JPEG, TIFF and RAW

JPEG, TIFF and RAW

Jpeg

Jpeg is a format for digital images. It is a good format for photographers as it has a small file size yet a high controlled degree of compression. It is also properly displayed on any device or program and has good picture quality. It is suitable for full colour images and has a lot of colour and contrast transitions. However, the image can become blurry and out of focus if enlarged or just disappear due to the analysis algorithm failing. It doesn’t support transparency and every time you try to enlarge the image, the quality will decrease slightly.

RAW File

Photography in RAW creates the highest quality images; it is a lot more detailed than Jpeg. This format will enhance the light, shade, vibrancy and hue of an image due to the digital camera capturing more information, a lot faster and more efficiently. Jpeg can’t reproduce mid tones of colour, whereas RAW can and it will also replicate much finer details. But, to view a RAW photograph, you will need special software which will depend on the make of you camera, for example, Canon has Digital Photo Professional for you to use. Also, RAW Files are massively larger than Jpeg; a Jpeg File may only be 3Mb, while the RAW File will be 20+Mb. This however does ensure that the photograph is better quality and contains more information.

TIFF File

TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format and is supported by most major operating systems and software. TIFF is the standard image format for digital editing and photography. The advantage of using a TIFF file format is that it can be edited using all the popular editing software and if a TIFF Format image is sent, the recipient will be able to view it. This format also doesn’t use compression, so when an image is saved, there is no loss of detail.  However, TIFF Files are much larger than Jpeg Files, therefore less TIFF Files can be saved on digital cameras and when sending an image via email, the file can be too large to attach.