Digital File Types

Digital File Types
Photography Tip for January 2010

Over the years I've served in a volunteer capacity to take peoples images and use them on the web or in a video presentation.  There are always those who just don’t seem to understand the necessity to resize the image according to how it will be used, and to NEVER have the resized image be your only copy.  So I thought I’d talk a bit this month about file types, resizing for different uses and how to email images. In doing so, I realized that there are some wonderful tutorials out there that already do a great job of vocalizing these techniques.  Therefore, this month will be links to some good resources for you to go learn about file types and how to choose the file type and size to match your usage.

Image File Types
First, it’s important to understand the different file types and uses. 
Digital Image File Types Explained by Rick Matthews

Using Images on a Website
Now that you understand that there are different file types and when you should use them, now you can read on about using images on a website.
Using Images on a Website Thanks to Alan Flum and Acquired Knowledge Systems

Re-Sizing Photos
Photos need to be resized for email and web use - Here is a great step-by-step tutorial and a second guide on how to E-mail digital pictures, both by Michael Carr.
How to Resize Photos for E-mail or Web: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

How to E-Mail Photos
So what size should your images be to attach to an email?
How To E-mail Digital Pictures the Right Way

For the Techies!
Now for those of you who love the behind-the-scenes formulas and all the techie talk, these links are for you!
Show my the Graphs & Charts
and
Image Compression: Seeing What's Not There
by David Austin and Grand Valley State University

Hope you have a better understanding of how to resize and upload your digital imagery and Happy Shooting!