Photoshop Junkies: What file format?

[drbill]

Of course it all depends on what you use the resulting files for. When I put together a DVD cover in Photoshop, I use the PSD format because it easily allows me to adjust all the separate components (layers) independently while retaining high quality. Of course the resulting files are quite large (as for TIFF and other loss-less formats).

For the web I save as JPG. These files are small in pixel dimensions and I want them compact so they load quickly.

For inclusion in my video projects, I often resort to GIF or BMP, depending on the original format. GIF is loss-less but compressed so when fine detail (like boundaries in a map, etc.) is required and the image doesn't contain a wide range of different colors it works far better than JPG. Many of my programs export BMP's, which are loss-less but uncompressed. If file size isn't an issue, I may be lazy and just use the BMP format since the image dimensions I use in my video projects currently do not exceed 720x480.

 

[highdesert]

Hi Highdesert:

Fajitas sound good. We had snow on our Seattle dive today. Off to make some rellenos,

Dan

I'll see your rellenos and raise you a pot of my posole ....

Yeah, I know RAW is the true gospel, but I can only sell a little bit at a time to my dive buddy/wife. The step to RAW wll mean I have to get back into serious income producing photography (30 years removed) to move up to a setup that will serve me both landbound and UW. I don't know whether digital photography will ever capture the magic of watching an image materialize out of a pan of soup under a red light, but I guess once it's on the wall it's all the same.

... and I watched it snow on the La Platas west of us in Durango today ...

PS - The fajitas were great ... it's the lime juice ...

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

There have been articles contending that you don't need more than 6meg resolution to produce images worthy of magazine and 20x30 enlargement. There are still Oly 5050 images winning shoot-outs underwater. There are plenty of 9meg and less p&s's that shoot in raw and can be had with housing for less than $600. Just because there is an EOS 5 in the house does not mean I have to house it to shoot raw underwater.

 

[highdesert]

That's $600 I don't have. And for the topside work I've done/would do again, a P&S won't cut it. So I kind of am where I am right now.