While looking through my stats for this blog I noticed a search engine term for “should
I save family photos in .tiff or .bmp?”

When you are using a digital camera the photographs will usually be saved  in .jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format or RAW.

When you download your photos on to you computer you will then pick a format that you want to work with in your photo imaging program, such as Photoshop or Paintshop-Pro. What format you save them in will depend on what you want to do with them.

I am working on a photo album.  These photographs are newly developed as all I had were the negatives.  I took the negatives to a photographer and he did a wonderful job copying them for me.

When I began, I scanned them and saved them in .tiff ( targeted file format). This format is excellent for printing. It also does not lose information after being opened and closed multiple times. These are large files and most internet service will not handle these files, such as Facebook, Google+ or Shutterfly.com.  While I was cropping and filing these photos, I saved them in both formats and put them in two folders one of which have all jpeg copies of these photos and one that have .tiff copies. I have now placed the .jpeg files on-line for family to see. The .tiff files are in another folder and I will put them on a CD with an index and information about the photos. I will most likely burn the .jpeg photos to this disk as well.

I found a site that will explain the different formats and what they can do for you and what their draw backs are. You can find it at Digital Photography School.  The title of the article is “What is the Best File Format to Save Your Photos In? PSD * TIFF * JPEG * GIF  * PNG”

This certainly is not the last word on this subject,this will give you an idea what you can do with your photos! Enjoy it will be an adventure as you work with your photographs.

Happy Hunting!