Saving Pics

[Gweedo8]

I have a quick question, when I save my pis should I save them on maximum quality or what? I would like a detailed answer on this so I can make educated desicions on how to save my pics.

Thanks, Phil Rewa

[GaryK]

Phil

I think the general opinion around here is to save in PSD format. This takes up more disk space, but keeps your layers intact. For sure, once you get more familiar with the program you will want to go back and change things.:)

If you have to save in jpeg, your settings depend on what you are using it for.
Save at as high a value as possible if you plan on working on it some more (but if that is the case then PSD is better)..for emails and such, I would probably use save for web and try to keep the file size to around 100k..possibly higher if you know the other person has high speed.
The nice thing about save for web is you can see what the image will look like before you actually save it.

I only use PSD and/or save for web. I also don't do web work where gifs may be better or for that matter have any need for the other formats...YOU may.

[MikeH]

Phil,

If you need to save images in a different format other than psd, then I would go for the highest quality setting that you - but as Gary said, this will depend on what you are saving the images for.

For example, most printing stores and labs only accept jpegs, but you will want to use the highest quality setting you can. On the other hand, if you are sending an image by email or loading it to a web gallery then "Save For Web" is the answer.

As a general rule I have a layered, unsharpened psd file of every image and then save other copies depending what I am doing with the file.

Hope this helps, if you have any more questions just let us know.

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi Phil ...

The method I use is when I am working on images I save them as psds then when the work is finished I decide what format to save them in by asking myself:

Will I be doing more work on this image
Will I use any of the layers in the image again

Based on that I save either as best quality jpgs or psd ... Generally if its holiday or just general photos then once they are adjusted I'm not likely to change them again so I use jpg. Multilayered images I have created then they do tend to be saved as psds ... :)


Wendy

[Mary]

Hi Phil
I would like to suggest 3 other considerations.
The first is always keep the original in whatever format your scanner, camera or other source produced. Never work on that. Always work on a copy.
The second is there are lossee and lossless formats. jpg's are lossee formats at all levels. Depending on what changes you make to a jpg image, you will throw away a few or even many pixels when you save it.
The third is if you care about the image at all, you must have it in 2 places. On your hard drive and on a backup disk or printed out. If you backup to a disk and then delete it from your hard drive you need another copy somewhere.
Today is my backup day - gotta go :)