capabilities. Once you are done editing the image, you would have to save the file to the folder where the original image is stored. You can then open LR and right click the folder and select "synchronize folder". This will bring that file back into your LR Catalog with the ON1 edits. Just note that this will make a new file each time you do this method.
Now if you have the ON1 2023 Effects plugin, you could just right click the image you want to run through ON1 and when you click save it will store it back in your LR Catalog automatically. This method only allows you to work on a PSD, TIFF or JPEG though.
I know I just said a lot, so if any of it is confusing, just let me know and maybe we can arrange a time to hop on a Google Meeting call to discuss walk through it step by step. I hope this helps.
This was a great explanation about what is going on with ON1's file management. As a techie, I really appreciated it. You seem to do a great job digging into the operation of the package, which has helped me a lot. Could you provide your recommendations for a workflow for importing and managing photos? I have tried to build a process and would be curious how you do it. Thank you for all the great tips.
Mark thank you for the comments and the question. I will do my best to answer this, but I think it would be best explained in a video. I will get that added into my production list. I will use a step based process, and be as universal as possible, because some of the management things that I do are specific to a Mac computer. I will also note that I use an extensive (maybe even over complicated) file organization system. The system that I outline below is the skeleton of my management system, and is also the system I use on my main machine. I am also not always consistent with this process, but I do use it most of the time. When I am on the road or editing on my iPad, I only use steps 3-4, and 7-9 using an app called Darkroom. On my laptop, I do have ON1 2020 on it, and I use steps 3-9, and 10 once I make it back to my main computer. I hope these steps help, but I think I will make a video that shows this process in full.
1. Create a master folder on your Hard Drive
2. Create folders of sub genres (Macro, Landscape, Portrait, Product, ect.)
3. Create a folder inside of your "Sub Genre" folder where you will store your images (optional to create a folder for your "RAW" files)
4. Copy your images to the folder you just created and rename the files to something that is not the camera serial sequence (Make backups to an additional drive if possible)
5. Navigate to this folder in ON1
6. Add Metadata to your images as necessary
7. Cull your images using your personal rating system
8. Once all of the editing is done create an export folder in the same area that the "RAW/Original" files are saved
9. Export your final images into this export folder
10. Copy your final images to your back drive if possible
@@FreeWillPhotos Thank you for the quick and in-depth reply. This does help me. I was wondering whether to edit the metadata as part of the import or do this after the import. I like your process of doing this after the import. Since I do mainly travel photography, my folders are organized around a trip and the days/locations within the trip, which seems to work. I like that ON1 is extremely flexible in the way you can rename the photos on import. One question though. Do you import all your photos after a big shoot at one time or do you import in smaller batches to better control the location? I have gone back and forth on this. I am also not a great culler and need to focus more on this. Although I am new to ON1, I find that the photo management is extremely robust and I am hoping it can help me gat my arms around my photo collection. Looking forward to your videos.
Mark I apologize for such a late response. I personally import all of my photos into one location and then separate them from there if necessary. Since I usually reformat my memory cards before shooting again, all of the files are from the same shoot when I get to importing. One of the features in ON1 Photo Raw 2021 is "Smart Organize". This uses AI to help you group similar photos in the folder you are searching. In theory you could upload photos from all over on your trip and allow ON1 to figure out which photos need to be separated into sub-folders. You can tell ON1 to group/sort photos by time and date in the tool and then make adjustments from there. This is a feature I plan to test out more, but this could be exactly what you need to simply for photo organization after a trip. Let me know if it works out for you.
@@FreeWillPhotos I also apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I am back from my trip and have a ton of photos since I was experimenting with bracketing. I did discover a way to import my photos easily. I use a Windows 10 system and found that the Photo & Video Import tool will import my photos into folders by date and can even recognize new images. I import into a temporary location, then edit the labels for location. From there, I move them into the target locations which I include in my ON1 catalog. I have not played around with the Smart Organize feature, but will do so at your recommendation. The second lesson I learned is to focus on photos I absolutely want to keep and those I may want to keep - I flag these with 5 and 4 stars. All the other photos can be put aside, which is easy in ON1 as I can move them all to subfolders and, eventually, to other storage. This is a work in progress, but I am getting better each time.
Mark your process sounds like it is sustainable and reasonable. I am not as familiar with windows features since I I am a huge Mac user and have been since 2012. With that said it is important to have a consistent workflow and there isn't anything wrong with adjusting it in stride. I think if you are looking for solutions all inside of ON1, I would say smart organize is a unique feature that only ON1 2021 users get access to right now. Bracketing shots is always a hassle and developing a import-culling-mergeing-editing-exporting process for those is crucial to processing in bulk. With that said, ON1 does have a mass HDR merge feature. I haven used it yet, but I think I will give it a try and make a video on it. I am not one to get into the habit of suggesting features that I have not at least tried once, but just thought I should share that with you.
I understand that on1 support non-distructive editing so I can deslect any effects. However, If I made changes in the develop tab (AI match, exposure, tint, midtones, etc). I can't dial back the edits one by one. My only open seems to be reset that will clear all of my develop edits. Right?
No you should be able to click AI Match or AI Auto and then modify any of the sliders under the develop module. The only slider that grays out after clicking on AI Auto or AI Match is the "Auto" slider. This only happens when you modify one of the other sliders under the develop after clicking the auto button.
Currently, I transfer files from my SD card to a folder I created on my Mac rather than importing. From here I open the. folder and brows through On1 Photo.. Other than renaming files in bulk and adding meta data, are there any other benefits to importing?
Great question! I can really only see two benefits other than the ones you mentioned.
1. Pre-culling your images on Import
2. Adding a photo editing preset during import
Being able to select the images you want to add to a file during import keeps you from wasting storage space and makes it easier to edit later down the line. You can also keep from importing duplicates if you have already saved the card at some point. ON1 has a way to show you previously imported images.
Being able to add a preset during import can save you time on your editing, especially if you shoot JPEG and then only need to add a LUT or style to your image that does not impact exposure. I use the preset option on some of my imports to save time in the editing room, because I import 2000-3000 photos at a time. When I come back to my computer, they are renamed, Keywords are added, and they have a preset on them so I am about 80% done with my work. All I have to do from that point is cull through each image to see if I want to deliver it as is or modify it.
Now I will say that my workflow is specific to high volumes of images. Since I photograph events, having an import tool that can get me really close to the final product makes my life easier and allows me to turn photos quick for my clients.
As a bonus tip, if you are using ON1 2022 or later you can created generated folders based on metadata in the image. The only time I use this option is when I am on a multi day trip. I often have photos from different days on a single card, so it makes it easier to separate the files by events using the generation folders option.
@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks for your great response. Next time I shoot I will try your tips when I am ready upload.
Where are the XMP files stored? I am using Windows 11.
These files are saved in the same folder as the original photo that ON1 has created the file for. The XMP file has a .ON1 ending. It should be titled with the file name and then have a .ON1.
@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks. I tried to delete the files and reopened the raw files in ON1, to my surprise the edits are still there. I wonder if there is some kind of backup mechanism?
Hi, thanks for your great video as it (finally) explains a topic thats been bit of a mystery to me. Got one question though: if I understand correctly the effects of the edits (which are stored in the sidecar) on the RAW image can only be seen if you view them through ON1, only after you’ve exported it as JPEG/TIFF will you be able to view the edited photo with other programs because the edits are then “baked” into the raw image and the result is no longer raw. If that’s so than whats the purpose of saving it in the ON1 cloud space that comes with the subscription? I am seriously considering ON1 subscription but cant figure out what type of files are saved in their cloud and can i only view those with ON1 or not?
Great question. You are correct; effects will not be available in other programs until you save them as a TIFF, JPEG or PNG. You can save changes to a Photoshop document but that over complicates things. To that note, if you start the workflow in Photoshop and you add it to the layer as a smart filter, then you will be able to edit the changes in ON1 later down the line if you would like to. This is a common way of working with ON1 effects.
To answer your question regarding the cloud feature, the truth is, it works best if you are using multiple computers. For me, I have my main editing station here in my office, but I also have my laptop that I travel with. Having access to my library through the cloud on the go really can come in handy. This is not like working with Lightroom and Lightroom mobile. Although ON1 has a mobile application, the "on the go" experience is lacking and feels a little annoying. Many of the filters that you use in effects are not on the mobile application. Because of this, you will not be able to edit many photos on the mobile application. The cool thing about the cloud is that all of your brushes, textures, and presets are saved there, so you will have access to many of the same tools as you would on your main computer should you need it. I can see the cloud being a valuable feature if you are a photo journalist and need access to your catalog of images for a trip, but don't want to carry a Hard Drive. You can upload the originals to the cloud and work with them as you need to.
I hope this helps to explain a little better. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
@@FreeWillPhotos hi, thanks for your feedback. Please allow me to explain background a little bit. I started photography in March 2020 when the 1st lockdown occuurred. Since then I’ve shot approx 13,500 photos. I would estimate 1/3 is birds and BIF, 1/3 family etc and 1/3 night city skylines). Recently I was invited by Nikon ME to join in a milky way shoot workshop up in the mountains. Reason Im sharing this is that I never gave much thought to library etc as I kept it all in the icloud. But when I startred shooting RAW, thats when the headache began. I am using Nikon NX Studio as converter plus like the colors. I am using Apple Photos as library and general editing. And I used Luminar which initially worked fine but as I learn more, it feels bit too much AI. So thats why I am looking at ON1.
On paper I created a concept workflow which porbably will have double steps and probably miss a few, and feedback on it would be appreciated:
1) IMPORT I intend to import from camera to 1 master library split in RAW, JPEG and Doubles probably will use NX Studio although I read ON1 can add batch metadata on import
2) Go quicjkly thru the latest imports and delete bad photos straight away
3) Then I will make 3 of that master unedited libraries 1 on my iMac, 1 as back up on external drive using Timemachine and 1 on Dropbox.
4) So now I have the master list of to be edited or maybe discarded. And here is where I need your help. If I edit a raw file with ON1 then the sidecar file will be “attached” and stored on location where it is. But imagine I also want to edit using NX Studio. NX also produces its own sidecar file and attaches it. The question is: do I only need 1 original raw file and per raw file one can attach as many sidecars as you like since one sidecar doesnt affect the other sidecar? Or should I use different versions in ON1 or should I. duplicate the original raw file for every time i wish to edit?
Jurry thank you for the explication and that is awesome that you started photography a little over a year ago. It's cool that Nikon invited you to a workshop and I hope that goes well or went well depending on when that event takes place. After reviewing your concept, I think you have a great understanding of your post production workflow. I see you have some redundancy built in with multiple libraries, but I don't know if you need those as much as you would think. Keeping a copy of your originals/ RAW files on a few Hard Drives and maybe even a cloud service should do just fine. I am assuming you have a main drive that you work off of connected to your computer, and once you are complete with editing you send your final copies to your portfolio and archive drives.
Short answer: No you do not need to make multiple copies of the RAW file to edit in multiple software. However if you want to edit a copy of the photo from NX Studio you will need to export your image to a TIFF or JPEG before working in ON1 or vice-versa.
Now as for the software I will note that I am not as familiar with the Nikon NX Studio files. If I understand correctly, you are going to cull in NX Studio and then send out your finals to ON1. With that said to the best of my knowledge there are not any programs that can read two XMP files at the same time. So you would have to burn a copy of your edits into your image before continuing your edits in ON1. Once you are done with editing your files in ON1, you will then need to burn them back into a JPEG of TIFF file. Needless to say, you risk losing some information in this process. What I would recommend you do is setup a mass import folder on your main editing Hard Drive. Next to this folder you should make two more. 1 folder for NX Studio edits and another for your ON1 Photo Raw edits. This will keep your XMP files separate as you work in each program. Now you can import your images into NX Studio, make your edits as necessary and export the highest resolution TIFF file NX studio will allow you to. Save this TIFF in your ON1 Folder so you can find it easy when you get to ON1 photo raw. Once you have edited your ON1 version, I recommend you save the file to your portfolio folder. Make sure you save the final version to your archive and maybe even the NX Studio TIFF and ON1 files.
This method will leave your with 3 versions of your image on your Hard Drive (RAW, NX Studio TIFF and ON1 Photo TIFF - Final Image). I will be honest, if you can remove NX studio from your workflow, I recommend using ON1 Photo Raw as your primary import, culling and organizing software. It will simplify your life and workflow far more than trying to use multiple applications.
With all of that said, you may be able to open NX Studio from ON1 which really would be a great way to work. ON1 has the ability to send photos to third party applications like Photoshop, Luminar, Affinity Photo and Lightroom. I am sure NX Studio should be able to work with this process.
@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks, great information. Meanwhile I have purchased ON1 and changed my setup slightly. I am using ON1 now to import etc. Just use NX as a standby medium plus copy a unedited copy to back up. Thanks
@@jurrydevries4006 great to hear and I think you will find ON1 very useful in your post production workflow. Let me know if you have anymore questions