Saving JPG with transparent background... WHY NOT?

[Mahonri1]

I have been trying to save a Jpeg with my business logo and transparent background to do a quick paste on hundreds of images. Can't save transparent backgrounds with Jpegs... they go white.

I can save it as a PSD. So, do I have to save as a PSD and then open and paste a PSD onto Jpeg images? Won't this get screwed up when I put them up on a website?

Am using Photoshop CS2 and before the snide little rats chime in, I bought it, registered it and use it for image work on 1500-2000 images a week for news and website editing and prep for the website. I know how to edit and do some work with the program but now want to include the Business Logo right on the images.

How can I do this Jpeg on Jpeg so I can upload them to a website as thumbnails? Then on order I only have to move or delete the layer from the original image and upload that to the lab.

I work mainly with Jpeg or RAW files, occasionally the Adobe PSD and I do upl0oad some stuff as PDF files for wire service use from time to time.

There must be an easy way to do this without conflict but I have had no luck in finding it.

[Semaphoric]

The JPEG format does not support transparency.

[Guest]

Mahonri1 wrote:

...before the snide little rats chime in, I bought it, registered it and use it for image work on 1500-2000 images a week for news and website editing and prep for the website.

I don't think any snide rats will chime in about whether or not you bought and registered the software.  One of those rats might find it funny that you have not previously noticed that JPG does not support transparency. Most discover that with a single image and don't have to learn after 1500-2000 images. 

You may do well to search this forum or the entire internet for discussions of 'logo watermarking'. Basically, through a batch process, you can have a PSD file stamped on a JPG file and resaved flattened as a JPG file. Beware that successive saves of JPG diminish quality.

Mahonri1 wrote:

How can I do this Jpeg on Jpeg so I can upload them to a website as thumbnails? Then on order I only have to move or delete the layer from the original image and upload that to the lab.

If it is so easy to remove a layer, won't image thieves be able to remove it as well? Why would you send thumbnails to print at a lab? I suspect you'd want better resolution. There is a lot of weirdness here.

[the_wine_snob]

You will want to look into that PSD, GIF (I'd not choose this Indexed Color format for continuous-tone work) or PNG. As stated, JPEG does not support Transparency, while the others will. That is about as good as it gets - sorry.

Good luck,

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

How can I do this Jpeg on Jpeg so I can upload them to a website as thumbnails? Then on order I only have to move or delete the layer from the original image and upload that to the lab.

To semi-automate your work, you need one intermediate step. If your originals are JPEG, then use the PSD w/ Transparency, and add that. Do one Save_As PSD (that will be the one that you "strip" the Layer from, when you sell the image), and then a Save_For_Web, where you will Flatten the image, and that is what you post. Keep the names the same, so when someone orders 0000001, you just grab 0000001.PSD, Delete the logo Layer, and ship it out.

Good luck,

Hunt

Message was edited by: Bill Hunt - corrected typo

[Guest]

Snide rats? We know already.........

[the_wine_snob]

Dec9,

You are anything BUT a "snide rat," and we all know it, regardless of what your PR arm is spreading...

Hunt

[pechio]

You could change the extension in a png or a gif file.

[Mahonri1]

Sorry if the 'snide rats' offended the wrong folk. In reading here for a bit I found a lot of comments that fit that definition.

I have to upload the photos as jpegs to the website for posting for display. It doesn't take Gifs or PSD images.

Is there some possible way to layer a Jpeg with my logo and the rest transparent on the image?

I could do this with a simple overlay on original 4x5, 120 and 35mm slides by setting the logo right over the transparency and putting it in the mount. Then when the client wanted use of the image we removed the overlay from the mount. Very simple and easy.

Why can't photoshop do this?

[Mahonri1]

As for not knowing about this afer a l

ot of images. I have just tried it. I edit a few thousand

each week and have always just uploaded and let

the website folks use their wagtermark PROOF on

the jpegs. I would rather do it myself with the

business logo now.

[the_wine_snob]

It doesn't take Gifs or PSD images.

Can they take PNG?

Otherwise, you have very few options. By design, JPEG does not support Transparency.

I believe that I mentioned a dual-format workflow above (reply #4), that would give you two files: 1 Layered PSD for your internal use, and then the JPEG for the Web site. That would be my workflow, if the site does not support any format that supports Transparency. If you lay out your PSD's the same way, you can even use Actions to remove the watermark Layer with a single keystroke, and can batch entire folders.

It's like Audio. If you have a cataloging site that only takes MP3, but you know that your clients will want something that is not horribly compressed for professional use, I produce a product with high sample-rate and bit-depth for me, and for my clients, and then just compress the hell out the file to MP3 for the cataloging site. I would no more sell an MP3 to anyone, with a bit of hearing left, in MP3, but as an "audio thumbnail," they are OK.

You have two "clients:" the real and final ones, who do not want a watermark, and the Web site, that cannot deal with Transparency.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Guest]

There's so much information missing that it is impossible to offer a proper suggestion.  It seems that you're asking the wrong question so all we can offer are  the wrong answers.

Does this photo publishing web site offer you the ability to watermark your images on their server using a separate watermark image or must you watermark images yourself before uploading? If the latter, you do not want any web image with a transparent background. You want to apply your logo (as a PSD file) and resave a copy of the image as a JPG file.

Mahonri1 wrote:

Then when the client wanted use of the image we removed the overlay from the mount.

You can't mount JPG/PSD/PNG files in a digital realm. Are you talking about a virtual print or a physical print? This thread is not making a lick of sense.