Need help preparing images for web

[Jeff Kott]

I would like some advice on taking an 8-bit or 16-bit RGB tiff with capture sharpening (but not Output Sharpening) applied and converting it to a jpeg for web posting.

My normal workflow for print is to use my raw converter for exposure comp, white balance and saturation adjustments in prophoto rgb and to save as an 8-bit or 16-bit tiff (I use 16 bits if I intend to print large or anticipate further color adjustment in CS3). In CS3 I make any further color adjustments, cropping and capture sharpening with PK Sharpener, save the file as a tiff "original" and make copies of the original for resizing and output sharpening with PK Sharpener for different print sizes.

I'm totally happy with my print output, but when I try to resize the "original" tiff (that does not have the output sharpening applied) and save as a jpeg for web posting, my results are not good. I usually resize with Bicubic Sharper so the longest edge is 900 pixels, convert to SRGB and use a jpeg quality that results in about a 500kb file. I have tried applying PK output shapener for the appropriate web output, but my resultant jpegs are fuggly (a Schewe term) no matter what I do.

Would somone please share their detailed workflow to go from full size RGB tiff to a web ready jpeg.

[MarcRochkind]

Here's what I do, but I'm not sure it's much different. Maybe a few details that matter are.

Do as much processing in Lightroom as possible (from raw), except I do no sharpening at all. Export as 16-bit PSD, sRGB, longest side 600 or 800 (depending on where I'm going to post it).

In Photosop, run PK Sharpener twice, once for capture and once for web output. Then change to 8-bit and save as either:

1. Highest possible JPEG quality, for posting on my site, or
2. Auto file size to 200KB, as that's the limit on another site I use.

One of my sides corresponds exactly to a drop-down in PK Sharpener (600 or 800), but the other never does. I don't know to what extent the choice (600 or 800) matters.

I have definitely seen a difference between output sharpening for the web and not. Example on my blog.

--Marc
basepath.com

[Jeff Kott]

Marc,

Thanks for sharing your work flow.

It seems to me that your work flow is targeted towards ending up with an image for web posting. The goal of my work flow is to end up with an RGB "digital master" optimized for printing. Then I copy this master file and resize for the exact print size and use PK Output Sharpener on the resized file.

My problem comes when I try to resize the digital master (which is a very large file) for the web. Unfortunately, after I resize, convert to sRGB and sharpen, my files don't look good.

Any other suggestions anyone?

Jeff Kott
San Francisco

[MarcRochkind]

Jeff--

I, too, keep a full-size digital master for things like printing, but the differences between my workflow and yours are (as I understand yours):

1. I keep my master as an unmodified raw in Lightroom, along with the list of develop changes. (Think of it as a script that's applied whenever the image is viewed, printed, or exported.) I would think that exporting it as a TIFF would have no effect.

2. I resize to the web requirements before capture sharpening. It sounds like you are resizing the image previously capture sharpened at the native resolution. Maybe if the down rezzing is extreme, which it would definitely be for a hi-rez digital capture, that matters.

I don't know why your workflow isn't working, and I don't mean to suggest that mine is better. I was only sharing. ;-)

--Marc

[Jeff Kott]

>Jeff--

>I, too, keep a full-size digital master for things like printing, but the differences between my workflow and yours are (as I understand yours):

>1. I keep my master as an unmodified raw in Lightroom, along with the list of develop changes. (Think of it as a script that's applied whenever the >image is viewed, printed, or exported.) I would think that exporting it as a TIFF would have no effect.

Correct. The reason I don't keep my master file as a raw file is that I use Nikon Capture or Capture One 4 and I need to convert my raw file to a tiff or psd to do further color correction and contrast adjustments in Photoshop CS3. I'm not sure if I would get better results if I resized the raw file as part of the conversion process as opposed to resizing the converted file.

>2. I resize to the web requirements before capture sharpening. It sounds like you are resizing the image previously capture sharpened at the native >resolution. Maybe if the down rezzing is extreme, which it would definitely be for a hi-rez digital capture, that matters.

Yes, I have been doing the capture sharpening before resizing. Maybe this is the problem when I am doing such a radical downsizing. I think I'll try it your way and do the capture sharpening after resizing down.

Marc, thanks for taking the time to explore this with me.

Jeff