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thomasd85022406
Participating Frequently
October 13, 2018
Question

When I view files on the desktop, my TIFF files look different to my JPEGs.

  • October 13, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 3181 views

I've noticed other forums discussing with terminology like gamuts, but I'm fairly new to photoshop so please explain to me like you're explaining to a child, if you can.

I made a picture (I coloured it in CMYK because I only ever intended to use this project for print) and then saved some JPEG versions as tests, before saving the final product as a TIFF file. When observing them on the desktop however, whereas the JPEG files seemed largely unchanged the TIFF files seem somewhat greyed. Even the black tones, which I assumed would go unaffected.

I haven't got a proper printer available at the moment to test out if the final product will look normal in print, so in the meantime does anyone know if this is something I could fix?

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    2 replies

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 14, 2018

    I suspect the complicating factor here is CMYK. Very few standard image viewers can handle CMYK correctly.

    Thomas, unless this is going to an offset press, don't use CMYK. Inkjet printers are RGB devices that expect RGB data, and you should work in RGB throughout.

    CMYK is strictly for offset print and has its own set of special requirements that you need to know and consider.

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 14, 2018

    To add to D Fosse's excellent reply, alway work in RGB Colour Mode (the choice of RGB Colour Space is yours). Never convert to CMYK (unless there is a very specialised requirement). For commercial printing, such as when you place a PSD file in to  InDesign, you normally would select PDF/X-4 for the output, which will do then correct conversion to CMYK to supply the printer.

    For printing by a Bureau from your PSD file, follow their particular spec – they will often ask for the image(s) to be in JPG format in sRGB.

    For printing to your desk-top inkjet CMYK and CMYK Plus printer, print from RGB and allow the printer's software to undertake to conversion.

    T
    thomasd85022406Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 14, 2018

    Thank you for your answer, I just want to clarify a few things. I'm still very new to a lot of this terminology.

    Are you saying that if I wanted to print something for, say, a T-Shirt, I should always process the PSD through InDesign? (I also don't know what you mean about selecting the output).

    One problem for me though is that the project I'm currently working on is being sent off to someone else, who in turn will send it elsewhere again to get printed, so I have little clue what kind of setup would be preferable for the printers. Is there a generally safe option for this kind of circumstance?

    Ussnorway7605025
    Ussnorway7605025
    Legend
    October 14, 2018

    thomasd85022406  wrote

    When observing them on the desktop

    what software is reading the tiff file from your desktop?

    I would first assume that software is not set up to read Tiff correct... in most senarios a Psd file is the better thing to save a Photoshop as because Tiff is an uncommon file type made for reading raw images

    T
    thomasd85022406Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 14, 2018

    I'm on Windows 10 and the picture program is the custom "Photos", but I also tried looking at it in "Windows Photo Viewer" and that came out the same.

    I was under the impression that TIFF was necessary as PSD wasn't as easily transferable, but I'll give that a look.

    Also, what do you mean by "raw" images?

    Ussnorway7605025
    Ussnorway7605025
    Legend
    October 14, 2018

    Psd is fast becoming a standard in its own right and there are a few (free) options if you need to send it to someone without Adobe... there is even a way to use your Adobe id to send it to someone without an Adobe sub

    back in the film days a photographer would always keep the raw negative that came with the camera and just makes prints from it... we don't use film anymore but the term raw stuck and a raw image is a special kind of digital file which resists editing, when you open a raw image in Lightroom for custom edits its sends a tiff copy of the file to Photoshop i.e, the raw image is not edited but copied and a seperate file is attached with whatever edits so the orginal can always be recovered

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