Am I doing something wrong???

sweetnothings123 · Oct 15, 2009

I have a question for everyone using Photoshop and RAW. How do I get it to save my images at their highest resolution and MB? I would like to save in jpeg, because that is the format used most when printing ... but when I do that they seem to be saving WAY smaller then the orginal RAW. (i.e., the orginial image is somewhere around 13MB (or somewhere around there) and when I compress it in Jpeg it can save anywhere between 1-8 MB ... and 1MB seems really low to me !!! I don't want to loose more information than I have to ... Any ideas? I'm still learning about RAW, so be nice :sexywink:

ErectedGryphon · Oct 15, 2009

On your "Save As/Export" popup dialog box, depending on version, when you have selected JPEG, there will be a "Properties/JPEG Properties/Advanced Properties" tab or link, you can ajust quality and sizes in there.

rufus5150 · Oct 15, 2009

Jpeg, even at its highest resolution, is still a lossy format. Save to tif or another loss-less format (or PSD, honestly, edit non-destructively), and save to jpeg only as the last step in the output process, when you're ready to post to the web or go to print. Think of jpeg like a copy and keep the original, or rather your working document, in a different format.

skieur · Oct 15, 2009

That is about average and normal. Realize too that the printer cannot handle or reproduce the amount of data represented in RAW so the information is not really lost to your print during the jpeg conversion, since it could not be processed by the printer in the first place.

skieur

Big Mike · Oct 15, 2009

Welcome to the forum

As mentioned, JPEG is a 'lossy' compression format. The reason it's so widely popular is because it makes files sizes smaller, and thus easier to transmit, work with and print.

If you want to keep your files at their highest quality, you should save them to TIFF or maybe PSD format. That way, you don't loose quality when you save.
When you need a JPEG for printing or whatever, just open the TIFF and save-as JPEG.

The problem with this system is that TIFF & PSD files are huge, especially if you work on them in Photoshop and have multiple layers etc. You can quickly fill up several hard drives with large image files. So some people do archive their photos in JPEG format...but you will want to avoid opening and saving them more than you have to.
Just make sure that when you save the JPEG files, choose the top quality setting.

And don't be too concerned about the file size of your RAW files compared to JPEG files.

Plato · Oct 15, 2009

Big Mike said:
Welcome to the forum

As mentioned, JPEG is a 'lossy' compression format. The reason it's so widely popular is because it makes files sizes smaller, and thus easier to transmit, work with and print.

If you want to keep your files at their highest quality, you should save them to TIFF or maybe PSD format. That way, you don't loose quality when you save.
When you need a JPEG for printing or whatever, just open the TIFF and save-as JPEG.

The problem with this system is that TIFF & PSD files are huge, especially if you work on them in Photoshop and have multiple layers etc. You can quickly fill up several hard drives with large image files. So some people do archive their photos in JPEG format...but you will want to avoid opening and saving them more than you have to.
Just make sure that when you save the JPEG files, choose the top quality setting.

And don't be too concerned about the file size of your RAW files compared to JPEG files.

When I set up my Lightroom-2 preferences, comments from Adobe appeared on the set-up pane recommending TIFF with 16-bit ProPhoto RGB color space. Any other selection, including PSD, included an explanation that it's not the best choice. I'm not at home right now so I can't quote the exact verbiage.

Big Mike · Oct 15, 2009

The thing with PSD, is that it's a Photoshop format...not a universal format. So it's not really a good choice for long term archiving.

Plato · Oct 15, 2009

Big Mike said:
The thing with PSD, is that it's a Photoshop format...not a universal format. So it's not really a good choice for long term archiving.

Sure,but PS is Adobe. I'll post back when I get home but, as I recall, the warning was not related to lack of universality but, rather, had something to do with TIFF doing a better job of maintaining quality.

sweetnothings123 · Oct 15, 2009

Thanks for all the replies everyone...It's definetly a big help

I think from now on I will save all my photos in a format other than jpeg (unless I am giving it to a 'client')

... hmmm ... do I save in TIIF then???

Big Mike · Oct 15, 2009

Something else you might consider, is getting Adobe Lightroom. It has revolutionized my workflow.

With Lightroom, you basically work with the RAW files, but still leaving the integrity of the originals intact. The way it works is that LR catalogs the images you 'import' and then saves only the changes/edits in a sidecar file. It's called 'non-destructive' editing.

LR then allows you to 'export' the images to whatever file format you need at the time. So for example, you have your images in LR and want to send JPEG files out for printing. You just go though the export dialog (you can save your settings so that next time it's just click and go). You will get your JPEG files but you don't even need to keep them after sending them out, because you still have the 'master' files in LR and can easily generate a new set of JPEG when required.
You can have many saved 'presets' so that you can easily create copies for printing, uploading to the web, sending to clients etc. You could also export a set of TIFF files for archiving, if you wanted to.

LR works well with Photoshop as well. From inside LR, you can 'edit in...' and take images directly into Photoshop, then back into LR to continue your workflow.

UUilliam · Oct 15, 2009

Jpeg is Joint Photographic Expert Group

Basically it COMPRESSES your image which means a loss in Files size, This is good!

However too much compression can make the image very bad!

lets look at it this way.

I take an image with my 450D and it is 12 - 16MB per RAW
When I compress to Jpeg, I can get file size of 450kb and it still looks good!
(I also resize my image, My standard is 1080x720, For web I try to make most my images 800x568.)

As long as you select the maximum QUALITY setting you should be fine, I always choose 12 (photoshop)
however 8 works good, even 6 is okay.
But 12 is best if people are going to edit the image after you tbh.
As quality in jpeg is reduced each time it is saved.

If I ever need / want to keep a RAW file for later processing, I make 2 folders (I am fairly organised, I have a folder in my computer Called Photographs which inside contains Categories (Landscape, Seascape, Portrait etc..)
Inside each category I have a folder called RAW and inside that I have it sorted by date.

If I was doing commercial Shoots, I would have Everything organised in terms of Commercial > Business name > date > RAW etc...

Always keep your raws.

sweetnothings123 · Oct 15, 2009

Big Mike said:
Something else you might consider, is getting Adobe Lightroom. It has revolutionized my workflow.

With Lightroom, you basically work with the RAW files, but still leaving the integrity of the originals intact. The way it works is that LR catalogs the images you 'import' and then saves only the changes/edits in a sidecar file. It's called 'non-destructive' editing.

LR then allows you to 'export' the images to whatever file format you need at the time. So for example, you have your images in LR and want to send JPEG files out for printing. You just go though the export dialog (you can save your settings so that next time it's just click and go). You will get your JPEG files but you don't even need to keep them after sending them out, because you still have the 'master' files in LR and can easily generate a new set of JPEG when required.
You can have many saved 'presets' so that you can easily create copies for printing, uploading to the web, sending to clients etc. You could also export a set of TIFF files for archiving, if you wanted to.

LR works well with Photoshop as well. From inside LR, you can 'edit in...' and take images directly into Photoshop, then back into LR to continue your workflow.

HAHA.. I just bought Lightroom yesterday and I"m totally stumped with it. I love working with Photoshop, but I've heard that Lightroom is best for batch processing and workflow ... so now I have alot to learn. Well, really everything to learn with LR. I have actions that I like to use in photoshop, that I can't use in Lightroom .... so I know I"ll have to switch from both. Right now, I really need to watch tutorials on LR and learn what I can do with it ... oh, and learn what Workflow is all about .. I hear people saying this all the time

UUilliam · Oct 15, 2009

HAHA.. I just bought Lightroom yesterday and I"m totally stumped with it. I love working with Photoshop, but I've heard that Lightroom is best for batch processing and workflow ... so now I have alot to learn. Well, really everything to learn with LR. I have actions that I like to use in photoshop, that I can't use in Lightroom .... so I know I"ll have to switch from both. Right now, I really need to watch tutorials on LR and learn what I can do with it ... oh, and learn what Workflow is all about .. I hear people saying this all the time

EVERYTHING you can do in lightroom can be done in Photoshop, Only difference is Lightroom has been organised easier for photographers, Basically its Photoshop for Photographer version.

You can batch process in Camera RAW (Photoshop) by selecting ALL the thumbnails or ALL relevant Thumbnails
However lightroom does indeed give you more flexability at an easier and quicker expense.
If your one of the photographwers who just like to "do what you could in the Dark room" Lightroom is the way to go
For photographers that want to add the something extra, Go with Photoshop.

Big Mike · Oct 15, 2009

There is a learning curve when you start using Lightroom. I encourage you to watch lots of tutorials and read whatever you can about it. There are a lot of great time-saving features.