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drotar
Inspiring
January 30, 2023
Answered

that problem again in Illustrator using a mask with a photo

  • January 30, 2023
  • 6 replies
  • 6922 views

I am putting together a digital magazine. I have taken my photos shot on a very high end Sony camera with a Zeiss lense through lightroom and exported them as high resolution TIFF's at 300dpi. I open them up in photoshop and they look great. However, when i import them into illustrator and mask them the photos get extremely pixelated. the file size is 20mb so i know it's not that. The minute i bring the photo behind a mask this is when it occurs, the muddy pixelation of the photo. any ideas on a work around? Illustrator is set at RGB. This problem is driving me nuts. Please see screenshots  before and after below.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer drotar

    Problem is to this is simple. When you mask the photo for some reason looks like hell. When i take the same illustrator file and bring it into photoshop to flatten it the photo returns to the pristine photo that was shot. So....I've learned to live with it. Thank you everybody for your support. A sample can be seen at http://www.lamoodboard.com

    6 replies

    Kurt Gold
    Community Expert
    Kurt GoldCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2023

    As already mentioned above, package a sample file and provide a download link, so one can have a look at it.

     

    Anything else is pure guesswork.

     

    D
    drotarAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 6, 2023

    Problem is to this is simple. When you mask the photo for some reason looks like hell. When i take the same illustrator file and bring it into photoshop to flatten it the photo returns to the pristine photo that was shot. So....I've learned to live with it. Thank you everybody for your support. A sample can be seen at http://www.lamoodboard.com

    Rene Andritsch
    Community Expert
    Rene AndritschCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2023

    When you save the TIFF file, which settings are you using? Did you try a different setting to have a look if that has an impact on how it is rendered in Illustrator after applying the msak?

    sara_pixels
    sara_pixels
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    Not a fix, but maybe try exporting a final file and check if it's still pixelated or if it's just the working preview?  I've had bitmap images preview pixelated and then export just fine before.

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    drotarAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    sara, since they are digital files used for a digital magazine I can't really test that. However, the files when brought into illustrator are for some reason no longer muddying. This is very odd and i waste on average a day of time (happened earlier in December). It's extremely frustrating when i have work due.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2023

    Masking them is a clipping mask or an opacity mask?

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    drotarAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    clipping mask. see below with layers

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    drotarAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    Please be aware that I have been making this digital magazines using illustrator for the past 7 years and never had any problems up to about a month ago using the exact same techniques i am using now. You can view my previous digital magazines works at:     https://thomasdrotar.com/digital-magazines/

     

    Rene Andritsch
    Community Expert
    Rene AndritschCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2023

    Can you please open the Links Panel and show more information on that image?

    The files size (in MB or else) doesn’t have any impact on the quality of the image. The resolution is key. That is waht we try to find out with the links panel.

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    drotarAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    as requested. thank you for taking the time to figure this mystery out.

     

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2023

    i'm not sure why you're using illustrator when photoshop or lightroom would (usually) be the photographer's go-to app, but i'll move this to the illustrator forun.

     

    <moved from enterprise and teams>

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    drotarAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2023

    i used both lightrooom and photoshop before taking the photo into illustrator. IF you view the photo in lightroom or photoshop it is perfect, when put on the illustrator page and masked so as to fit it perfectly, that is when the pixelation and muddiness occurs. So, it is not lightroom or photoshop causing the problem. The problem occurs afterwards when bringing the edited photo into illustrator.

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