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Question

Visible differences between saving as .tif and .jpeg

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 23, 2021
3 replies
2773 views

My typical workflow for print involves saving my photoshop document as a .tif file to send to the print shop. However, recently I have been working with a file that, when saved as a .tif (left), looked completely different when saved relative to the JPEG (right). The blacks seem to be much more dull/gray, and the whites look very off as well. This is the first time I have encountered this issue, but I have noticed in testing with other images that sometimes it will have a similar effect (not as pronounced) on the blacks.

When saving the file, Format is selected as TIFF, Alpha Channels and Layers are both checked, as well as Embed color Profile.

Image Compression: None

Pixel Order: Interleaved

Bye Order: Macintosh

Layer Compression: RLE

Again- this is the first time I've noticed this significant a difference. I attempted chatting with Adobe Support, but even after hours trying to work through it, we weren't able to come to a resolution. I confirmed that it was not an issue with how the Preview applicaiton on my Mac renders the file, as I sent for a test print, and it was printed like the image on the left.

Any help would be appreciated!

This topic has been closed for replies.

davescm

Community Expert

Prophoto is a very large colour space which works well for editing but can contain colours which will not be displayed on monitors, even wide gamut monitors, and will not be printed. It requires at least 16 bits per channel to avoid big steps between colours which is not supported in a standard jpeg. Keep this 16 bit Prophoto document as your master.

For exporting elsewhere:

Try converting to sRGB and Embed the color profile before saving as TIF and JPEG. Provided you keep compression quality high, both should now look very close.

Dave

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

»When saving the file, Format is selected as TIFF, Alpha Channels and Layers are both checked, as well as Embed color Profile.«

Did you also embed the profile when saving the jpg? How exactly do you create the jpgs?

E

edk3494Author

Participant

Hi c.pfaffenbichler-

For the jpg- File > Save As > JPEG > "As a Copy" is default selected and grayed out; embed Color Profile: ProPhoto RGB is selected;

Image Quality: 12, Maximum

Format Options: Baseline (Standard)

I should mention that the file looks normal when the tif is opened in photoshop. But the preview of the image when opened with Mac Preview is when it looks significantly different. However it also must be an issue with the file as it printed this way as well.

The tif is too large to attach. I am attaching the jpg file, as well as increased zoom on sccreenshots of the jpg and tif files.

D Fosse

Community Expert

I suspect that the tif may be ProPhoto RGB and the jpg sRGB and the printer might have disregarded the embedded profiles.

Yes, that is clearly what has happened here. It can be easily confirmed by converting these examples to sRGB/ProPhoto respectively, and then assigning the other.

People think color spaces are only about color. But there's a tone response curve there too, and in the case of sRGB vs. ProPhoto, they are very different. That's what we see here.

All of this just reinforces the general caveat: never send out ProPhoto. Ever. It stays on your machine.

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

Please set the Status Bar to »Document Profile« and post meaningful screenshots of both images taken at View > 100%.

Or provide the images themselves.

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