What Format do You Use for Edited CR2 Photos?

[William Baroo]

I'm editing photos from a recent trip. I shot in CR2 format, and I'm using Photoshop 2024. I am opening CR2 files as copies, editing them, and then saving them.

Is there a "best" format for the edited photos? After editing, they are mainly for printing, emailing, or posting on the web. I don't know anything, but I have been saving individual shots in more than one size, assuming different sizes would be best for different uses.

Attaching an example which was saved as a PNG, then converted to JPG and shrunk in order to be small enough to upload.

Using raw files is pretty interesting. Seems like they usually look awful when first opened. Not like those pretty JPG's that look nice right from the start. I guess using raw files takes more faith. It's jarring to open a photo you thought was wonderful and see a gloomy mess that has to be adjusted.

 

[Thiophilos]

I export my edited photos as JPGs. They are small and are easy to post online or email. They look great. Sometimes I make more than one version - maybe one without a watermark, or a square one for Instagram. I always save the RAW files, the keepers anyway, so I can always go back to the raw and fix something or make a different version or size.

I don't know why you would export to PNG and then convert again to JPG, but there is nothing wrong with that either.

Rarely I might make a GIF, but I usually use a different editor for that.

My experience with raw files is different from yours. They look great in Lightroom after being imported and (often) adjusted for exposure. But the JPGs I get off my phone camera are gross with JPG artifacts and look bad.

 

[William Baroo]

A long time ago, I heard that PNG's looked better, so I have this idea that it's a good format for files I might blow up to poster size. Don't know if it's true.

 

[Thiophilos]

A long time ago, I heard that PNG's looked better, so I have this idea that it's a good format for files I might blow up to poster size. Don't know if it's true.

Do you have a poster-sized monitor? Not sure I understand what you are considering. JPG is fine for photos that are cropped hard. Is that what you mean?

 

[William Baroo]

I frame huge photos and put them on my walls.

 

[Woolsocks]

.PSD Maximum compatibility, all the way.

 

[Thiophilos]

I frame huge photos and put them on my walls.

So you are printing. Then you must consider dpi/resolution, aspect ratio, and the format the printer accepts.

JPG quality varies depending on export settings, and can be very good. Just check out different file types on the monitor framed for the chosen size.

Also consider if your nose will be three inches away viewing your 30 x 40 inch poster. That's what some people do but it is best to give it some distance. Usually if an 11 x 14" pic looks good in your lap, the very same file will be good at billboard size too at a proper viewing distance.

 

[Woolsocks]

So you are printing. Then you must consider dpi/resolution, aspect ratio, and the format the printer accepts.

JPG quality varies depending on export settings, and can be very good. Just check out different file types on the monitor framed for the chosen size.

Also consider if your nose will be three inches away viewing your 30 x 40 inch poster. That's what some people do but it is best to give it some distance. Usually if an 11 x 14" pic looks good in your lap, the very same file will be good at billboard size too at a proper viewing distance.

I just read that CR2 is lossless 14bit color rgb image. Jpg's are 8bit images. Usually it's 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit and so on. So if your printer is capable of outputting a 14bit rgb into print. Then use a .Tiff or .Png file. I would use a .Tiff file. Most professional printers that I've used up to 120 inches, asked me for a 8 bit Tiff file.

 

[webestang64]

When I scan my color film I use 16-bit PSD or Tiff for editing. 8-bit Tiff for printing. J-Peg (or PNG) for e-mail/web use.

 

[Rickbb]

I shoot raw, edit raw and print raw from Light Room.

When scanning negs/slides I scan 24 bit at 2400 rez jpg for the catalog thumbs, web viewing etc.
For printing I scan in 48 bit TIFF at 12.4K rez and print from LR again. (Warning, makes huge files, really huge.)

I routinely print 13 X 19 on my printer and get great results.

Now if I would just learn how to take great photos, lol.

 

[Ysarex]

I'm editing photos from a recent trip. I shot in CR2 format, and I'm using Photoshop 2024. I am opening CR2 files as copies, editing them, and then saving them.

Is there a "best" format for the edited photos? After editing, they are mainly for printing, emailing, or posting on the web. I don't know anything, but I have been saving individual shots in more than one size, assuming different sizes would be best for different uses.

JPEG should be ideal for most of your uses as long as you've finished editing your photo. If you want to save your editing work you should save that as an un-flattened PSD file. JPEGs are appropriate for printing and sharing.
You say you're printing very large, then you may benefit slightly from saving the print output files as TIFF or PNG, but not too likely.

Attaching an example which was saved as a PNG, then converted to JPG and shrunk in order to be small enough to upload.

Using raw files is pretty interesting. Seems like they usually look awful when first opened. Not like those pretty JPG's that look nice right from the start. I guess using raw files takes more faith. It's jarring to open a photo you thought was wonderful and see a gloomy mess that has to be adjusted.

That's an Adobe specific issue; a deliberate choice on the part of the Adobe engineers. If you edited your CR2 files in DPP they'd look just like your JPEGs when you opened them. Opened in Photolab they may look better than the JPEGs -- software brand dependent.

 

[Ysarex]

I just read that CR2 is lossless 14bit color rgb image. Jpg's are 8bit images. Usually it's 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit and so on. So if your printer is capable of outputting a 14bit rgb into print. Then use a .Tiff or .Png file. I would use a .Tiff file. Most professional printers that I've used up to 120 inches, asked me for a 8 bit Tiff file.

CR2 files are Canon raw files and are not RGB image files. If from a modern Canon camera they will likely be 14 bit but that's not a format defining characteristic, they could be 12 bit. They have to be demosaiced and processed into RGB image files. Export is typically to 16 bit TIFF files if further processing is planned otherwise they can be exported directly to 8 bit JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc., as needed.

8 bit is most commonly used for final output including print output, It's the rare, expensive, and professionally managed printer that can squeeze any benefit from a 16 bit output file. 8 bit is tonally print sufficient. The only + from printing 16 bit is some added color gamut when using a printer with more than the standard CMYK inks and a subject that originally contained that added color gamut.

 

[JoolsW]

Horses for courses eh? IMHO Get used to keeping 2 or 3 versions of your important pics. One being the original highest resolution. And an optimised (for data size) jpeg set to the physical dimensions for the screen size you expect it to be used at. RGB. Example: resample to say 1200ppi longest dimension at 72ppi and then optimised to reduce data size. Having the original Hi-res file, you can use that to then re-sample to say: Output (print) size dimensions at 300dpi -CMYK Tif file for commercial offset printing).
-That's just an example of what works for me.
(Nice shot BTW).

 

[Ysarex]

I shoot raw, edit raw and print raw from Light Room.

You can't print raw. LR sends the converted RGB image to the printer -- the same image it would save as a TIFF or JPEG file.

When scanning negs/slides I scan 24 bit at 2400 rez jpg for the catalog thumbs, web viewing etc.
For printing I scan in 48 bit TIFF at 12.4K rez and print from LR again. (Warning, makes huge files, really huge.)

I routinely print 13 X 19 on my printer and get great results.

Now if I would just learn how to take great photos, lol.