The Tribune

By Diedre Bastian

WHEN it comes to pictures, some people cannot imagine NOT taking advantage of the greater opportunities of RAW while others think any extra step is too much trouble, and are quietly satisfied with JPG, but my own biased opinion is that it is worth the try as the benefits are so great.

Moreover, after a photographer has completed his dynamic editing and aiming for that “perfect” picture then comes the saving. What do you do now? Do you save as a PSD, Tiff, Jpeg, Gif, and PNG or something else? And if you do, do you know why?

Well, each file format offers its own set of advantages and disadvantages, thus in this article we will talk about file format options and what you need to know about each before saving your camera digital photos.

JPEG: Short for the Joint Photographic Experts Group format that invented it, the JPEG file is the most ubiquitous, as it can be opened in any photo management software and can be used for both print and web publishing.

Pros: Users choose which level of JPEG quality an image should be; smaller file sizes; can be viewed in any software.

Cons: Images are compressed and lose quality (albeit a small amount) every time they’re saved; and cannot save layers to revisit different versions of editing.

RAW: Raw is commonly referred to as ‘digital negatives’ because, like a film negative, they retain all of the information needed to make an image, even if they aren’t necessarily suitable as an image as they are. There is a long list of RAW file formats usually specific to a certain manufacturer but all have a very wide dynamic range, allowing photographers to make precise adjustments to their images.
RAW files offer the photographer far more control, but with this comes the trade-off of speed, storage space and ease of use. But the RAW trade-off is sometimes not worth it for sports and press photographers, although landscape and most fine art photographers often choose RAW in order to maximize the image quality potential of their digital camera.

Pros: Very high image quality; retains vital data lost during your camera’s processing when shooting JPEGs; more control over editing; all edits are non-destructive and don’t affect your original image.

Cons: Large file sizes; there’s no standard raw format, so the vast number of raw file formats means you often need one specific software or plug-in in order to edit your files before sharing them; It take longer to edit raw files.


PSD: Saving images as a Photoshop PSD file preserves all of your layers of editing and allows you to revisit an image at different stages of its evolution. Any adjustments, blends, masks, shapes, etc can be fine-tuned or deleted should you wish.

Pros: Perfect for photojournalists or documentary photographers who need to show all image editing. No image is final as you can always undo what you’ve done.

Cons: PSD files are large in size; you can only view and edit PSD files in Photoshop and other Adobe software.

PNG: Portable Network Graphics files are one of the smallest formats you can use, and were designed as a replacement for the GIF format. Primarily used for images on the web.

Pros: PNG are small files sizes which are perfect for web use; PNG is a lossless format, so you will retain all the data in for images as you edit and save them.

Cons: Designed for images posted on the internet. PNG files do not support non-RGB colour spaces like CMYK and are not suitable for printing.


GIF: The Graphics Interchange Format is most commonly used for animated graphics found on the web. It is a bitmap image format and has limited colour space which makes it largely unsuitable for photos. However it can be useful for simple images with flat areas of uniform colour.

Pros: GIF are small file sizes that have lossless compression and is useful for animating low-resolution photos and film strips.

Cons: GIF has very limited colour space and is unsuitable for reproducing most photographs.

TIFF: The highest quality file format there is, offering photographers no loss in quality. The Tagged Image File Format is widely used in print publishing, graphic design and by professional photographers alike.

Pros: It is a lossless file format that retains all of your image data. It is widely supported by all image editing and photo management software and allows you to retain information in layers.

Cons: TIFF has extremely large file sizes that cannot be displayed on the web. Unfortunately, TIFF hasn’t been updated in twenty years. Basically, these are the common file formats most photographers use. Depending on how serious you are about your photography, some image file formats will be more useful than others.

SO which is better: RAW or JPEG? There is no single answer, as this depends on the type of photography you are using. In most cases, RAW files will provide the best solution due to their technical advantages and the decreasing cost of large memory cards.
 Finally, there is no right or wrong format to use and as I have explained, there are pros and cons of each set-up and over time you will discover a workflow that works within your structure.Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game!

 Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

Ms Bastian is a professionally trained graphic designer
who has qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at
institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training
College, College of The Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning
Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy