Saving a JPEG losing as less data as possible.

seagatefree

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Hello there! My first post here and I am seeking help.

- My JPEG photos are shot in 3872x2592, fine mode. Average photo size is 3,80MB
- Camera is Nikon D80

I have to edit my photos using Lightroom and photoshop to then upload them on a website as JPEGs; a standard of 300dpi, 8 bit per channel, RGB JPEG files that are at least 15inches/38 cm high (4500) pixels.

Now how can I save a JPEG after editing series without losing much data and size, admitted that size affects resolution?
Is saving my jpeg photo as tiff at the end of the first editing so I can perform as many editings I want on the same photo before finally saving as jpeg a good thing to do? Can I forget about tiffs and just save as jpegs while editing?

I also have to switch to Picnik.com for editing after editing with Lightroom and Photoshop but in Picnik.com I can't work on my tiffs because the website accept only files inferior to 16 MB while mine are an avergae of 28MB so on Picnik.com I can only save as JPEG and I want to do it without losing much data. When i save there as jpeg my photo size drop to an average of 980 kb (original size 3,80mb)
In the photoshop CS3 "image size" box, I apply 300 to resolution, 4500 to height, keep "scale Styles","Constrain Proportions","resample Image" checked and select "bicubic(best for smooth gradients)", When I save as jpg there the size increases to an average of 4,30 MB but I wonder how much data was lost in all the editing processes and if my photo would still be good for large prints.

Thank you very much for your assistance!!!
 
Yes, do the first save to tiff then you can edit and resave as many times as necessary as tiffs.
When you are finished editing save as jpeg.

Full size jpegs start to become visibly degraded after only 2 or 3 saves.

Why do you have to switch to Picnik, that doesn't make any sense if you have Lightroom and Photoshop.
 
OK you wrote so much up there I am spending time trying to figure out what you are trying to do, what picnic has to do with this I dont understand.
going on what I think you are asking.



1) if you have photoshop and are not finished with the image you should be saving to PSD file to be worked on later (or keep as master), you should only convert to jpg or should I say back to jpg when you are ready for final output

.
in LAYMANS terms here and just generalizing, although someone will come along and provide the key to the exact molecular structure of the carbon atom in an attempt to help you out or confuse you...

2) if your dimensions of original jpg are 3872x2592 this would be about 51" x 24" at say 75 ppi monitor view, converted to 300dpi you'd end up with something like 12.9 x 8.5 or something close (not using calculator here) - in photoshop, resample up until you get either the size or pix dimensions that you require.

but whatever, if working in photoshop, you should be saving your photoshop work to PSD file for later use.
 
Some of the information in that link is wrong.

The conversion to JPEG greatly reduces the anount of color data, but leaves the luminosity data intact.

JPEG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
JPEG is also not well suited to files that will undergo multiple edits, as some image quality will usually be lost each time the image is decompressed and recompressed, particularly if the image is cropped or shifted, or if encoding parameters are changed – see Generation loss - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for details. To avoid this, an image that is being modified or may be modified in the future can be saved in a lossless format, with a copy exported as JPEG for distribution.

Image Types: JPEG & TIFF File Formats
JPEG files achieve a smaller file size by compressing the image in a way that retains detail which matters most, while discarding details deemed to be less visually impactful. JPEG does this by taking advantage of the fact that the human eye notices slight differences in brightness more than slight differences in color.
 
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Just out of plain damn curiousity. what kind of work is it that makes you run stuff through PIKNIK (sp?) and then upload large files to a site?
 
Just out of plain damn curiousity. what kind of work is it that makes you run stuff through PIKNIK (sp?) and then upload large files to a site?

I was wondering this as well.
 
Thank you heaps for the answers!
Well, to answer the curious minds here, I DO wish I could do without picnik.com because it would be one "save as jpeg" less and then save some data but theres' one special effect there I apply to some of my photos that Photoshop and Lightrooms don't provide (or I'd rather say, I'm not good enough with the two softwares to reproduce myself)

Joey, 'if working in photoshop, you should be saving your photoshop work to PSD file for later use.'. I first work on my photos in Lightroom then switch to photoshop for further editing; so saving as PSD in Lightroom is fine just the same, right?

Then I bumped into this article. It would be interesting to read what you guys think about it.
http://www.michaelfurtman.com/jpeg_myths.htm
 
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Thank you heaps for the answers!
Well, to answer the curious minds here, I DO wish I could do without picnik.com because it would be one "save as jpeg" less and then save some data but theres' one special effect there I apply to some of my photos that Photoshop and Lightrooms don't provide (or I'd rather say, I'm not good enough with the two softwares to reproduce myself)

Joey, 'if working in photoshop, you should be saving your photoshop work to PSD file for later use.'. I first work on my photos in Lightroom then switch to photoshop for further editing; so saving as PSD in Lightroom is fine just the same, right?

Correct, just make sure any layers you have created are saved.
 
I agree with most of the points in the jpeg article. I use jpegs a lot.
Unless he is doing something I don't.....in my experience multiple over and over saves of a jpeg does degrade it, usually as quickly as after only 2 or 3 saves.

What is PSD and why do you use it instead of TIFF?
 
I agree with most of the points in the jpeg article. I use jpegs a lot.
Unless he is doing something I don't.....in my experience multiple over and over saves of a jpeg does degrade it, usually as quickly as after only 2 or 3 saves.

What is PSD and why do you use it instead of TIFF?

PSD is Photoshop's native format. I may be missing something but as far as I know, TIFF format will do everything PSD can do, plus it's compatible with more stuff. Unless there's something I'm missing, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage saving as a PSD.
 

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