1.4 File Formats, Color Modes and Resolution

Bit Depth

Measures how many colors can be used in a file format

256

How many colors can an 8-bit image use?

GIF files cannot go beyond 8-bit depth, so they are limited to 256 colors.

What is the color limitation of GIF files?

GIF

What file format supports animation?

JPEG, PNG and GIF

What are the main raster formats?

Compression Artifact

A visible distortion or fuzziness that appears when an image is compressed too much or exported at very poor quality.

EPS and SVG

What are two common vector file formats?

Camera Raw Format

A file format that stores unprocessed information recorded by a camera.

They preserve more color and detail, which gives more editing flexibility

What is the biggest advantage of Camera Raw files? Why are Camera Raw files larger than JPEGs?

Resolution

How much detail an image can hold.

raster and vector

What are the two main categories of digital images?

Pixels

What are raster images made of?

points and lines based on anchor points.

What are vector images made of?

If you enlarge them too much, they loose their quality and become blurry

What does it mean when are raster images resolution-dependent?

They can be scaled up or down without losing quality.

Why are vector images resolution-independent?

PPI

What is the common unit of measurement for resolution?

Pixels per inch

What does PPI stand for?

The image becomes physically larger, but the quality is poorer.

What happens when the PPI is smaller?

The image becomes physically smaller, but the quality is greater

What happens when the PPI is larger?

Aliasing

When low resolution causes hard, jagged edges on typed words or shapes.

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key/Black.

What does CMYK stand for?

Color modes

What are RGB and CMYK examples of?

Red, Green, and Blue

What does RGB stand for?

CMYK is a subtractive color model. Colors get darker as they are combined.

What type of color model is CMYK? What does that color model mean?

Black

In CMYK, what is the most intense color?

RGB is an additive color model. Colors get brighter as they are combined.

What type of color model is RGB? What does that color model mean?

White

In RGB, what is the most intense color?

Color Gamut

The range of colors a device, color mode, or color space can display or reproduce.

RGB

Which has a larger color gamut: RGB or CMYK?

LAB Color Mode

A color mode designed to represent a very wide range of colors, close to how the human eye sees color.