title: How do you "import" image data for MNIST?
body: <p>So I've been using Tensorflow's tutorials for neural networks. I completed the "basic classification" that is essentially just MNIST and have been working on making my own custom variation as a little thought experiment. Everything is pretty self explanatory except putting the datasets into a usable form as the tutorial uses a premade dataset and looks like it cuts some corners. All I would like to know is how to put a colored photo into a usable piece of data. I assume that will just be a 1D array. As a side question, will a neural network lose any effectiveness if a 2d photo is stored in a 1d array if its not a CNN.</p>