If you have a digital camera that is even minimally sophisticated chances are it gives you a choice of 2 or more types of photo file systems.

The most common type of photo file is the venerable JPEG, or Jpeg, or JPG, that is used to capture your digital images.

There are other formats, many of them in fact, and you should at least know that they exist and when you might want to use them.

What's wrong with what you've been using all along the JPEG?

Nothing, except for the fact that it's "lossy", which means that every time you open the file and modify it you lose a bit of detail when it's "closed" or "saved".

If you like to manipulate you image files in a graphics program and tend to work on them, close them, work on them, etc, you're losing a bit of detail with each session.

There are other formats, such as TIFF and there's always RAW, which is about as basic an image file as is possible to create. These are 2 examples of formats that are lossless or nearly so and are a better choice for the heavy post processing image manipulators out there.

Obviously we cannot cover all the types of image formats out there, some are only useful in certain applications, and others aren't all that useful, so we'll concentrate on a few that have practical purposes for the amateur.

Check out this excellent posting about the most commonly used digital photo formats.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Photo Source: iStockphoto Image#1974562