
The application may automatically save the edit instructions, or it may wait for you to hit Done or choose Save. The application applies edits to an in-memory copy of the original to produce a real-time preview of the adjusted image. In contrast, most photo-editing applications work non-destructively and never modify the original photo. Some image-editing applications also modify image files directly, notably Adobe Photoshop and Apple’s Preview. For example, when you choose Save in Microsoft Word, it saves your changes directly to the document’s file, replacing the previous version of the file in the process. Most applications directly modify your documents. If you are unfamiliar with RAW, you may wish to read a separate article of mine that discusses the benefits of RAW as well as touching on Apple’s new HEIF image format. In this article, I will often use RAW Power as an example, though other Photos extensions work similarly. Now I’m on my own, developing a Photos extension called RAW Power that uses the same RAW engine underlying Photos and Aperture. To give you some background, I was the lead developer for Aperture, and I later led the team that developed the editing engine for the Mac version of Photos. Then I’ll go into detail about how non-destructive editing in Photos works with RAW image files, Photos extensions, and more. To shed light on the situation, I’ll first explain how non-destructive editing works in photo applications in general, using Photos as an example. That said, non-destructive editing brings with it some confusion, particularly for those working with RAW images or using Photos extensions to do the editing. One of the near-magical features of Photos, and iPhoto before it, is the way it allows you to edit a photo with the assurance that those edits are non-destructive-you can always revert to the original version. 1646: Security-focused OS updates, Photos Workbench review, Mastodon client wishlist, Apple-related conferences.1647: Focus-caused notification issues, site-specific browser examples, virtualizing Windows on M-series Macs.

#1648: iPhone passcode thefts, Center Cam improves webcam eye contact, APFS Uncertainty Principle.#1649: More LastPass breach details and 1Password switch, macOS screen saver problem, tvOS 16.3.3 fixes Siri Remote bug.#1650: Cloud storage changes for Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive quirky printing problem.
