 Sheila M. Galke |
Digital File Formats My digital camera is 2.1 mega pixels and the largest image size is 1600X1200, the photos are all JPEG format. When I open the photos they are very large. What is the best way to get the highest quality print? Should I convert them to TIFs and make them smaller or will the quality be the same if I make them smaller as JPEG?
|
|
|
|
||
|
Wayne Attridge |
There is no point to try conversion to TIFF. JPEG is a compressed file which removes colour data to save space and make the files smaller. Every time you open a JPEG file and manipulate the image and then re-save it as a JPEG file, more info is lost. The TIFF file , on the other hand, is a large file, but saves the bitmap image and all relevant data. You cannot convert a JPEG file into a real TIFF file because there is no way to retrieve the data lost when the original image was compressed into the JPEG. The best way to get the highest quality print is to save the originals as TIFF files and then use Photoshop or something similar to adjust size and colour and print them.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Sheila M. Galke |
Thanks Wayne, I didn't think converting a JPEG to a TIFF would work but my camera only takes JPEGs. Are there digital cameras that take TIFFs?
|
|
|
|
||
|
doug Nelson |
One possible reason to convert to TIF as a very first step out of the camera is to prevent any further degredation. Do all your tweaking and fixing before going back to JPEG to send. Archive your stuff you want to save to CD as TIF's. Sheila, you say the images are very large. If you're shooting at the best quality your camera can deliver, that's what you want. Some cameras give you an image of 72 pixels-per-inch right out of the camera. The image looks huge on screen because the total pixels are spread out over a large space at a low resolution. This is easily fixed. In Photoshop it's under Image/Image Size. All imaging software has a screen for this purpose, even if they call it something else. Enter a resolution that is right for feeding into a printer (typically 240 ppi). You'll see the dimensions of the image drop to something like a 7-inch long image. That's much more manageable for the printer and on your screen. Your file size (total pixels in megabytes) should stay the same is it was out of the camera. If it doesn't, go to the instructions with your software. You definitely don't want to throw out pixels here by making the total file size drop.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Sheila M. Galke |
Thanks Doug, I did that , changed the image size by changing the resolution, my mistake was the dafault had "resample image" checked which did throw out pixels. When I deselected that it worked just as you described! Thanks :)
|
|
|
|
||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
||