photo editing - Should I store unedited/raw, edited, or watermarked images while backing up on DVD/CD?

I have decided to store my photos on DVD/CDs as one form of back-up. I am struggling with what to back up though.

The following are the stages my photos go through:

1. Save the unedited photos, i.e. those taken directly from the camera.
2. Delete off the bad/repetitive photos
3. Edit - Adjust the contrast, brightness, highlights etc.
4. Watermark the edited photos.

At what stage should I store the photos?

According to me:
I don't see the point of storing watermarked images - as I can re-create watermarked images without investing too much time.

I am more confused between saving edited or un-edited photos.
Saving only edited photos - would mean that I can't edit them in a different manner later.
Saving raw photos, would mean that I have to invest a lot of time later to edit the photos for re-use.

Answer

I would suggest backing up three things:

1. The original RAW files.


2. Your RAW software's database of adjustments — usually, this is kept as lossless storage of what changes you made.


3. High-quality (100%-quality JPEG or TIFF, depending on subject matter / detail) of developed images you've put a lot of work into.

#1 keeps the originals. #2 lets you recreate your changes, as long as the software is available. And #3 preserves your work in the event the software isn't available at some point far in the future.

Because almost all RAW files can be read and processed by open source software, the concern with #3 isn't that they'll be unreadable, but that you won't be able to apply identical edits. Twenty years from now, your preferred RAW processor may no longer run, and even if newer software reads the edit instructions, the algorithms used may change, leading to different results.

Of course, some of this is personal. Some people might not bother with #3, because they're not too worried about that. Others might take the borderline-heretical approach of keeping only the converted images — treating them as final artifacts from a point in time, and not planning to go back.

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For the issue of whether DVD/CD is a good idea in general, I'll point to What method is best to take backups of your digital photos? — these days, I think a combination of external magnetic media + cloud storage is probably the best, but the above really applies in any case.