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 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
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Dirt and Rust
Flattened tiffs at 300 dpi, CMYK as stated above. That's what I always use and it's always reproduced great.
ciao
3dogmama
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
I use animated gifs. Printers love them.
. . . 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
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.
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
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Dirt and Rust
Do you recommend a compression method when converting to Tiff?
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 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
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Dirt and Rust
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 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 has no real benefit?
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Powerpoint is not a design application
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Dirt and Rust
if file size is an issue for him, then LZW *does* have a benefit. ;)
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
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Dirt and Rust
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 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
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Dirt and Rust
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 seems pretty categorical...anneeeeewaaaaaaay...
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Powerpoint is not a design application
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Dirt and Rust
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
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
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 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?
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
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Dirt and Rust
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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