Where your original photos are kept
Nothing Portman2 changes is the only copy: the untouched original of every photo it edits and every HEIC it imports waits in the originals folder.
What it holds
- Edited photos — before a photo is first saved with an edit, its untouched original is moved here. Every later save renders from it, and Restore original in the editor brings it back.
- HEIC photos — an imported HEIC is converted to JPEG, and the untouched HEIC is kept here, in the same year structure as the library.
- Trimmed, graded and converted videos — the clip as it was, so Reset can bring it back. For converted videos, this depends on whether the library has a backup folder: see Converting videos.
Where it is
By default it is a folder called .originals inside the photo folder. Being inside the library, it is seen by every computer that opens the library and goes with the library when it is backed up or moved. Portman2 never indexes that folder, so its files do not appear in the grid.
You can keep it somewhere else under Settings ▸ Library ▸ Originals. Changing it moves what is already there.
Freeing space
The originals of edited photos are kept for as long as the edit is.
A video's kept original can be deleted on purpose with Delete original… — see Videos that keep an original.