Advice on obtaining the best quality screenshots

McGraw · 18-09-2005, 18:56

I do a lot of screenshotting for another forum I frequent.

At the moment I capture the image as a bitmap and then process, crop and convert to JPEG with Photoshop.

Would I be better of capturing directly as a JPEG using a different capture program and just do the processing and cropping without having to go through the conversion process?

I'm going to experiment myself but would appreciate any thoughts.

I'm not bothered about how easy things are to do, only the end result.

Thanks very much.

patrickp · 18-09-2005, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

I do a lot of screenshotting for another forum I frequent.

At the moment I capture the image as a bitmap and then process, crop and convert to JPEG with Photoshop.

Would I be better of capturing directly as a JPEG using a different capture program and just do the processing and cropping without having to go through the conversion process?

I'm going to experiment myself but would appreciate any thoughts.

I'm not bothered about how easy things are to do, only the end result.

Thanks very much.

No, saving it as a uncompressed bitmap gives you the best quality image, and particularly will keep the quality better as you process the image.

It's really only worth saving straight to .jpg if you're not going to process it, and you won't need to refer back to the original image later.

That's for optimum quality, of course: you may find that .jpg format from the start is adequate to your needs. But there is always some image quality loss with .jpg, even if it's not noticeable.

McGraw · 18-09-2005, 20:08

Cheers, will stick to capturing as a bitmap.

Just tried the other method out and the results are poor compared.

AndrewJ · 18-09-2005, 22:12

I use paint screenshot and screendump it into paint then save as jpeg.

If I need to crop a window out I use the select tool in paint, for more detailed work ( ie removing personal data ) I use psp9 and clone out the details.

Looks well enough I don't need it to be pretty just eligable to get the message across :-)

Darth Vader · 18-09-2005, 22:37

Why not try screen hunter?
It's free and you can capture any part of the screen that you want
http://www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter.htm

Tristan · 19-09-2005, 03:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

I do a lot of screenshotting for another forum I frequent.

At the moment I capture the image as a bitmap and then process, crop and convert to JPEG with Photoshop.

Would I be better of capturing directly as a JPEG using a different capture program and just do the processing and cropping without having to go through the conversion process?

I'm going to experiment myself but would appreciate any thoughts.

I'm not bothered about how easy things are to do, only the end result.

Thanks very much.

If you want the very best quality, then avoid JPEG completely and save as PNG, which is a lossless picture format especially good at compressing computer-generated images to a small size.

Roy MM · 19-09-2005, 04:27

Remember any expansion of the original screenie will degrade the shot.

Jon M · 19-09-2005, 08:55

A lot depends on what it is you're taking a screenshot of.

An in game shot will most likely be a high level of detail and colour, which would best suit a .jpg or .png.
Low levels of complexity (gradients for example) like an application shot would definately suit a .gif.

Have a look at the image guide in my signature for more detail.

McGraw · 19-09-2005, 11:53

Think I may give png a try although I'm not sure whether imageshack will deal with that format.

I have decide that, rather than allowing the capture program to convert to JPEG (PNG?), I will capture as bitmap then do any processing in Photoshop THEN save as a JPEG (PNG?).

Is the general consensus that this is the best way to do things?

Thanks.