Hi Dave - nice shot. The glow is captured really well, and the angles create an interesting composition and abstract image.
You had a question on lossy (.jpg) file formats:
It took me a while to grasp this too Dave. Every time you save a .jpg, it gives you the compression options. Every time you save it, the file is compressed. If you save the file 100 times, then it's compressed 100 times. If you start w/ 100 then take away 1, then take away 1 again, then again, then again, etc. etc., you can be left with very little. Therefore, over time the .jpg file format WILL degrade with multiple saves.
Really it's just a question of lossy verses lossless. Sure, you probably won't save each file more than a dozen times at the most, but why take the chance of degraded image quality? A .tif or .eps file will never remove any information no matter how many times you save it. That's what I want - no loss of image quality whatsoever. Really it's just piece of mind for me - you can probably continue to use .jpgs for ever and maybe not notice any loss of quality. But when some of my images are published/used commercially, then I really want to make sure that I maintain the highest quality output as possible.
Also, I should mention that I have worked professionally as a graphic designer/digital prepress operator for newspapers, magazines, commercial printers, etc. for 4+ years, and use Photoshop for 8-10 hours a day, five to seven days a week. It really comes in handy when working on my own images, because I've HAD to produce great quality images for clients that are paying large sums of money, and there is really no room for error in situations like that.
Hope this helps somewhat to understand why .jpgs are a lossy file format, and should really be avoided by anyone who wants to maintain the highest image quality over the life of their files.
Hi Dave - nice shot. The glow is captured really well, and the angles create an interesting composition and abstract image.
You had a question on lossy (.jpg) file formats:
It took me a while to grasp this too Dave. Every time you save a .jpg, it gives you the compression options. Every time you save it, the file is compressed. If you save the file 100 times, then it's compressed 100 times. If you start w/ 100 then take away 1, then take away 1 again, then again, then again, etc. etc., you can be left with very little. Therefore, over time the .jpg file format WILL degrade with multiple saves.
Really it's just a question of lossy verses lossless. Sure, you probably won't save each file more than a dozen times at the most, but why take the chance of degraded image quality? A .tif or .eps file will never remove any information no matter how many times you save it. That's what I want - no loss of image quality whatsoever. Really it's just piece of mind for me - you can probably continue to use .jpgs for ever and maybe not notice any loss of quality. But when some of my images are published/used commercially, then I really want to make sure that I maintain the highest quality output as possible.
Also, I should mention that I have worked professionally as a graphic designer/digital prepress operator for newspapers, magazines, commercial printers, etc. for 4+ years, and use Photoshop for 8-10 hours a day, five to seven days a week. It really comes in handy when working on my own images, because I've HAD to produce great quality images for clients that are paying large sums of money, and there is really no room for error in situations like that.
Hope this helps somewhat to understand why .jpgs are a lossy file format, and should really be avoided by anyone who wants to maintain the highest image quality over the life of their files.
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{K:75282} 1/7/2005
