Jpeg Raw and Tiff

I will try and put it in simple terms making it easier to understand.

All pictures are initially shot in grey, and each picture produces data which a camera reads and converts to colour. Hence grey cards are used as a basic colour setting, about 18% grey is the norm for a card.

So now we have a grey image in camera and the camera grabs the simpliest way to reproduce colours (Jpeg) This allows a limited amount of editing

Now RAW and Tiff dig a little deeper into that data and discovers there is a lot more to be extracted out of that greyness. That then allows more editing control available hence a better photograph.

I tend to think of it like this

You look at a single sheet of glass showing an image (Jpeg) and that is it


But

Underneath that top sheet of glass are others each with its own colour . Raw and Tiff see those other sheets of glass and adds them together making up the whole photo.

So if one wants to edit a photo there is a lot more data
(sheets of glass) the editing program can grab to correct a photo( RAW or TIFF).



The problem is posting in a forum or most other places is because so much data has been extracted In RAW or TIFF it is too much for sending to third parties, but great for hard copy prints


Therefore to make it easier to post they have to be converted back to Jpeg from RAW or Tiff. That then reduces the data but still keeps the contents extracted from Raw or Tiff file

Don't know if that makes sense but only way I know of explaination.

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

Yes exactly RS, just how I would have explained it....

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

I didn't understand any of that

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

Never mind, I can't explain better ,

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

All I know is that TIFF pictures need much more storage space and are much bigger to send in an e-mail.

Thankfully, I've never needed TIFFs. I find JPEGs quite adequate.

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

maybe this will help

If you have a meal on a plate with only one item on it then it would not look very interesting but apertising and edible never the less. lets call that a Jpeg meal.

Add other items, ie some meat and another veg, and then the meal looks more interesting , lets call that a RAW meal

Put more items on the plate, ie meat and several veg, and it really looks like looks like an effort has been made to include everything and give a choice of what to eat or leave, depending on ones palate.

lets call that a TIFF meal

So in other words the more that is added the better it looks and more choice on the plate to select to eat.


Same with Photography, the more the data (food) available the better the photo can be made to look with editing.

Does that help?

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

I think you are muddling up layers (which are available is several formats eg .psd .pdn or .psp) and compression. Tiff is just a package which can include lossy formats as well (though generally doesn't) and baseline TIFF doesn't support layers.

JPEG combines all layers on saving as do BMP, GIF, PNG though the latter two support a "transparency" layer. The advantage (and disadvantage) of Jpeg is its compression which means every time you save it the quality slightly disappears and the file gets slightly smaller - however you can control the amount of compression or even turn it off

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

Bruce
Well said, you are correct. I did try and put it in simple terms for those not into photography to make it easier to understand.

getting too technical I find is confusing and not understood by many.

As you well know photography can be made as complex or as easy as one wants. A lifetime can be spent and still not learn everything.One can argue technical points until the crows come home

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

I really don't quite understand what your intention was because it looks like you just confused the issue. Surely it would be more informative to say something like:

TIFF and Raw produce large image files but are ideal for editing because there is no loss of quality no matter how many times the image is saved. JPEG on the other hand produces smaller files but quality is lost each time the image is saved due to the compression needed to produce these smaller files.

That is just off the top of my head and with some thought could be improved on tremendously but talking about meals, bi colours, layers and plates which, apart from being inaccurate, just cause the average persons eyes to glaze over.

Re: Jpeg Raw and Tiff

Apart from .jpg files, the only other format I use is .psd in Photoshop, and that only for diagrams where I need several layers.

I'm not sure whether or not any compression is used with .psd files. I have never seen the option of compression when I save them, anyway.

I never have the need for .tiff and I assume that this is a format used mainly by photographers who are likely to want to blow up their images.

There are others, of course. Where does .bmp come in the order of things? All I know is that the files are larger than .jpg