Saving photo's for website/forum use

[andrewman]

Since most of the photo's I take are for website/forum use I could do with some advice please.

At present I don't use RAW but my camera can use this, so by not using RAW am I reducing the photo quality because the camera is saving the photo once taken as a jpeg.

Then before using a photo on a website I reduce its size 1 or 2 before use, is doing this also reducing the final quality of a photo ?

Would a better option be to use RAW at all times and simply open the RAW files on my computer and resize them once before saving and uploading them ?

Also I use Jpeg but would Gig, Tiff or PNG be a better option for website photos.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Meysha]

I'd use Jpeg (jpg) for websites, it's most common I think, but anything should work. Don't use RAW for web photos because you won't be able to open them in a browser, and they'll be massive!

The JPG quality that the camera shoots in is a perfectly high enough quality for anyone I reckon. I think people mainly shoot in RAW for the more editing options it gives you - not for the higher quality image (if that's true at all). I don't shoot RAW personally, but that's just because my CF cards aren't big enough atm.

Before posting a photo on a website you should physically reduce the dimensions of the photo down to at most 800pixels on the longest side. Then when you save it, you should also try different compression settings to compress the image as much as you can while still maintaining a good looking photo. Which is very easy to attain.

When you resize the photo, you are going to inevitable reduce the quality because you are removing heaps of pixels from the picture. But because the picture itself is becoming smaller at the same time, it's hard to notice the quality loss.

When editing JPGs it's better if you try and limit the number of times you edit and save the image, because each time you save it you compress it more and get less quality. So what I do is keep an original copy of each photo, that way if I need to go back and do another edit, I can start from scratch again and still keep the quality nice and high.

 

[Dweller]

When editing JPGs it's better if you try and limit the number of times you edit and save the image, because each time you save it you compress it more and get less quality. So what I do is keep an original copy of each photo, that way if I need to go back and do another edit, I can start from scratch again and still keep the quality nice and high.

Thsi is why I would consider working in and saving the originals in RAW format if you can afford the amount of space they take up. JPEG is a "lossy" format. Just converting to JPEG even at highest quality something is lost from the picture. Like Meysha said every time you save again you are losing more and more. By starting in RAW and making whatever changes you want to make, then reducing the physical size down and THEN converting to JPG you will be getting the best quality possible while still having the original in RAW format.

JPEG is the format of choice for the web because the size of a photo even at a decent quality is very small compared to GIF or Tiff. PNG is a format that is still catching on with some platforms and I dont know much about it so I wont comment on it but use JPEG and keep the dimensions down to 800 on the longest side like Meysha said and you should be good to go

 

[Nikon Fan]

I always save jpeg, using photoshops save for web feature, and then make the largest side 650, wit quality between 60-70...650 seems to be about the right size to see the full shot on screen without having to scroll. The file sizes are also smaller and will load quickly.

 

[n1patrick]

"JPEG is the format of choice for the web because the size of a photo even at a decent quality is very small compared to GIF or Tiff."

Think you meant RAW not GIF.

Andrew, if you are a beginner than keep in mind that when you resize any image you need to unsharpen to regain the image crispness. Filter - unsharpen mask. If you don't know how to use it check web for tutorials. If you aren't a beginner than ignore me.

 

[cs02rm0]

PNG is a format that is still catching on with some platforms and I dont know much about it so I wont comment on it

PNG is generally better than JPEG for geometrical shapes with large areas of the same colour. I think of PNG as being preferable over JPEG for desktop screenshots but less preferable for nature photography.

 

[gravespinner]

Andrew, if you are a beginner than keep in mind that when you resize any image you need to unsharpen to regain the image crispness. Filter - unsharpen mask. If you don't know how to use it check web for tutorials. If you aren't a beginner than ignore me.

That is something I didn't know, and must have missed in tutorials. So that is to compensate for changes in resizing. If you were to change the size by cropping you wouldn't need to unsharp?