Taypes of file formats for Digital Photography

The digital file format a photographer chooses for saving photos is determined by the intended use of the images, the hard drive space the photographer is comfortable with giving up for storage and whether the images will be edited after picture-taking.

JPEG

JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This file format is identified by .jpg at the end of the file name. It is a widely used format that is compatible with all software and hardware.
Most JPEG files are smaller than other file formats because JPEG saves space by compressing data. JPEG is both a file type and a compression type. JPEG compression employs what is termed lossy compression. That is, in saving storage space some image information is lost.The discarded information thrown out is considered a duplicate of information already captured. Although some information is restored when the file is opened for editing, printing, e-mailing or scanning, some information is lost forever.

How to Save JPEG Images For Best Quality

 

JPEG image quality will be suitable for the needs of most amateur photographers and  photographer who knows how to use image-editing software.After editing a JPEG image, the photographer should not save it in JPEG unless that is the final edit. That's because each time a JPEG image is saved, some of the image is compressed and, therefore, some image quality is lost.

 

TIFF

 

TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format and has the file extension .tif. For the photographer who wants no loss of image data and, therefore, a higher quality unedited photo than JPEG offers, TIFF is the way to go. TIFF is compatible with a lot of hardware and sofrware. The drawbacks of TIFFare its very large files and that it is usually offfered only on DSLRs and high-end compact cameras.

TIFF files can be compressed using LZW (Limpel-Zev-Welch) compression. LZW compression is termed lossless, which means that no image information is lost. However, it is suggested that compression of TIFF images be limited to illustrations. Do not use it for color photos.

RAW

 

RAW. The RAW file extension is .raw. It is an alternative to TIFF. Even though TIFF files retain all the information captured by the camera, they do make use of in-camera processing. RAW files, on the other hand, retain all image date without using in-camera processing. RAW images are, therefore, unprocessed images that contain all the data captured by the camera's sensor.
Working with RAW is time-consuming, however, because all images need post-shooting processing. But RAW is the universally accepted file format for most professional photographers. They use it because it gives them complete control over how their images will look. But there is no universal RAW format. That is where DNG comes in.

 

DNG

 

DNG stands for Digital Negative and its extension is .dng. This format was developed by Adobe Systems in an attempt to establish a universal file format for storing RAW files for posterity. Since most RAW software is manufactuer-specific, Adobe has developed a RAW system that is not camera-specific.

 

information from suite101.com