[johnytrout]

What is the best format to save your images as.
I have been told to save as TIFs which I have not done as yet.
My photos get downloaded as JPEGs.
I am quite new to this and have made a big mistake of cropping most of my images
and saving. This in turn has lost me the info on them.
Should I keep all originals, even the bad ones?
Or can I keep the info on the copies somehow?
How do you store yours?

[Dean]

There have been many discussion on this subject, Johny. I personally don’t save as Tiffs. I do shoot in RAW, though, and keep my originals, weeding out the definite rubbish first. Not sure whether it is best to do the weeding out as soon after shooting or go back a few days later. Always work with a copy file, never the original.

[EdMak]

Tiff's are a very large file size. Personally I use Jpg and,after editing, save as a copy, retaining the original. I just add a letter after the originals name. If you are in error, Windows will tell you that you are about to overwrite, so there is a failsafe. I delete what I do no not need. You are not alone cropping and saving, I did not initially realise that file size was reduced. Ed.

[Frenchie]

Tiff's are a very large file size. Personally I use Jpg and,after editing, save as a copy, retaining the original. I just add a letter after the originals name. If you are in error, Windows will tell you that you are about to overwrite, so there is a failsafe. I delete what I do no not need. You are not alone cropping and saving, I did not initially realise that file size was reduced. Ed.

[Frenchie]

I normally shoot nikon raw and down load via ViewNX2. Usuing ViewNX2 I change to 8 bit TIff to work with using Adobe photo elements 11. I just started in December so I am not an expert. For on line face book stuff and sharing I normally save as medium to low JPEG.

[hfb46]

Frenchie, have you considered editing your nef (Nikon RAW) in adobe camera raw, which you should have as part of PE11? Any editing you do in camera raw is non-destructive so you can always get back to your original image. You can then open your raw file into PE11, edit and save as a jpeg. That way you dispense with the Tiff file and will save on your hard drive real estate. Give it a try.

[tonyjennings@sky.com]

I normally shoot nikon raw and down load via ViewNX2. Usuing ViewNX2 I change to 8 bit TIff to work with using Adobe photo elements 11. I just started in December so I am not an expert. For on line face book stuff and sharing I normally save as medium to low JPEG.

If your camera can take RAW data this is the preferred way to save in camera, When the camera saves in jpg it has already discarded some of the data which is irretrievable. RAW files are bigger but with memory cards much larger now this isn't the problem it used to be. I personally save in RAW plus jpeg basic, which provides complete data and a small file for email etc.
The problem with saving in JPEG is each time the image is saved, data is lost, so if you reopen a jpeg, you are already working with part of the data not available then next time it discards even more data. Always save the original and then work on a copy, then if there is more editing required, you have all the original data. When finished editing save either as tiff which is loss-less or as Photoshop psd. that way there is no degredation of the image with further imaging

[MrB]

What is the best format to save your images as.
I have been told to save as TIFs which I have not done as yet.
My photos get downloaded as JPEGs.
I am quite new to this and have made a big mistake of cropping most of my images
and saving. This in turn has lost me the info on them.
Should I keep all originals, even the bad ones?
Or can I keep the info on the copies somehow?
How do you store yours?

The answers to all your questions are - it depends.

The maths and science give us no doubt that RAW files contain the most data from the camera's sensor. However, if you are an amateur (so your income does not depend on your photos), and you are unlikely to print bigger than A3, and you have a modern camera (good point & shoot, good bridge/super-zoom, or a DSLR), then there is little wrong with shooting and storing Jpeg images. The quality of your images could be just as good as when shooting RAW, in normal viewing conditions - i.e. full-screen image, or A3 print, viewed from a sensible distance, with 20:20 vision, without magnification.

Make sure that your camera is set to record its highest quality and largest Jpeg files. It is probably also best to ensure that your camera settings are neutral - i.e. that no extra contrast, saturation, or sharpness are being applied to your images by the camera - it is better to do things like this on the computer. Then just take care to avoid large burnt out highlights in your shots - it is just not possible to retrieve the detail that they should contain.

Apart from the latter case, and contrary to some claims, it is possible to do quite extensive editing of large, high quality Jpeg images, even changing their white balance if necessary. Any slight loss of image quality from the processing of Jpegs is unlikely to be visible in normal viewing conditions.

It is also worth understanding that Jpeg files are compressed when they are saved, and that this loses some of the data, so when you are processing an image, always make sure that your editing software is set to save the highest quality Jpegs - i.e. the lowest level of compression. With this setting, it is possible to save the same file many before you see any noticeable loss of quality in normal viewing conditions.

This is, of course, about the viewing quality of your images - it says nothing about whether they are good photographs - you are the only one who can really judge whether or not you keep every image that you shoot!

The really important point about those you want to keep, as others have mentioned, is always keep the original files out of your camera, and only ever edit a COPY of an original file.

Cheers.

[John M]

Yes, always save a photograph that you have been working on as a copy. I use Gimp and save to Gimp's native format .XCF which is not compressed. That means no information is lost on saving as compared to Jpegs where a bit of information is lost each time you save the photo. If you are working in one of the varients of Photoshop, save in PSD format for the same reason. Both XCF and PSD save layers and much other information that Jpegs do not bother with.

Very rarely, XCF or PSD will not do (when uploading to the interweb, for instance) and then I save as a TIFF.

If you do not want to be too technical in your work, saving as a Jpeg the once will do no real harm - it is repeated saving that causes the problems.

[Napomneret]

Very good and informative exchange .. Thank you!