Tiff v. PSD

[Peter F]

From LR, when extra PP is needed I have been exporting to PSE5.0 as a PSD file because that is what I am used to using in PSE.  But I noticed in Scott Kelby's book that he recommends exporting as TIFF files.  He's smarter than I am so I must be doing it all wrong.  Seriously though, are there disadvantages and advantages to both or is TIFF the clear winner?  Oh, at this point I am a JPEG shooter only....

Thanks.

Peter F.

[CatOne]

From LR, when extra PP is needed I have been exporting to PSE5.0 as a PSD file because that is what I am used to using in PSE.  But I noticed in Scott Kelby's book that he recommends exporting as TIFF files.  He's smarter than I am so I must be doing it all wrong.  Seriously though, are there disadvantages and advantages to both or is TIFF the clear winner?  Oh, at this point I am a JPEG shooter only....

Thanks.

Peter F.
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Have a search here.  Schewe has done fairly extensive posting on why he recommends TIFF versus PSD for this purpose.  It's been documented fairly extensively in Jeff's oft abrasive style  

[Martin Ocando]

Oh, at this point I am a JPEG shooter only....
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Why bother? If you are shooting JPEG solely, you won't see any difference in either. You are restricting your images way too much. Is like having a marble inside a bowl (JPEG gamma and brightness levels + sRGB or Adobe RGB on a ProPhoto RGB space and high bit depth) instead of a soccer ball in a bowl (RAW developed TIFF with full dynamic range and 2048 brightness levels in 0 EV + ProPhoto RGB space).
The container is way too big for the product.

Once you start shooting RAW, which you should do soon, then bother yourself on using PSD or TIFF as a transitional format between LR and PS.

BTW, I use ZIP compressed TIFFs

[Panopeeper]

Seriously though, are there disadvantages and advantages to both or is TIFF the clear winner?

PSDs are usually much larger.

[Martin Ocando]

PSDs are usually much larger.
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Because it doesn't have compression options. Unlike TIFF that you can use ZIP or LZH compression algorithms.

[tomrock]

I think it has to do with the fact that tiff is a documented, open format and more programs will recognize tiff than psd.

[Martin Ocando]

Layered TIFFs are not that popular, though.

I think it has to do with the fact that tiff is a documented, open format and more programs will recognize tiff than psd.
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[peterhandley]

Layered TIFFs are not that popular, though.
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If you're only keeping your work on your own machine...  does it matter if layered tiffs are popular or not? Save a flattened version of the complete image as a tif and the working file as a layered tif or psd file. People who keep their software current won't have any problems dealing with either format.

[Philip Weber]

I am new to all this so my workflow may or may not be the best...but it does work for me.

I always save my original RAW files (my Pentax K10D shoots in DNG) and when done processing in LR, export as "Processed RAW" in a seperate file. I'm not putting anything on the web, so the few that I feel are good enough to print go into CS3 as RAW files, for tweaking mostly using the suggestions in C2P. When done (sharpening last) I save into a "Print Ready" folder (with sub folders by the location and date of the shoot) using a flattened TIFF with LZW compression.

So, I always have my originals if I want to re-visit them in the LR RAW converter, the processed RAW if I want to try my luck again in CS3 and the best I have, soft proofed and ready for print in a third folder.

This may be more work then is necessary but with up to date software, it doesn't seem that either the TIFF or PSD should make a whole lot of difference, unless you're working in a specialized app like In Design. I've gone with TIFF based on Jeff Schewe's advice.

I hope this helps a little!
Phil