working with images john frost director of education

Working with Images

John FrostDirector of Education

Liberty Seated Collectors Club

Why discuss images?

• More and more people are taking better photos• LSCC members are writing image-rich articles in the

Gobrecht Journal and E-Gobrecht– Enhances the final product– Better conveys the points the author is trying to make

• Articles, documents, websites are using different types of images– Photos of entire coins– High-resolution photos of details, diagnostics,

etc., often through a microscope– Graphics (non-photographic)– Text with images– and more!


Many types of image formats!

Some of the most important ones to know…• JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group• GIF – Graphics Interchange Format• TIFF – Tagged Image File Format• PNG – Portable Network Graphics

They are NOT all created equal

They each have their strengths and weaknesses


Strengths and weaknesses

JPEG format• Strengths

– Widely-used photo format– 16+ million colors supported– Modest file size via image

compression• Weaknesses

– Loss of detail and quality with each successive manipulation and saving

– Introduction of noise in high-contrast images

– Terrible for graphics

GIF format• Strengths

– Excellent for graphics and high-contrast areas with no “noise” on manipulation

– Small file size without compression

• Weaknesses– 256 color limit, and usually

less– Useless for most photos


Strengths and weaknesses

TIFF format• Strengths

– Encoded with all photo or image information

– 16+ million colors supported– Manipulates/edits well,

without image degradation– Makes excellent working

versions of images• Weaknesses

– Very large file size– Not normally useful as the

“final” image published

PNG format• Strengths

– Excellent for graphics and high-contrast areas with no “noise”

– Supports millions of colors– Great for small images– Allows “transparency” for

overlays• Weaknesses

– Not universally supported– Not good for large images


Example of “noise” introduced by compression within graphics (JPEG)

JPEG and noise GIF/PNG, no noise


Creating high-quality photos for publication (e.g., Gobrecht Journal)

• Most cameras take photos in JPEG format– Some allow “raw” formats, or TIFF

• If JPEG, save copy of original immediately in TIFF format, before you do anything

• Do all of your manipulating with the TIFF copy– Cropping, resizing, overlays, text and graphics

• You can save final copy as JPEG, but keep the TIFF! – You will likely need to make further changes TIFF

Original Copy as Resize, rotate, Add graphics Save final Save as JPEG TIFF crop in TIFF in TIFF TIFF JPEG


Graphics

• Many articles, presentations, and web pages use a combination of text, photos, and graphics

• Use GIF or PNG image formats for graphics and text as an image– Small size file, and no loss of detail, and no “noise”

• Examples:– Arrows and text– Advertisements– Buttons– LSCC Logo!


Summary of recommendations

• Photos:– Convert the original JPEG photo to

TIFF format before you do anything– Use the TIFF files to do all of your

work, and keep both original and final TIFF files for future changes or redoing from scratch

– You can always save final TIFF file as JPEG for actual final use and smaller file size

• Graphics and Text:– GIF or PNG format for quality, display speed, and small file size– These can be resized and worked on at will with no loss of

quality• A good quality article will make copious use of photos• Use the right combination of image file formats


In case you didn’t get this…

• Photos:– TIFF, TIFF, TIFF– Did I say “TIFF”?

• Graphics and Text:– GIF– PNG

www.LSCCweb.org

Thank you for your time!

working with images john frost director of education

Documents

tiff tiff jpeg slide

graphics jpeg page

noise slide

jpeg tiff crop

photos page

weaknesses page

changes tiff page

tiff files