Saving pictures

[Big Mike]

I believe you can choose what color space to save your RAW files as.

With most software (as I understand it) you don't print from RAW. You open the RAW file, make your adjustments and then the next step it to convert the file. If you are using Adobe Camera RAW (photoshop) the file is then opened in Photoshop but it's no longer a RAW file...when you save, you must choose a standard image file type.

 

[gsga]

oookay. yeah when i work with files, i 'm starting with a psd (usually scanning a print) that i retain all the layers, no matter how large... and flatten > adj size > export to web > save jpg... for uploading.

sorry ot

 

[lucki85]

yeah what soc and mike said. jpg for web, tif for print. in general...

---jpegs are "lossy", meaning everytime you open a jpg on your screen and look at it... you lose a small amout of information... 1s and 0s. so if you're working in photoshop and want to print high resolution pics, you'd use tifs as the export/saving choice because all the info in that pic (the pixels) won't ever be lost with use.

---so the rule of thumb is keep tif files at a minimum of 300dpi (ink dots per inch) at the size you want it printed at. be that 5" wide, etc... that's called print resolution. there are reasons to work with higher dpi, such as zooming in on a section and cropping to print from that, but that's another ball of wax.

---and jpgs should be 72ppi (pixels per inch, same thing. just talking pixels on a screen instead of dots of ink on a print) at the size you want people to view it at... say 400 pixels wide, by whatever.

if you stick to these rules, you'll notice that if you printed a 72ppi jpeg... it will look horrible at 5" wide on a sheet of paper. because there's only 72 dots representing that area of your image, instead of 300 in that same inch. that's why you Export/Save a web version and keep an original high res print version.

Gsga..Thanks so much! That makes a lot more sense to me. And yes, I do have a Dvd burner....For some reason I was just thinking of burning to a cd....another question with that....I remember once trying to burn photos on a cd with my original large files and it literally held like one. Soooo, you said Dvd's can hold more images..do I keep original sizes (with.tif) or change the sizes and use Jpeg? I'm kind of thinking I would use original sizes since its a back up right?

 

[JerryPH]

yeah what soc and mike said. jpg for web, tif for print. in general...

---jpegs are "lossy", meaning everytime you open a jpg on your screen and look at it... you lose a small amout of information

Wrong. You can look at it ALL you want... you cannot modify/resave it without losing a bit of quality with each save. Only RAW and TIFF files have no pic quality loss, no matter how many times you save them.

Final output is usually going to be JPG, though. I do not know many places that print out TIFF format files, but I know all the places local to me that have no issues with JPG. Find out before deciding on a final print ready format.

 

[lucki85]

Just to add, I'm a "She" Anyway..... I just saw something about psd.....Is this a way to save? I am pretty sure if it is, then this is what I use.....

oh yeah...and I kind of figured you meant every time it's resaved it losses a little, not just by opening it....Thanks for adding Socrates.

 

[JerryPH]

PSD is a Photoshop propriatary format. Programs outside of photoshop will not be able to use it forthe most part... but it also is a lossless format and retains image quality.

It is ok as long as you do all your editing in the one program. For sending on the web, save it to a smaller, lower resolution JPG file and you should be OK.

 

[lucki85]

Thanks JerryPh! Now I think I have all this saving stuff down...on to the next subject!

 

[gsga]

jerry you're right about the psds. she (sorry!!) would want to save a hi res version as a tif, as this is the widely accepted way to save a large file and can be opened in other programs if need be (and psd to retain layers, only).

but...

--all the professional service bureaus and print shops i use require you to prepare a cmyk tif file for output (if you prep it in/use photoshop). in fact if someone would hand them a disk with a rgb jpg on it they would prob throw it on the ground after they left the building haha. those cats are real prickly about that sort of thing. true, they will print a jpg, they want your business after all... but the colorshift form rgb (what you see on the screen) to cmyk (ink on the paper) will be VERY severe. esp in the reds.

and even in a pinch, god forbid i have to use Staples in an emergency, i will prep a disc for cmyk tif output... even to them. and that's the way they prefer it as well.

don't take my word for it though. burn a cdr with the same image, same resolution, same size... make one an rgb jpg and the other a cmyk tif... have it printed on the same weight paper... go to Staples, Alphagraphics, Fast Signs... anywhere. and take the pepsi challenge.

the only place i've seen a jpg as the requirement for output, would be at a kodak digital picture kiosk at a drugstore... and even then, if you print that jpg, you will see the difference.

 

[D40]

Download IrfanView for free. I use it to resize the photos I email. All you do is open the photo with IrfanView and click IMAGE-Resize/Reshape-then choose Best Fit To Desktop-Save. I alwas make a copy of the photo I am emailing and do this to the coppy and then once I have sent it in email I delete it so that I do not mess up the original. It works great, picture size is usually around 150KB-400KB which email just fine

http://www.irfanview.com/

That is all I use the program for.