Round-trip Editing
Sending an image from a catalogue to an external editor and returning the result automatically to the same collection.
In depth
The round trip keeps the derivative file beside its original with its edits and metadata intact, rather than leaving it in an unrelated folder. The key decision is the handover format — a 16-bit TIFF or PSD in a wide working space preserves quality, while a JPEG hands over an already-compressed file.
Examples in practice
A raw file is sent to a retoucher as a 16-bit TIFF and returns stacked beside the original in the catalogue.