best format for photos in InDesign?
What is the best format for photos placed in InDesign? I seem to lose resolution when I use JPeg but Tiff don't seem any better. Is Tiff worth the extra file size? Am I doing something else wrong to cause resolution loss when placing photos?
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If you are printing your ID
If you are printing your ID docs you need these specs for files:
Tif
300dpi
CMYK
Some would disagree, but I ALWAYS use flattened tif files.
You'll have to do some color correction to compensate for RAW or jpg color loss, but make an action and you can run batches of photos to do this.
Take your jpg photos at the highest resolution you can to stop your res loss. If you are printing your pages, the increased file size isn't only pleasant, it's necessary! :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Display Performance
inDesign doesn't display images at full res, even on the High Quality display setting, under View > Display performance.
Its not as bad as Quark, but yea, jpegs will suffice for print.
:)
Jack
P.S. If a placed link is missing, indy will show it at low res..just a tip!
print quality
I'm not much concerned about the screen display but the print quality. Does it work to save a jpeg as a tiff or do I have go to a psd then to tiff?
do not print jpgs
Ignore the last post. DO NOT PRINT JPGS. Just go straight from jpg to tiff. Try not to increase the overall image size as you go from jpg to tif. If you have to scale up, convert to tif, 300dpi, and then increase image size by 25-30% per till you get to the desired size.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Gees
Cos I have no print prep experience. But yea. Whatever.
Uhm..
Jpeg will be fine.
I don't really use Tiffs to be honest. Just save the jpeg at 300 DPi on maximum quality.
Ask your printers -- they
Ask your printers -- they normally tear their hair out when they have to reproduce jpg files. Go tif if you are printing. You may not see a difference with high contrast images, but with a lot of realistic detail you will be able to tell. You won't be able to control the color as well on press either.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
huh. don't use jpeg. My
huh. don't use jpeg. I always use tif format (CMYK) at 300dpi when printing. Your Printer might notice & change it.
Flattened tiffs at 300 dpi,
Flattened tiffs at 300 dpi, CMYK as stated above. That's what I always use and it's always reproduced great.
ciao
3dogmama
I use animated gifs.
I use animated gifs. Printers love them.
LOL!
. . . because animated gifs DO animate on the printed page! (flipping book pages) see? lol
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
PSD
I've had just as much good luck with Photoshop-native PSDs as I have with TIFFs. Since most of my PSDs have 2-5 layers, it's nice to keep one file rather than having to remember to keep saving down another TIFF each time I edit the photo.
The printers I deal with either prefer PDF or prefer me to send the packaged InDesign file (including all fonts and linked files), and then run a PDF themselves for their workflow. The PSD has worked flawlessly for me every time.
JPGs will work in a pinch, but they have to be pretty good files to begin with, be high-rez (300dpi @ printed size), and set for minimal compression/high-quality/larger file. And most printers prefer CMYK. But by then you could have just made a TIFF or PSD.
No jpgs
People. Please do not send print files with jpgs. Just don't do it. The jpg format causes that 'blocky' look, the color doesn't translate well in CMYK and it's just bad practice.
Yeah, I'm taking a stand on this one. :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
compression method
Do you recommend a compression method when converting to Tiff?
none.
None.
Thats why you would convert to tif in the first place. The compression in jpegs is what creates the issues.
Agreed with Mbennett. No
Agreed with Mbennett. No compression.
Print is a MUCH different animal than the web. Jpgs look good on the internet and are effective because they compromise some resolution for file size and good appearance (the compression).
Print files, on the other hand, need to be as clear and as crisp as possible. Compressing them defeats this. Don't even compress the preview as LZW as is offered, just leave it blank when saving as tif.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
while compression isn't as
while compression isn't as necessary in today's world of larger drives, there's nothing wrong with using LZW compression in a TIF. 10 years ago it was common to use LZW because file space was at a premium.
LZW compression in a TIFF completely is different than compression in JPG. JPG is a lossy format. it throws away information every time you save to compress the image.
LZW is a non-lossy format. all it does is say, "10 pixels in a row are white" instead of "white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel white pixel." using LZW won't degrade your image at all.
no design program worth using or printer worth working with should ever have a problem with LZW compression in a TIF file. if a printer has a problem with a TIF file because it has compression, run away. run away fast. they don't know what they're doing.
nothing wrong with going uncompressed, either. i just wanted to make sure we weren't passing around misinformation about the TIF format here.
Thank you for clarifying
Thank you for clarifying because file space IS an issue for me working on an older machine with not a lot going for it.
Why bother with LZW when it
Why bother with LZW when it has no real benefit?
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Powerpoint is not a design application
if file size is an issue for
if file size is an issue for him, then LZW *does* have a benefit. ;)
How much compression does it
How much compression does it offer? I know it used to be used in the gif format way back when, but I can't find what the compression ratio is. I've never needed to use LZW compression and there's not much need for it these days with all the file transfer services available...
Though I did find this (unconfirmed compression ratio):
http://www.big-images.com/1-877-781-9301/News_files/Advantages_of_Tiff_files_in_large_format_printing_Feb_2007.html
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Powerpoint is not a design application
50% sounds about right. 99%
50% sounds about right. 99% sounds overboard. maybe 30-60%. it's totally dependent on the image. the larger areas of solid color there are, the better the compression.
i still tend to use compression now out of habit. even tho i don't necessarily need the disk space, i also don't need to waste it. and since it doesn't hurt the image any, smaller files are never a bad thing.
on a side note, i was given a 150mb TIF file last friday. emailed internally, no less (we don't have limits on internal email sizes, but i immediately got the "your inbox is too big" email). turned on compression and saved as and it was a 50mb file. and i was glad to have it that small, since moving it from one place to another on the servers and eventually uploading it (along w/other files) to the vendor will be a lot easier at that size.
A tif larger than 25MB is
A tif larger than 25MB is pretty big; is it more than 300dpi? For a poster print?
I'd have to disagree with this a bit. If you lose image quality, smaller file sizes can be a very bad thing.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
in context, smaller files
in context, smaller files aren't a bad thing, since we're not talking about lossy compression.
and yes, it's a very large print at 300dpi.
You did say 'never' which
You did say 'never' which seems pretty categorical...anneeeeewaaaaaaay...
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Let's throw another one into
Let's throw another one into the ring. Why tiff (which I do use btw) and not eps photos at the same 300 dpi resolution?
ciao
3dogmama
You could do that if you
You could do that if you wanted. I generally only use eps format for a photo if it is a duotone, monotone, etc.
Everyone has their own workflow, I suppose. For me I save working files as psd, flattened files as tif (or occasionally eps), and illustrator files as eps. If need be, these files will be put into an indesign file and probably export a pdf as well.
EPS files are significantly
EPS files are significantly larger than TIF files and don't provide any advantages over TIF (with the exception of mono/duo/tritone, which must be saved as EPS). as mbennett said, it won't cause problems to do it, but why save in a format that creates larger files if you don't get any benefit from it?
EPS/Tif not a new discussion
This EPS/Tif discussion is nothing new, each format has its best use:
http://www.langegraphics.com/Version2.0/FilePrep/EPS_vs_TIFF.htm
http://www.prepressforums.com/forum/photoshop/9197-tiff-vs-eps.html
I use EPS rasters for when I want error free rendering of clipped images (clipping paths) and tifs for flat, non-clipped images. EPS is also a vector format saved from Illustrator. Best for infinitely resizable vector artwork
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Powerpoint is not a design application
I use PSD and TIF
Both work great. Though I can say that I've also used high res JPG images with no problems whatsoever. It really depends on the RIP the printer has. Older RIPs have issues with JPG, etc.
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