RAW mode printing jpeg files

[gisele]

i'm a little confused and i'm sure yall can straighten me right on out!

Ok, i get the point about shooting in RAW mode for the clarity and all but i'm confused about printing.

i own a canon d60 and epson 2200 printer. I recently read an article from photoshop magazine about tips on printing.

one tip stated that using inkjets printed best with rgb color instead of cmyk. also that it was ok to print in jpeg format.

question, why would i use the Raw method and then turn around and print in jpeg?

hope someone understands what i'm trying to say.

[robertwgross]

gisele wrote:

one tip stated that using inkjets printed best with rgb color instead of cmyk. also that it was ok to print in jpeg format.

question, why would i use the Raw method and then turn around and print in jpeg?



Let me take a crack at this. If you transfer a RAW file from the camera to the image editor program, then that carries the maximum data and clarity from the camera. If you convert that to ANY non-lossy format (e.g. TIF) and print out from there, then you haven't lost anything. On the other hand, if you convert that to a lossy format (e.g. JPEG) and print out from there, then you may have lost something, but that may or may not be important, depending on the detail of the image and how large you are trying to print. I would suggest that the larger you are trying to print, then the more you should stick to the non-lossy file formats. You already have a good printer, so you don't need to transmit your image file over a bandwidth limited internet link, so you sure don't need a heavily compressed JPEG. If you were taking your image files to some graphics service bureau, then using a compressed format will allow you to take more on a single piece of media. Again, if the JPEG has lost some detail, then that is irretrievable until you go back to the TIF or RAW.

---Bob Gross---

[AJSJones]

Gisele - think of the RAW as "undeveloped" film and the linear (or other ) processing as the developing. You then have an uncompressed file that is displayed as an RGB image in a window for e.g. Photoshop. The printer is "fed" from this file, either through a profile if that's how you have PS set up, or through the Epson printer driver software if you haven't yet mastered color management. Although printers use CMYK inks, the conversion from your displayed RGB image is best done by the printer software, hence the tip you read.

You cannot "print" to jpeg. Once the image is open (even if it was saved as a jpeg) it is no longer compressed. You can only save to jpeg. However, each time you save an image to jpeg it is re-compressed and you can begin to degrade the image as information is lost each time. If you give it a new name each time you save it, the original (with all the original information) will still be available. If you are going to the extra effort to shoot raw and develop it yourself, you are unlikely to want to accept these compromises for your "original" image , so you should save it as an uncompressed TIF or PSD etc (or compressed via lossless methods e.g. LZW TIF) just as you would your original slide or negative. You can save a copy as jpeg if you want to put it in an email or on a website.

Hope that helps
Andy

[gisele]

thanks to everyone!! i have a better understanding now!

[Yavor74]

Gisele-
If you really want to save yourself some work...and get better prints than possible with ANY technique (that I've found), buy Qimage.
I constantly am running tests to determine the best techniques...and my best method using Photoshop (that I've fine-tuned over years) is about 75% as good as just opening the image in Qimage and printing it. I hate to just be an advertisement for them, but you really want to make great pictures..and not fuss over every little horrid detail...correct?
Focus on the other aspects and let Qimage do the printing.
Oh, yea, keep reading the posts here- you will learn a bunch!

Bob

[gisele]

thanks bob, i'll buy qimage!

[Thomas]

Yavor74 wrote:
... just opening the image in Qimage and printing it.

Do you recommend using QImage just for printing or do you value any other of its features?

Regards,

Thomas