Editing TIFF File Format in Photoshop

I have placed TIFF at the top of our list because it is perhaps the simplest and therefore most flexible and dependable high-quality pixel-based file format for printing. The TIFF format is open, meaning that its contents are readily available. In contrast, EPS files are closed or sealed. This is an important distinction. When you place a TIFF image into an InDesign or QuarkXPress document, you can apply some image corrections such as brightness and contrast and even colorizing the contents of that TIFF file through the application’s menu controls. This is not possible with an EPS file because it is sealed or encapsulated, as the name indicates. Although many, including me, will debate the wisdom of editing pixel-based images through page layout applications such as InDesign or QuarkXPress, the open nature of the TIFF format makes this possible. Note: While adjusting TIFF images directly in InDesign or QuarkXPress is indeed possible, I recommend performing these and other edits directly in Photoshop. Luckily, you can easily open your placed images in Photoshop by using the context sensitive pop-up menu. The main point here is that TIFF is a very open, accessible, and flexible file format. Editing TIFFs in Page Layout Because of its open nature, you can indeed apply edits, such as brightness, contrast, and even colorizing, to TIFF-based pixel images in InDesign and QuarkXPress. I prefer to open my images in Photoshop and perform my editing there. The simple, open nature of the TIFF format container makes TIFF a good choice for taking images cross-platform, from Mac to Windows to Unix and back again. TIFF images will print on just about any printer on any platform. Also, because of its simple open nature, TIFF is one of the smallest high-quality file formats in terms of file size. For instance, when you resave a TIFF image as an EPS, its file size will typically increase by about 30%. So unless you need to use EPS for a specific purpose (you will find out what these are later), TIFF is generally a better choice. In the early days of PostScript, the TIFF file format was simpler than it is today—and sometimes I long for those simpler times. Earlier versions of TIFF accepted only pixel-based image content. So if you added editable vector-based type to a Photoshop image and then saved it out as a TIFF, the type was automatically rasterized (converted to pixels). Creating a TIFF automatically simplified your file by rasterizing all the content, thereby making it much easier to print—early TIFFs, the printer’s friend! Current versions of TIFF are still smaller, simpler, and more open than other high-quality graphic file formats, but they are also more tolerant of the contents they will accept. You can now save layers, editable type, vectors, and both pixel and vector masks—just about all the same content you can save in a PSD file—in TIFF format images. Although this certainly has its advantages in terms of maintaining the editablity of the image, having all those components can really increase the complexity of the file. Plus, although a TIFF can hold most of what a PSD can, you do not have the flexibility of access to those contents as you do with a PSD file. For instance, although you can certainly place a layered TIFF file in an InDesign or QuarkXPress document, you cannot access its contents through InDesign or QuarkXPress as you can with a PSD file. You can access that content only through Photoshop (see the discussion of PSD files later in this chapter for more info on this topic). So here is my take on TIFFs. Unless you need to store layers, masks, and vectors in a TIFF, save files that have these components in PSD format. Reserve TIFF format for flattened, simplified files you want to print. See my riff in the “File Formats and Workflow” section later in this chapter for more info on this topic.