I can't find info on the different options presented when saving an image. For example, what does the number after "Quality" mean? Then there's Format Options: "Baseline ("standard")", "Baseline Optimized", and "Progressive", which is modified with "Scans" followed by a number. What does this number mean? I have been saving images with the default options but have no idea what the quality of the saved image is.
The short answer is to use "Baseline (Optimized)" for saving JPG files.
The long answer(s) can be found by searching the Web for "baseline standard", but here's what you need to know about PSE's JPG saving options:
JPG is a "lossy" method of compressing image files -- it throws away image data before doing the compression, so set your "Quality" option to "Maximized". That is the key setting for image quality.
"Baseline (Optimized)" might reduce file size slightly (2% or so), and might be incompatible with viewers using old technology. "Optimized" might produce better colours, but that might not be perceptable.
"Progressive" means that the image is rendered as scan lines (like the old-fashioned TVs used) so that a browser will quickly show a reduced quality image of half the scan lines while it resolves the complete image.
Personally, I never use JPG -- each time a JPG is saved you lose more and more image data because of the lossy compression algorithms. I use PNG, which is lossless.
Ken
No, the transfer itself will not lose image data. The image data loss comes when converting one image format (such as RAW) to JPG, or when saving a JPG multiple times as a JPG.
In other words, if your camera creates its images as JPG files (as mine does), that original JPG image file is as good as you can get. Re-saving it as JPG will continually lose image data.
Ken
I'm replying to this issue because I can't find another post I made regarding saving images in Photoshop Elements 9. The question I had was the fact that saving an image in JPG format usually results in a smaller file size than the original because of compression. The person who answered this said to save the image in a different format, but I can't remember what format that was. (It wasn't PSD.)
My email is drc1@clearwire.net.
Thanks
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