best way to save an image...

[__sticky__]

I seem to be losing a lot of quality and color when saving images in Adobe Photoshop and then uploading them to my site...

its mainly losing the color that gets to me because the colors are so vibrant and rich in photoshop and once I save them, the colors get very bland and boring...

so whats the best format (.jpg, .tif, .png) and settings to save an image that I will be putting online...?

[skilled1]

in order fro mbest to worst

*.png
*.jpg
*.gif
*.bmp

gif works the best for transparency [and animation of course]

[bathurst_guy]

It depends - is it an image like a photograph or like a logo?

If a photograph save as a jpg, you will receive an option on quality which you can play with: quality -vs- size

If a logo save a .gif (which has a maximum of 256 colours)

png isn't properly supported by IE.

never use bmp

[skilled1]

in order fro mbest to worst

*.png
*.jpg
*.gif
*.bmp

gif works the best for transparency [and animation of course]

[__sticky__]

It depends - is it an image like a photograph or like a logo?

If a photograph save as a jpg, you will receive an option on quality which you can play with: quality -vs- size

If a logo save a .gif (which has a maximum of 256 colours)

png isn't properly supported by IE.

never use bmp


I've been doing that. Saving the images as .jpg's and at their highest quality (12), but still...the colors seem to be way off when I upload them...

could it possibly be my settings on my computer..? Like, as far as resolution and all that stuff goes?

[bathurst_guy]

could it possibly be my settings on my computer..? Like, as far as resolution and all that stuff goes?no
Well jpg is a lossy image format - so some colour informaiton is going to be lost. What are they currently saved as when they look "better"?

[__sticky__]

they are open .psd files...

[skilled1]

png isn't properly supported by IE.


i have a rather large, very colorful *.png on the main page of my online portfolio, and it displays just fine in IE and FF

[Ness_du_Frat]

i have a rather large, very colorful *.png on the main page of my online portfolio, and it displays just fine in IE and FF
It's the transparency in png that's not supported by IE. If your image has no transparency, there is no problem in IE.

[skilled1]

It's the transparency in png that's not supported by IE. If your image has no transparency, there is no problem in IE.

meh, that's what a *.gif is for anyway lol

[Ness_du_Frat]

meh, that's what a *.gif is for anyway lol
lol. actually, if you want gradual transparency, you have to go for png.
Example : if you have a violet square with opacity set to 60%, saving it as a gif won't render the transparency. It will take the approximate color rendered. Nevertheless, if you save it as a png, you keep the transparency and can do nice hover effects ^^
Too bad it's not supported, though. Until it is, I'm sticking to gif.

[skilled1]

lol. actually, if you want gradual transparency, you have to go for png.
Example : if you have a violet square with opacity set to 60%, saving it as a gif won't render the transparency. It will take the approximate color rendered. Nevertheless, if you save it as a png, you keep the transparency and can do nice hover effects ^^
Too bad it's not supported, though. Until it is, I'm sticking to gif.

*pssst* one word -animations- lol

[Poxicator]

There's so many ways colour and quality can be lost its a bit hard to determine where your problem lies.
Your .psd file could be 16 bit whereas you'll probably end up with an 8 bit image when flattend.
Your compression or optimising may reduce the colours and quality if they are set at lower settings.
Your colour mode may change when saving as .jpg from RGB to CMYK, or index colour, or websafe rgb or limited to 256 colours.
Your calibration may not be supported, are you using a PC or Mac because a Mac supports a wider gamut than PC.
etc. etc.

Perhaps you could attach your .psd file and your flattened (and uploaded) image for comparison.