Digital Image File Types
There are so many different file types to choose from, like RAW, JPG, GIF, TIFF, and PNG. Which one is right for you?
RAW is the internal file format for many digital cameras. Photographers like to shoot in RAW format because it doesn't get any processing in the camera, allowing them to adjust things like white balance and exposure after the picture has been taken. The main disadvantage of RAW is that it's proprietary, so every brand is different and not all formats can be read by photo editing software.
JPG (or JPEG) is a compressed format, and one of the most common types used on the Web. Keep in mind that saving into JPG will cost some of the quality of the picture. The good news is, in most cases, you can't tell the difference between the original and the compressed JPG. If you're going to email pictures or post them to the Web, this is the format to use.
GIF is a much older format than JPG, with nowhere near the power. GIFs can only have 256 colors. However, GIF is a great format for images with large areas that are all the same color. GIF is best used for logos and line-drawing images.
Think of PNG as a newer, more powerful GIF. It has many of the features that make GIF useful on the Web, without the 256 color limitation. PNG is also a "lossless" format, which means you don't lose quality when you convert your picture to PNG.
TIFF is another lossless format, and one of the most common. If a digital camera has an option besides RAW or JPG, it will be TIFF.
Photo editing programs will generally have their own format, as well, like PSD for Adobe Photoshop and PSP for Paintshop Pro. These are great for use with the programs, but not for archiving--if the software world changed, you wouldn't be able to read your backups anymore.
Photo Editing
Photo Editing Terms 4 - M To R
Photo Editing Terms 5 - R To S
Photo Editing
Photo Editing Terms 2 - D To I
... photo lighter. When this is done in the darkroom, it's usually by blocking some of the light from reaching that part of the picture. In a photo editing program, it's a paintbrush like tool that lightens instead of painting. Download Downloading is the opposite of uploading. Downloading means to pull data ...
... I'm going to throw away most of the quality of my picture! I don't want to ruin my pictures, so should I be using JPG?" There's a grain of truth in both sides of this question, actually. Yes, JPG Compression does throw out information in your picture. The good news is, most of the time, you're not going ...
... Anything beyond simply lightening or darkening a picture meant hours of painstaking work. Something as simple as painting away a feature involved creating an entirely new picture, with the object being replaced by tiny bits cut out of other parts of the picture. The extensive work involved in, say, painting ...
... between the darkest and the brightest regions of the picture. Changing the contrast will make the brights brighter and the darks darker, which will counter-balance the changes made by the Brightness control. Brightness and contrast are generally used in tandem in most photo editing projects. In most projects, ...
... four megapixels is perfect for 5x7 prints, but generally not much larger. There are exceptions, but they depend mostly on the subject of the picture, and not the megapixels of the camera. While a three megapixel image will look great on the computer screen, printed at 3x5, or maybe even printed at 5x7, ...