Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Saving files
Adobe Photoshop allows you to save your i les in a variety of i le formats, which makes it
possible to use your images in many dif erent ways. You can save images to allow for additional
editing of things such as layers and ef ects you have applied in Photoshop, or save images for
sharing with users who need only the i nished i le for use on the Web or for printing. In all,
Photoshop allows you to save your i le in more than a dozen unique i le formats.
As you work on images, it is best to save them using the default Photoshop format,
which uses the .PSD extension at the end of the i lename. This is the native Photoshop
i le format, and retains the most usable data without a loss in image quality. Because the
Photoshop format was developed by Adobe, many non-Adobe software applications do not
recognize the PSD format.
Additionally, the PSD format may contain more information than you need, and may be
a larger i le size than is appropriate for sharing through e-mail or posting on a web site.
While you may create copies of images for sharing, it is a good idea to keep an original
version in the PSD format as a master i le that you can access if necessary. This is especially
important because some i le formats are considered to be lossy formats, which means that
they remove image data in order to reduce the size of the i le.
Understanding file formats
While Photoshop can be used to create i les for all sorts of media, the three most common
uses for image i les are web, print, and video production. Following is a list of the most
common formats and how they are used.
WEB PRODUCTION FORMATS
JPEG (Joint
Photographic
Experts Group)
This is a common format for digital camera photographs and the primary
format for full-color images shared on the web. JPEG images use lossy
compression, which degrades the quality of images and discards color and
pixel data. Once the image data is lost, it cannot be recovered.
GIF (Graphic
Interchange
Format)
GIF files are used to display limited (indexed) color graphics on the Web. It is a
compressed format that reduces the file size of images, but it only supports a
limited number of colors and is thus more appropriate for logos and artwork
than photographs. GIF files support transparency.
PNG (Portable
Network Graphics)
PNG was developed as an alternative to GIF for displaying images on the Web.
It uses lossless compression and supports transparency.
PRINT PRODUCTION FORMATS
PSD (Photoshop
document)
The Photoshop format (PSD) is the default file format and the only format,
besides the Large Document Format (PSB), that supports most Photoshop
features. Files saved as PSD can be used in other Adobe applications, such as
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Premiere, and others. The programs
can directly import PSD files and access many Photoshop features, such as layers.
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