Need advice on saving optimised jpgs.

O
Posted By
OM
Oct 12, 2005
Views
337
Replies
6
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Closed
I have an original source image.
I save for an optimised filed: save for web.
I lose the original file.
I want to make the optimised file smaller and save.
The problem is, if I save for web, then the quality degrades.

If I just try to save, it will prompt me asking what quality I want it. I never seem to be able to save at the exact right measure in doing this.
And more often than not, I will get a worse quality image, or I will get a file for which the size is much bigger than the original.

What am I doing wrong?
How can I save a file in the exact same setting as the original.

Thanks.

OM
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TT
Tom Thomas
Oct 12, 2005
"OM" wrote:

I have an original source image.
I save for an optimised filed: save for web.
I lose the original file.

Not if you use a different filename when you save for web. You should always save a copy of the uncompressed image if you may need to perform additional work on it.

I want to make the optimised file smaller and save.
The problem is, if I save for web, then the quality degrades.

Yes, because JPG and GIF both degrade the quality of the image in order to conserve file size. That’s what compression does.

If I just try to save, it will prompt me asking what quality I want it. I never seem to be able to save at the exact right measure in doing this.
And more often than not, I will get a worse quality image,

Yes, every time you resave a JPG the quality gets worse. And once you’ve converted to GIF (indexed color) then any attempt to resize the image will result in poor quality results..

or I will
get a file for which the size is much bigger than the original.

Yes, because "Save for Web" removes extraneous information from the file like previews and EXIF data. A simple "Save" doesn’t remove this information.

What am I doing wrong?
How can I save a file in the exact same setting as the original.

You can’t. Regardless of what compression setting you use the image will degrade each time you resave the same image in a web compatible, compressed format — by any method.
——————
Tom

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R
Roberto
Oct 12, 2005
"OM" wrote in message
I have an original source image.
I save for an optimised filed: save for web.
I lose the original file.

Stop doing that! Save your original, good image in TIF or Photoshop format. Save For Web to whatever you wish.
T
Tacit
Oct 12, 2005
In article ,
"OM" wrote:

I have an original source image.
I save for an optimised filed: save for web.
I lose the original file.
I want to make the optimised file smaller and save.
The problem is, if I save for web, then the quality degrades.
If I just try to save, it will prompt me asking what quality I want it. I never seem to be able to save at the exact right measure in doing this.
And more often than not, I will get a worse quality image, or I will get a file for which the size is much bigger than the original.
What am I doing wrong?

What you are doing wrong is you are not saving the original image, and you are not understanding how JPEG works.

If you open a JPEG, then save it again as a JPEG, you lose quality. Period.

Always save a copy of your image in some non-compressed format like PSD or TIFF. Never get rid of your original image. Never re-save a JPEG.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
O
OM
Oct 14, 2005
thanks for all the replies.
the advice has just lit a lightbulb in my head.
i now understand!
all files will be saved as psd’s from now…
and all other jpgs will be created from that.
simple. : )
Y
ygoer
Oct 24, 2005
i made a transparant background for a calendar en put many photo’s on it. now i want to change the background. i want to use a picture that i made as a background but i don’t know how. does anyone know?
wanny
T
Tacit
Oct 24, 2005
In article <435cad54$0$86233$>,
"ygoer" wrote:

i made a transparant background for a calendar en put many photo’s on it. now i want to change the background. i want to use a picture that i made as a background but i don’t know how. does anyone know?

Yes; it’s easy.

Make a new layer. Put the picture you wish to use as a background into that layer. Move that layer to the bottom of the list of layers in the Layers palette.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

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