Help Please I am !CONFUSED!

[Jer-Ber]

I currently use photoshop 6. I use a Windows based system. When I go into color settings I get completly confused. Under working space what should be filled in??? Under colorManagement policies what should be filled in??? Under conversion options What should be filled in and /or checked??? under advanced controls what should be checked??? Can anyone please answer these questions in english please. I am new to digital and am looking for Nice quality Photos. I do use the s2 and print with epson 785epx.

One more question Please. When I download my Pictures (usb) they are always jpg. should I then convert them to tiff for better quality? or is there a way to download them as tiff?
I do not shoot raw becuase of the file size and less images can be taken. Am I doing something wrong?
I shoot at 4256 in fine mode and the photos are huge.
Thanx Jer-Ber

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Jer-Ber
I currently use photoshop 6.

One more question Please. When I download my Pictures (usb) they are always jpg. should I then convert them to tiff for better quality? or is there a way to download them as tiff?
I do not shoot raw becuase of the file size and less images can be taken. Am I doing something wrong?
I shoot at 4256 in fine mode and the photos are huge.
Thanx Jer-Ber

I'm not profficient enough in Photoshop to try and tell you about what you're looking for, besides, I'm using Photoshop 7.

As for your photo's, you've got your camera set to take JPG's, so, of course that's what you're going to download. If you want TIF's, you'll have to set up the camera to save as TIF's, but you are already worried about file size with RAW, so saving as a TIF (around 42 megs, versus 12.1 megs in RAW and 5 megs in Fine JPG) will probably be out of the question.

Converting your JPG to a TIF will not get you any better quality, but, in my experience, will give you pretty close to the same quality that you had with the original JPG file and will allow you to save any other changes you do in Photoshop in a higher quality. I don't see any real reasoning behind this. In my mind, either you're shooting for 100% in RAW or TIF, or you're shooting for 85% in JPG mode. Unless I'm going to publish something or plan on blowing the picture up to a large poster size, I'm more than happy with JPG. Someone else here may have other opinions on this though.

Back to your photoshop color questions, here's a screenshot of my PS7 color settings screen, if this helps you any.

[Tom V]

A RAW file is about 12mb of disk space, a JPG from the S2 is up to about 6mb of disk space, and a TIF file from the S2 is 35mb of disk space. The price of high quality images is large file sizes. You cannot have a tiny file and get a big, high-quality image.

Naturally, you can shoot and/or store more JPGs than TIFs in the same amount of disk or memory card space.

JPG compression reduces the data used to save an image. JPG compression does so by throwing out data. It does so by dividing your picture up into little squares and matching each square to a predefined pattern. Instead of "remembering" the actual pixels, it simply remembers which pattern the original image was matched to. When you open the JPG, the computer reassembles your image out of the patterns. The more compression you use (fine, normal, etc) the bigger the squares are, and the more apparent the pattern blocks are. If you resave your JPG image (like open the JPG, rotate it, retouch it, adjust exposure, or even do nothing) and resave it as a JPG, it is further compressed. In effect, you are making a JPG of a JPG, and you end up with a smaller file size because you have compressed an already compressed file. Image quality GETS WORSE every time you resave a JPG!

TIF files keep track of every original pixel and can be resaved without damage. Some programs like Photoshop allow you to compress a TIF file. LZW, SIT, ZIP are lossless compression schemes that makes the file size smaller, but you do not lose data. Those compressiion schemes do it by basically noticing that some data repeats, and instead of remembering each pixel, it might remember that there are 271 green pixels in a row. When you open a TIF file that has losssless compression applied, it counts out the 271 green pixels, and your image is as good as new. You can resave a TIF image without loss of quality. LZW, and other lossless compressions can make your 35mb TIF files take up as little as 17mb of disk space - without any loss of quality.

That out of the way, this is what I do. I shoot TIFs whenever I know, or even think that I will need the shot in high quality, simply because I do not like JPG compression artifacts (the goofy edges of those pattern squares that JPG makes). If I am shooting a birthday party, or anticipate that my memory card will not have enough space for all my shots in TIF format, I will switch to JPGs. Later, if I open the images in Photoshop, and if I make ANY CHANGE to it, I resave the image as a TIF with LZW compression (I use Macintosh, and LZW is pretty standard here). If I don't make any changes, I close the file without saving it.

If I need a JPG to email, or post online, etc., I open my original JPG or TIF, or a resaved TIF, resize it, and save it as a JPG. I always archive the original of the image, so I can always go back to the least mutilated version of the image.

[steve bingham]

Actually raw is three times smaller than tiff. I shoot 100% in raw for the following reasons:
1- Less noise. Much less. (documented)
2- Reasonable file size (I use a 1 gig microdrive)
3- 16 bits
4- Ability to fine tune exposure (minus 1 to plus 3)
5- No chromatic abberation from the chip/lens combo. Yes, you can see the difference!
6- And lastly, the ability to save (on your computer) one shot at two or three different exposure levels. One file captures the highlights. One normal. One captures all the shadows. By layering in Photoshop and using simple tools such as the eraser tool, it is possible to get another 4 STOPS of range to use in your images. Open up shadows, keep highlights from burning.

As for the first part of your question, if your main use is prints, use Adobe RGB1998 for all your settings for maximum color gamut. Stay consistent in your work flow.