In Ventura IOS, what is the preferred external HD formatting

Erase the drive as follows:

Start with #1. You many have to unmount the drive with Disk Utility before being able to erase.

If you can't erase at #1 then select #2, unmount and erase.

Again, if you can't then start with #3 followed by #2 and then #1.

Format APFS (Non Case Sensitive), particularly if you're going to put a Photos library on it and run from there. When done you can also turn of Ownership in the drives Info window:

Ventura is macOS, not iOS.

Is journaled still the preferred format option?

It dependsIs it an HDD or an SSD?

What are you going to do with the external drive?

If it is an HDD and you plan to do editing on the drive, then Mac OS Extended.

If you plan to use it for Time Machine, it does t matter. It will be formatted APFS (Case-sensitive).

If it is an SSD then APFS is more appropriate.

APFS (Case sensitive) is the way to go. No journaling options with this format. That was only with Mac OS Extended.