Thanks Markus and Chris for the advice! I checked out the Wikipedia page on the JPEG format, and found this excellent link on image degradation when you edit a jpeg:
* http://www.jmg-galleries.com/articles/jpeg_compression.html It appears that at the very least, I should first convert my image into a TIFF before I edit the image. >> * Fidelity - The higher the better. I would like the images to be of >> a high enough quality where they could be easily used to create a >> clear 8 x 10. I realize that other factors affect the clearness of a >> large image (such as film speed and such). File size isn't a factor. It looks like both TIFF's and JPEG's will work equally well here, as long as I convert the image to a different format (like TIFF or XCF) *before* I edit it. >> * Compatibility - I would like the freedom of being able to send my >> images to multiple developing companies and have them all be able to >> use the image. What's a good standard format that most "real" >> developing companies accept? I'm pretty sure that my local Work Camera will print photos from a TIFF, and I'm pretty sure that Flickr will do it too. I just tried uploading a TIFF to Snapfish, however, and it was rejected. Thank goodness it's a trivial task to convert it to a JPEG using ImageMagick. >> * Bitrot - I would like to use a format that will probably be around >> for a while. I know that no format is completely future-proof, but I >> don't want to convert these images more than once every couple of >> decades if possible. Both formats seem equally well-suited in this regard. > Markus Kamp said: > > Using none of the features supported by non-ancient versions of > Photoshop like i.e. multi layers and omitting any kind of compression > you should be fine for the forseeable future. Thanks for the tips! If I start working with layers or anything like that, I'll be sure to save the file as a Gimp XCF. _______________________________________________ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
