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Posted on 18/03/08 6:08:33 PM |
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jenn62
** Posts: 73 Reply |
photo editing order
After scanning an image from a digital camera to photoshop, is there a certain order that is best to follow to mimimize quality loss. In other words, should one crop to desired size first and then apply image adjustments or should one apply image adjustments first and then crop? I do know that sharpening should always be a last step before saving to final format, ie jpg, png or tiff or whatever. Note my camera does not support raw. It's a 5 mpix Canon and I always take photos at the highest quality it offers. |
Posted on 18/03/08 6:51:19 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4057 Reply  |
Re: photo editing order
Hi Jenn, I assume that your files are jpgs in which case make all the adjustments and then save the file. Every time you save a jpg you will lose some quality as it recompresses the image. Personally, I would apply the adjustments first and then crop to the desired size. But keep the original file so you can always go back to it. It shouldn't matter if you have tif files as these are not compressed so there won't be any loss of quality if you keep re-saving. You can, of course save the original jpg as a tif file. You will lose a little quality but if you have a decent file to start with it should be hardly noticeable for all but the most critical work. If you were to shoot a RAW or a tif file and compare it with an identically shot jpg you would notice a difference. Hope this helps. Gordon |
Posted on 18/03/08 8:32:19 PM |
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jenn62
** Posts: 73 Reply |
Re: photo editing order
Thanks GKB, that does help! And yes I always keep the original saved as tiff in case I want to work on it again later or print from it. My camera doesn't shoot raw but my next one will definitely be one that does. I downloaded an example of a raw image and was very impressed. |
Posted on 19/03/08 02:41:02 AM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: photo editing order
If your original image is good, then Raw probably doesn't make a lot of difference unless you are making enormous enlargements, However if you want to recover lost highlights or shadows, it makes a huge difference. On our 6Meg Canon 10D, I could see no difference up to 8' x 10", larger than that there was a definite improvement with raw. of course this would also depend on the image. The other advantage of RAW is that you always have the original, as otherwise it's so easy to start working on the original file by mistake. My work flow is: Crop Exposure adjustments colour corrections then anything else that might need doing. |
Posted on 19/03/08 6:11:45 PM |
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jenn62
** Posts: 73 Reply |
Re: photo editing order
Thanks for the info Vibeke. I still like the idea of raw in that so much more editing can be done to a raw image without quality loss. For printing, it is my understanding that the rule to follow for lab quality prints is to always print at 300 dpi. So that means for 4 x 6 print you would need an image size of 1200 x 1800 pixels. Or just divide whatever image size you have by 300 to know the size to print at. It was about 5 years ago that I read that in some photo or pc magazine, and I had it jotted down. |