Photoshop question

gnolan

Hi, I'm pretty new to photoshop. I've loaded in a photo (jpeg) that i wanted to straighten. I've straightened it and now want to simply overwrite the original file. But when i go to save the new straightened jpeg, photoshop wants to to recompress the file. Is there any way i can avoid this? The only alteration to the image is the slight rotation and crop - i don't see the need to recompress.

looksee

When you brought it into Photoshop it ceased to be a jpeg and became a psd file. Now you have to resave it as a jpg.

gnolan

looksee wrote: »

When you brought it into Photoshop it ceased to be a jpeg and became a psd file. Now you have to resave it as a jpg.

Is there any way around this? If all i'm doing is a simple rotation? I assume that with each save i'm going to be losing quality?

maringo

As its an altered update you have no option but to save it and will have slight loss with jpg. Suggest you keep an original tiff/eps version in case you need to do any other alterations. Jpeg is lossy there is no workaround as far as I know.

looksee

When I was doing graphic design any time I got a jpg image I changed it to a tiff so that I could open and close it without any loss. I did not need jpgs as I was doing print work. I am a bit out of touch so I don't know what the situation is regarding stuff for digital use now. It makes for big images but that is not an issue now computers are so much more powerful.

Splinters

gnolan wrote: »

Is there any way around this? If all i'm doing is a simple rotation? I assume that with each save i'm going to be losing quality?

Why would you assume you're loosing quality. Its already a jpeg, already compressed, you're simply saving another version of that same file. Its not like doing an analogue tape to tape transfer, where each iteration looses clarity and detail. You're working in a digital format so you really dont have anything to worry about there.

maringo

JPEGs lose quality every time they are opened, edited and saved.

True. If a JPEG image is opened, edited, and saved again it results in additional image degradation. It is very important to minimize the number of editing sessions between the initial and final version of a JPEG image. If you must perform editing functions in several sessions or in several different programs, you should use an image format that is not lossy (TIFF, BMP, PNG) for the intermediate editing sessions before saving the final version. Repeated saving within the same editing session won't introduce additional damage. It is only when the image is closed, re-opened, edited and saved again.

The secret is to do all your work/numerous saves on the image as a tif/eps and only when your image is ready/finished to go resave it as a final in jpeg format. Repeated edit/saves as jpg will degrade the quality of your image.

looksee

So the situation has not changed to any extent, I thought I had heard something about a non-lossy jpg, but it is apparently not as simple as that.

The safest way to work with images is to
save the original jpg to somewhere safe as soon as you get it.
Then convert a copy to tiff and save it.
Then work on a copy of that tiff. Do everything you need to do and save it as a psd with layers and as a tiff.
Then if you need a different size, reduce a copy of the tiff.
So at all stages you have the best quality image saved so you can go back to it as necessary.

It sounds like a lot of copies and space usage, but its not nearly as bad as realising you have altered and reduced the original image, and you need to start again!

ScumLord

gnolan wrote: »

Hi, I'm pretty new to photoshop. I've loaded in a photo (jpeg) that i wanted to straighten. I've straightened it and now want to simply overwrite the original file. But when i go to save the new straightened jpeg, photoshop wants to to recompress the file. Is there any way i can avoid this? The only alteration to the image is the slight rotation and crop - i don't see the need to recompress.

If you want it to be a jpeg you have to turn it back into one, it's a photoshop file once you open it in photoshop.

Save it as a PSD file so you can continue to edit it some time down the road and then you can either use 'save as' to turn it back into a high quality jpeg (if your passing it off to someone else and want them to be able to open it jpegs your best bet) or save for web & devices to compress it for quick transport across the internet.

You have loads of options for how you want to save a picture in photoshop but you have to be aware that if you save it in a weird format that looks lovely many people may not be able to open the file.