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Photoshop Image "Quality" - 12? 11? 10?

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netspots

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What Photoshop image quality do you guys use when saving a jpeg file? 12? 11? 10? other?

I ask because I just tried uploading a bunch of files to Snapfish, but some were rejected since they were over 5MB. I used "12" as the Image Quality setting.

I'm only printing 4x6 prints today. Which setting should I use for 4x6 prints?

What about for 5x7 or 8x10 prints?

Thanks!
 
If they need to be under 5MB, I don't think a number will be relevant. Best to check the size of each image before trying to upload it.
--
Canon 20D + Canon 24-105 f4 IS L
Canon 550EX Speedlite
Olympus C-720
 
I searched and searched and didn't really find a good answer. I did a google search and found some interesting info here:
http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/jpeg-quantization.html

Concerning saving an edited JPEG:
All the information you've lost on the first compression, is lost
forever. On the next compression you will loose information again, so if
you insist in subsequent JPEG saves and you want to retain as much
information as you can, you'll have to use 12.

Here is a test on JPG vs PNG. I got 8/10 right for PNG.
http://www.ranum.com/fun/lens_work/papers/jpegquality/

I doubt if you are going to see any difference between 12 and 11 or 10 when printing a 4x6 or possibly a 5x7.
 
i found it interesting that he said that it is hard to tell the difference between a jpg and a png (lossless). no true. i could tell a difference once i figured out what the test was trying to prove. granted it was mostly in the white parts of the photos but it could be seen. i hope that guy doesn't do photography as a business. his clients are not getting their money's worth.

however, on researching the OP's original questions of the 10 11 12 jpeg quality i did learn a lot. like don't open a jpg and edit it and save it and then open it again and edit it and so on. that makes sense but i had never thought of it. i would to shoot in 100% RAW but my current hard drive configuration won't allow that for very long.
 
--
swnw
 
I've sent 16 bit tiff files (45mb) out for printing at 20x30, and I've sent level 11 jpegs ( 3mb) out and can see no difference. No more long uploads for me. Level 11 jpegs are plenty good. Level 12 are much larger, and I see no point since 11 seems perfect to me.

Regards,

jgb
netspots said:
What Photoshop image quality do you guys use when saving a jpeg
file? 12? 11? 10? other?

I ask because I just tried uploading a bunch of files to Snapfish,
but some were rejected since they were over 5MB. I used "12" as
the Image Quality setting.

I'm only printing 4x6 prints today. Which setting should I use for
4x6 prints?

What about for 5x7 or 8x10 prints?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
--
Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jon_b
 
jgb said:
Level 11 jpegs are plenty good. Level 12 are much larger, and I see no point since 11 seems perfect to me.
Click to expand...
Actually, after doing some playin' around, it seems that Level 10 is quite acceptable, and produces a much smaller file size. I think I'll stick with "10" for most pics, and only use 11 for larger prints.
 
Once I capture it, i alwyas save it as DAT or RAW until i'm through editing and make ONE render. Takes LOTS of space, but your final product looks much better.
--

Canon Rebel EOS, Canon Digital Rebel EOS, 18-55mm kit, 75-300mm USM II, & Sigma 28-80mm
 
overclockp said:
I searched and searched and didn't really find a good answer. I
did a google search and found some interesting info here:
http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/jpeg-quantization.html

Concerning saving an edited JPEG:
All the information you've lost on the first compression, is lost
forever. On the next compression you will loose information again,
so if
you insist in subsequent JPEG saves and you want to retain as much
information as you can, you'll have to use 12.
Click to expand...
The answer lies in using a lossless file format for one's intermediate editing stages, not JPEG.

While selecting "quality 12" in Photoshop might minimize the additive error introduced by resaving, it is highly wasteful from a storage perspective. Note that even resaving with "quality 12" will still "add error" to your image, albeit visually undetectable.

One shouldn't really be using compression qualities (defined by PS) greater than 10 as they are probably more academic than useful. The increase in file size is substantial given the incredibly limited reduction in extra error introduced. I think this is why Adobe made the numbering scheme the way they have (making 12 the uppper limit instead of 10) -- this way people will be more likely to choose a realistic upper end setting of 10 than 12.

Also, consider the quality of your original source material -- many digicams won't save image data with such a high "quality" setting, so resaving with a higher setting doesn't gain you much.

So, if at all possible, it is ALWAYS best to keep your editing workflow in a lossless file format (ie. TIF, BMP, PSD and not JPEG), and then only convert to a lossy compressed file format (such as JPEG) once you are finished all of your edits.

Take care,
--
Cal.
http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/ - Digital Photography Articles
 
overclockp said:
however, on researching the OP's original questions of the 10 11 12
jpeg quality i did learn a lot. like don't open a jpg and edit it
and save it and then open it again and edit it and so on. that
makes sense but i had never thought of it. i would to shoot in
100% RAW but my current hard drive configuration won't allow that
for very long.
Click to expand...
If we assume that the end result of all one's work is a JPEG image, then the following applies:

-Using a RAW workflow (CRW -> PSD edited 'n' times -> JPEG) will enable you to do your edits in Photoshop and only suffer 1 round of recompression error.

-Using a JPEG -> PSD (edited 'n' times) -> JPEG workflow, one suffers 2 rounds of recompression error.

-Using a JPEG -> JPEG (edited 'n' times) -> JPEG workfow, one suffers 2+n rounds of recompression error.

If you've captured your photo with your digital Rebel in the superfine quality setting, opened it up in Photoshop, saved and edited as a PSD, then you are going to see very little in the way of recompression error.

So you don't need to adopt a RAW workflow, unless you really want to avoid the first recompression step (it looks like superfine on the Canon is actually quite high quality, ie. minimal error).

Where recompression error will bite you is when people capture with a JPEG and then keep resaving the same JPEG file for edits... Editing & resaving in the PSD file is lossless.

--
Cal.
http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/ - Digital Photography Articles
 
10 for me, and make sure all those online shop dont PP again !

walmart and walgreen do that all the time, even costco online ...
sucks

alien :)
netspots said:
What Photoshop image quality do you guys use when saving a jpeg
file? 12? 11? 10? other?

I ask because I just tried uploading a bunch of files to Snapfish,
but some were rejected since they were over 5MB. I used "12" as
the Image Quality setting.

I'm only printing 4x6 prints today. Which setting should I use for
4x6 prints?

What about for 5x7 or 8x10 prints?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
chojan said:
-Using a RAW workflow (CRW -> PSD edited 'n' times -> JPEG) will
enable you to do your edits in Photoshop and only suffer 1 round of
recompression error.
Click to expand...
This is probably excessively nitpicky but in this example there is no recompression error. Compression error yes, but since the compression is only applied once, there is no recompression at all.
 
Andreas Ekman said:
FINAL Score 9 out of 10.
Click to expand...
Same here... It was the fourth image that got me. Largely low contrast and few high contrast edges really makes it difficult. The first thing I look for is the hair. That's often telling.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of monitors do you all use? I've found the ability to see far more detail on an LCD. So much so that the images I worked on with my CRT now look oversharpened on my LCD...and some have visible compression artefacts that were not visible before.
 
There is some difference between 10 and 11. There is hardly any at all from 11 to 12, and the size difference is big. I use 11 for all my prints -- perfect combo of size and quality.

There's a way using layers in Photoshop to see the changes when saving from the uncompressed version to a JPG... you won't see much difference between 11 and 12.
  • Eric
 
Rick Pali said:
chojan said:
-Using a RAW workflow (CRW -> PSD edited 'n' times -> JPEG) will
enable you to do your edits in Photoshop and only suffer 1 round of
recompression error.
Click to expand...
This is probably excessively nitpicky but in this example there is
no recompression error. Compression error yes, but since the
compression is only applied once, there is no recompression at all.
Click to expand...
Yes, "recompression" was a typo :) Should have been "compression" error.

Thx,
--
Cal.
http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/ - Digital Photography Articles
 
netspots said:
What Photoshop image quality do you guys use when saving a jpeg
file? 12? 11? 10? other?

I ask because I just tried uploading a bunch of files to Snapfish,
but some were rejected since they were over 5MB. I used "12" as
the Image Quality setting.

I'm only printing 4x6 prints today. Which setting should I use for
4x6 prints?

What about for 5x7 or 8x10 prints?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
if you open your file at photo shop,
goto
image,
image size
change the resolution to 72 dpi
then save as
quality 10 is good. for the internet
i hope a i was able to help you.

phil replica
 
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