snik225

Im having trouble tring to figure out what save my artwork as (ex. .pdf .jpeg .psd .eps). do you save it under different formats for what you are going to use the artwork for? When I go to save it, it gives me like 20 different formats i can save it as and I dont know which one to use. Usually for photoshop I save it as a .tiff and in illustrator as an .eps file.
thanks for all your help.

Smoke420

If it is a layered file and you want to keep the layers (this type of file is only useable with photoshop) to either just save it as layers or so you can continue working on it later, .psd but if you want to save it as a image from the print the web or other viewing, .jpeg is a good quality not such a size munching file type. Now .tiff is more complex with size, and .bmp is also a large size one. I prefer .psd for saving the work area and the layers, and .jpeg for saving for a reason, like showing on the web or putting in a presentation.

Welles

Hi paintballfreak,

As you know, different file formats are used in different situations. In a sense it would help us to figure out how you were intending to use the images before knowing how to suggest saving them. Generally save your image in PSD, Photoshop's native format which gives you the most freedom in modifying the file in the future. If you are printing, you print right from the PSD file. If you then have a reason to save a version of the image such as a GIF or JPEG for use on the internet use the Save For Web... feature. Other file formats have their uses but most often they are the results of other graphic image programs and opened in Photoshop.

If you would like a comprehensive look at Photoshop's various file formats...

http://www.quepublishing.com/article...69496&seqNum=3

snik225

OK Im starting to understand it better now. thanks for the information alistair and welles it really helped a lot. And also thanks for the link it covers all the format you can save it as.

boydphoto

Something I learned at my internship that goes for any software platform...if you are going to print, it MUST be in CMYK. The addition of the black gives greater contrast and crisper images. This may be a 'duh' to most of you, but it was news to me and maybe it will be helpful to someone else.

smile!
di

Welles

That's always true for an imagesetter but you work in RGB for inkjet printers.

tfoster

To clarify Di's point (about CMYK)-
CMYK is not just a matter of having black added to the mix (DI makes it sound like RGB is simply CMYK without the black), it's an entirely different color model than RGB (additive vs. subtractive).
It's also not entirely accurate to say that anything sent to print must be in CMYK. If you're doing large format printing (posters, backlit signs, etc.) you might be asked to send your files in RGB. And even with traditional print jobs you may be working with spot colors (in which case you definitely don't want to be in CMYK mode).
So just check first...

Tim

Welles

Good points, Tim!
[righton]

tfoster

I thought I'd add a bit more info in answer to the original post ("what should I save my file as?")
As others have stated, PSD, TIFF, JPEG and GIF are the formats you'll use most of the time (for print and web folks anyway).

Photoshop (PSD):
This is the format to save in by default. This gives you all the tools of Photoshop (layers, effects, type, etc.) at your disposal for continued editing. If you need to save to another format be sure to Save As (or Save for Web) so you don't lose the PSD file. Another tip-prior to saving in another format you'll often have to flatten the image, delete channels and/or paths and maybe even change the color model. Be sure not to inadvertently save your flattened file back in PSD format (or you lose all the editing ability). This is especially important if you Save for Web because once you click OK in the save box you'll be put back in your original Photoshop document (which might not be so obvious to a new user). When you close it you'll be asked if you want to save the file. If your fingers fly to fast you may accidentally write over your PSD file, very frustrating if you were doing some preliminary resizing and flattening before you Saved for Web (which strictly speaking isn't necessary to do before Save to Web but it's good to be aware nonetheless!)
PSD files are generally much bigger in file size than the other formats. Nowadays you can import PSD files into your InDesign document (Quark too? I bailed out on Quark a while ago so I'm not sure). That's nice in some respects (transparency, less work, more seamless editing), but just remember that if you PSD files are super big your file may take that much longer to image. If in doubt I'd check with the printer.

TIFF
Before the ability came to import PSD files directly into InDesign, TIFF was the popular format that you would save your images in for final print. Keep in mind that while InDesign can accept PSD files, other applications such as Word and PowerPoint don't, so you'll have to use a more traditional graphic format like TIFF or JPEG (BMPs lurk in this world too).
Unlike JPEGs, TIFFs can contain clipping paths and even transparency these days (but these features might not in turn be supported by the application you're importing into-particularly the office ones).

JPEG
You can use this for print, but it's main use is for the Web. In the print world, the thing to keep in mind is that JPEG is a Lossy format, meaning you'll lose quality as you compress the file. The compression is good when you're doing web work, but can be very noticeable in the print world. If you use JPEGs for print be sure to save them at the highest quality you can. (and we'll save the whole image resolution for another time!)
For the web, JPEG is best for photographic images. For simple color images it is usually better to use...

GIF
The other predominant web based graphic format, better for solid colors, logos, etc.
Important-if you want to save your image in either JPEG or GIF for the web, be sure to use the Save for Web function rather that just Save As. You'll get a lot more options and you'll be able to experiment with different settings to see how the image quality is affected by the reduction in file size. You can even compare how the file will look in JPEG and GIF format (sometimes it's not so obvious which one will work the best).

Well, that takes care of most of what you'll probably run into. There are some other formats that may pop up from time to time (let me tell you about DCS images for spot colors sometime!), but I'm sure I've rambled on long enough for now...!

Have fun!
Tim

tfoster

Oops-forgot PDFs!
PDFs are mighty versatile, you can use them for:
1) Sending images to someone else to view (perhaps comps to a client). They're especially nice because pretty much anyone can read them these days, while they might not be able to read your native application files (InDesign, PSD, etc.), or even a TIFF file (I'm thinking here of non-designer folks). Plus they're usually a lot smaller than a corresponding TIFF or native application file.
2) Sending images to print. PDFs are quickly becoming the standard file format to send to printers. Usually you will create your PDF from Indesign or the like (since that's where you did you're final assembly, including importation of your image files which can still be in PSD, TIFF or whatever you prefer), but you can also create a PDF from Photoshop.
3) Creating documents for the web. This is usually something you would do from your page layout program (e.g., creating a PDF manual for distribution on your web site). If you're creating images for use from Photoshop you'll want to go the JPEG or GIF route. One point of distinction: PDFs created from InDesign (we'll stick with Adobe for this discussion!) retain true text, meaning viewers can copy and paste it if they need to. However, if you create a PDF from Photoshop, any text will be rasterized (i.e., will become part of the image-a 'picture of the text' in other words), so viewers will not be able to cut and paste it. Not to mention it will render at the resolution of the file (72 dpi, 100 dpi, whatever), and so will likely be blurry (and unreadable at smaller text sizes). Page layout PDFs still display text as text so readability isn't compromised.

I'm glossing over many subtleties but that should be enough for a general overview....

Tim