Victoria Rowe Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Hi Damien, I've been having a sort out of my files and trying to clear up some space on my hard drive, and I am shocked at how large my PSD files can become, even when I'm only using adjustment layers. My SOOC files are usually around 35MB in size. Once I open in Photoshop, they grow to around 105MB (according to the document size at the bottom left of the screen). I just did a test with a file and the saved PSD is 96MB. I made no adjustments. Simply opened in Photoshop > Save as... > PSD > Check 'Embed colour profile - srgb...'. I'm in 8-bit. From a typical client session I present around 20-30 images to the client with these averaging around 250-300MB each, but some are as large as 500MB+ when I add in a couple of pixel layers. On one file I looked at, using your skin action alone added around 110MB to the file size. Obviously I could delete any layers that aren't being used/turned on to save space, but I'm loathe to flatten pixel layers in case I need to go back to the files. Are these file sizes normal and do you know why the files get so big? I thought adjustment layers were better for keeping file sizes down, but they still add lots to the file size. Is there anything I can do (such as a change a setting) to stop the files bloating so much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 This is very normal, I'm afraid. You must have a heck of a big camera, and this is the price you pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria Rowe Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 Good to know that’s normal. Not so good that the files are massive. Thanks for confirming though. I was worried I was doing something wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 When you buy such a huge camera, you have to be prepared to live with consequences such as this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria Rowe Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 Maybe I’ll go back to Lightroom ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Symonds Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 What? What on earth does that have to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eran Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 On 3/1/2019 at 9:55 AM, Victoria Rowe said: Maybe I’ll go back to Lightroom ? Hi Victoria , I'm a fellow member here at the forum so I'm not sure if I may reply or not ? .I apologize if I'm being rude here . I'm shooting with 50mb camera so I feel your pain ? , as a rule of thumb , newly opened PSD with only background layer will take around 3 times more than the raw file size. If you use more pixel layers or smart objects than it takes a lot of more space (unlike adjustment layers which take much less space which is one the best things happened to me from learning retouch from Damien ☺️) There are some work around to keep the psds smaller , for example , if you clone a pixel layer in order to liquify or use specific part of that layer than don't clone entire pixel layer but a selected relevant region from the original layer (which means you have less pixels on that layer) Also keep in mind that some new cameras today have the option to save loseless compressed raws directly from the camera which means that the raw files take less space without losing quality but takes a little bit more time to open on the PC (since camera raw needs to uncompress it first ). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now