Generational Loss with JPEG

Below are three photographs that I made in July of 2003, approximately six years ago. All three images were created with a 3 megapixel Kodak DC4800 which, at the time, was a great compact camera. These images were made before RAW formats were common place. As I mentioned in a previous article, JPEG formats, and the fairly extreme compression that comes with it, has significant generational loss issues. Each time the image is edited, opened, or closed (as a JPEG) you lose a little bit of the image. This shows up particularly well in blue sky. Please note, these three images had none of the pixelization nor artifacting problems you see below a few years ago. These issues emerge over time as the images are edited/opened/closed/etc.

Hay and Sky, Shot in July of 2003


Close Up, Hay and Sky, Shot in July of 2003


Suny Albany, Shot in July of 2003


Close Up, Suny Albany, Shot in July of 2003


Flower, Shot in July of 2003



Moral of the story: Use lossless file formats (Raw, Tiff, etc) for shooting and storage of your precious digital images!