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Hi all, I'm in the process of uploading some of my photography to a new Zazzle store and was wondering if veteran photographers have any specific tips on format--I have already read the official Zazzle guide. While Zazzle supports both PNG and JPEG, is there a better format for high quality prints and posters? Any help would be awesome!
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I always use JPEG at the highest quality possible unless the image has transparent areas, in which case I use PNG.
It's simply a matter of file size; a full quality JPEG will be noticeably smaller than a full quality PNG when made from the same original image.
Steve.
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JPEGS would probably be the worst choice in my opinion because they are compacted and so some image information is necessarily lost.
Most of our work is done with png which is not compacted.
For my photography prints and canvasses, I use TIFF which provides for the most image data and resizes well. The files are usually quite large but that is because they have more image data.
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I avoid jpg like the plague for photos. I know some photographers use them successfully at the very highest quality, but I can't get past the fact that jpg compression is lossy and png compression is not. That is, you actually lose a bit of the information in the photo when you save it as a jpg, even at the highest quality settings. When you lose enough, you start getting visible artifacts that look like weird distorted noise.
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As part of my job in the past I did extensive testing of various formats in regard to quality, and my assertions are based on that testing - not to mention the fact that I would never have made the post above if it were not based on sound fact. If it were practical I would use 48 bit TIFF myself (as I do for much of my archive work).
JPEG is a perfectly good format when higher quality settings are used and simply setting the quality to the maximum will give very good results, but if your software has advanced settings then use them.
Steve.
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I was told by pro photographers that JPEG is the way to go.
I was also told that it really does depend on the settings of your camera, the actual camera and what you do to the photo when editing when comparing JPEG to any other format.
I use JPEG for the images I sell from another online store and many of the photographers there have told me that it's what they use, unless they're putting in some sort of special effects, and then it may save better as PNG.
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Hi DNW,
Just out of interest, do you know where the 'JPEG' comes from?
try Joint Photographic Experts Group
a bunch of rather serious people dedicated to creating a compression format specifically suited to photographic images - look 'em up on Wikipedia or just google it.
Steve.
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I only use PNG when an image has transparency. PNGs are just too big for me to want to stop using JPEGs.
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LivingNature wrote:I only use PNG when an image has transparency. PNGs are just too big for me to want to stop using JPEGs. Same here - used properly there's absolutely nothing wrong with JPEG. Steve.
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Steve Crompton wrote:Hi DNW,
Just out of interest, do you know where the 'JPEG' comes from?
try Joint Photographic Experts Group
a bunch of rather serious people dedicated to creating a compression format specifically suited to photographic images - look 'em up on Wikipedia or just google it.
Steve. Thanks, Steve.  I found it and saved it to my favorites. I'll back to check it out even more when I can.
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dreamNwish_Photo_Art wrote:I found it and saved it to my favorites. I'll back to check it out even more when I can. Actually there's little need for more than a cursory look to 'get the picture' (pun intended), and you don't want to go putting that in your favourites - people will think you're a GeekNerd! Steve.
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Steve Crompton wrote:dreamNwish_Photo_Art wrote:I found it and saved it to my favorites. I'll back to check it out even more when I can. Actually there's little need for more than a cursory look to 'get the picture' (pun intended), and you don't want to go putting that in your favourites - people will think you're a GeekNerd! Steve. or...that's a perfect reason to put it in your favorites!  To be fair, many of my photos are in jpg format, because it's all the camera I shot them on took. I just place higher value on lossless compression than on the extra space it takes up. It's probably something like the difference between 256 or 312 kbps digital music vs the physical cd. The difference is there, but if you're doing it right, it's hard to detect.
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Wow, there seems to be a lot of different opinions. I have used both PNG and JPG in the past, I currently use PNG for all of my vector designs on Zazzle with limited issues (mostly Illustrator glitches when saving for web). I'm relatively new to photography and Photoshop, so I'll have to mess around a bit. Thanks for all the insights and info folks--this really is a responsive, helpful community. 
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@Rooshoo, Quote:I currently use PNG for all of my vector designs on Zazzle with limited issues (mostly Illustrator glitches when saving for web). You do know that Zazzle accept .ai files? Steve.
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Steve Crompton wrote:dreamNwish_Photo_Art wrote:I found it and saved it to my favorites. I'll back to check it out even more when I can. Actually there's little need for more than a cursory look to 'get the picture' (pun intended), and you don't want to go putting that in your favourites - people will think you're a GeekNerd! Steve. I'm trying to keep up with your GeekNerdness, Steve! You're my inspiration!  Silly person!
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byrdgirl13 wrote:Steve Crompton wrote:dreamNwish_Photo_Art wrote:I found it and saved it to my favorites. I'll back to check it out even more when I can. Actually there's little need for more than a cursory look to 'get the picture' (pun intended), and you don't want to go putting that in your favourites - people will think you're a GeekNerd! Steve. or...that's a perfect reason to put it in your favorites! To be fair, many of my photos are in jpg format, because it's all the camera I shot them on took. I just place higher value on lossless compression than on the extra space it takes up. It's probably something like the difference between 256 or 312 kbps digital music vs the physical cd. The difference is there, but if you're doing it right, it's hard to detect. Why, thank you for the compliment! I can have a little sense when I want to! LOL! I've slowly learned that sometimes you need to make more than one change on the camera for one good shot when it comes to digital cameras. Back in the day, I had film, a viewfinder and a flash for my camera. I thought I was doing pretty well.
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Rooshoo wrote:Wow, there seems to be a lot of different opinions. I have used both PNG and JPG in the past, I currently use PNG for all of my vector designs on Zazzle with limited issues (mostly Illustrator glitches when saving for web). I'm relatively new to photography and Photoshop, so I'll have to mess around a bit. Thanks for all the insights and info folks--this really is a responsive, helpful community. You're welcome. Good luck!
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Steve Crompton wrote:@Rooshoo, Quote:I currently use PNG for all of my vector designs on Zazzle with limited issues (mostly Illustrator glitches when saving for web). You do know that Zazzle accept .ai files? Steve. I do, while there are certainly fewer save issues with .ai, I generally like the transparency of PNG for most illustrations.
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Well there's nothing wrong with JPEGs in fact most Micro stock sites accept JPEGs. Some also accept RAW files and other formats but not all. I suppose the only situation where the JPEG format is a disadvantage is when actually shooting digital photos. It's better to shoot in RAW mode if one's camera has this because it stores a lot more data which gives one a lot more control in the post production. But one would normally output the final image as a JPEG. That said I've noticed recently Zazzle also accept TIFFs and since the Raw processing software which came with my Canon will output TIFF images I have tried this on one occasion and it's also useful if you want to further edit and image in GIMP or Photoshop. Of course TIFF images do tend to be quite large, particularly when they came from DSLR of 18mp or more. Of course if one has a digital camera which doesn't shoot in RAW mode. It would seem a bit pointless converting the usual 80% JPEGs to PNG or TIFF because this isn't going to improve anything. In fact given most compact and bridge cameras have small sensors, and rely on the lossy nature of the JPEG format and internal processing to minimize noise, trying to improve things by sharpening and converting to uncompressed formats can even make matters worse since it will increase the noise. so ultimately there's no substitute for buying a better camera
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Rooshoo wrote:Steve Crompton wrote:@Rooshoo, Quote:I currently use PNG for all of my vector designs on Zazzle with limited issues (mostly Illustrator glitches when saving for web). You do know that Zazzle accept .ai files? Steve. I do, while there are certainly fewer save issues with .ai, I generally like the transparency of PNG for most illustrations. Not sure from your reply if you know -- but AI can be transparent too... Just like a PNG.
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