Source:www.jimippolito.com

This tip may seem advanced, but it really isn't.

Many people are straight snap shooters who take pictures, and then print them at home or have them printed commercially, without any digital manipulation on a computer. But most digital photographers have at least toyed around a bit with a graphics program in an attempt to improve their images.

Typically you load a JPEG into a graphics program and futz around with it until you're satisfied with the result. Then you save it again in modified form and either print it, or load it back on to a memory card and take it to a photo kiosk for commercial printing.

Now, if you're happy with the result that's great, but what if you decide that something isn't just right and you want to edit the file some more?

Obviously you will reload the JPEG file into your graphics program and tweak it some more, and then reprint.

The problem with that though, is that the JPEG format is "lossy", meaning that every time you reopen it, modify it, and save it again, the file loses some detail.

You could start from scratch with your original JPEG, which you have saved on removable media, as I recommended here. But why start all over if you only want to make a slight modification?

Enter the "TIFF" format.

The "TIFF" or "Tagged Image file format" is a format that allows you to save, modify, and reopen a file many times, with much, if any, loss of detail. Of course there's a downside. Tiff files are huge in size, and unless you have nearly unlimited hard drive space, you'll soon run out of room.

So here's what you do.

Save your altered images as Tiff's, then either print them and see what you've got, or download them to a memory card, as high quality JPEG's and take them to the photo kiosk.

To save your images as Tiff's just click "save as" and then click the drop-down menu and scroll until "TIFF" shows up, click that, and then click "save."

If you're happy with the result, you can save the altered Tiff's as JPEG's, for future reprints, and delete the Tiff's. If you think you might want to further modify the picture you can save the altered Tiff's, but they will eat up CD or DVD's quickly.

In all cases, always keep your original JPEG files on removable media so you can start all over if you want.

It's really quite simple and once you try it you'll be glad you did.

For those of you who would like to learn more about the various photo file formats click here.