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Author Topic: converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC  (Read 8979 times)

tws

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« on: December 25, 2009, 06:53:48 pm »

greetings luminous landscape,


for years i've been saving and working on my photoshop files in the .psd format... recently i've not been able to open in ACR (5.5) .psd files that i've converted to tiff files in photoshop.  generally i initiate my work flow in ACR with nef files and save them to .psd   However, i've now learned that the tiff format is superior - see the qoute below from down thread.

i'm not knowledgeable enough to know exactly what settings to apply when saving my many thousands of  psd files (many are large pano's from photoshop 6 to CS4)  into a tif file in order to utilizes the great editing powers of ACR

When i convert a .psd file in photoshop CS4 a box comes up and prompts:

none
lzw
zip

pixel order
interleaved (RGBRGB)
Per Channel (RRGGBB)

byte order
IMB PC
Macintosh

Layer compression

RLE
ZIP
Discard layers and save a copy

i know that my ACR opens tif's since i've just saved from ACR a nef file in the tif format and it reopened  in ACR when clicked in the bridge browser.

apparently even after converting my .psd files to tif they are somehow not recognized as a tif that ACR will open!

can anyone explain the steps (correct boxes to check) necessary to convert a .psd into a tif that ACR will regonize?

thanks for any help and excellent forum.

tws

cheers

"...PSD is now a bastardized file format that is NOT a good idea to use. Even the Photoshop engineers will tell you that PSD is no longer the Photoshop "native" file format. It has no advantages and many disadvantages over TIFF.

TIFF is publicly documented, PSD is not. That makes TIFF a preferred file format for the long term conservation of digital files.

TIFF uses ZIP compression for max compression, PSD uses RLE which if you save without the Max compatibility will be a bit smaller, but at the risk of not being able to be used by apps, like Lightroom.

TIFF can save EVERYTHING a PSD can save including layers, paths, channels, transparency, annotations and can go up to 4 GIGS in file size. TIFF can save all the color spaces PSD can. The ONLY thing I can think of that PSD can save that currently TIFF can't save is if you Save out of Camera Raw a cropped PSD, you can uncrop the PSD in Photoshop CS, CS2 or 3. That's one tiny obscure thing that PSD can do that TIFF currently doesn't. How many people even knew that let alone use it?

PSD used to be the preferred file format back before Adobe bastardized it for the Creative Suite. The moment that happened, PSD ceased to be a Photoshop "native" file format. PSB is the new Photoshop "native" file format for images beyond 30,000 pixels. And , at the moment, only Photoshop can open a PSB..."
« Last Edit: December 25, 2009, 07:42:14 pm by tws »
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jerryrock

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2009, 10:11:43 pm »

Leave your Photoshop files as PSD. I don't know of a photo program that does not use the PSD file format. The argument you quoted is just not valid, in fact TIFF file format does not support duotones either. Currently, the most versatile file format is neither TIFF or PSD, it is PDF because it can encompass both transparencies and vector data.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2009, 10:12:58 pm by jerryrock »
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Gerald J Skrocki

Schewe

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2009, 11:17:39 pm »

Quote from: tws
can anyone explain the steps (correct boxes to check) necessary to convert a .psd into a tif that ACR will regonize?

Camera Raw can only open flat RGB tiff files...no layers.
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Schewe

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2009, 11:22:43 pm »

Quote from: jerryrock
I don't know of a photo program that does not use the PSD file format.


Actually, Lightroom won't import PSD files with layers that have not been saved with backwards compatibility saved with the PSD. Point in fact, other that a few obscure areas, TIFF is indeed superior to PSD.

No, you can't save a duotone...how many people actually SAVED duotones as opposed to taking a duotone and convert to RGB of CMYK? But TIFFs ARE more universal and fully documented which PSD is not.
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tws

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2009, 12:41:43 am »

thank you jerry rock and schewe,

i've discovered that indeed once a tiff file has layers it will not open in ACR. presumably nothing with layers will...

this is perplexing stuff.

much to learn.

thanks again!

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jerryrock

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2009, 09:11:13 am »

Quote from: Schewe
Actually, Lightroom won't import PSD files with layers that have not been saved with backwards compatibility saved with the PSD. Point in fact, other that a few obscure areas, TIFF is indeed superior to PSD.

No, you can't save a duotone...how many people actually SAVED duotones as opposed to taking a duotone and convert to RGB of CMYK? But TIFFs ARE more universal and fully documented which PSD is not.

How many people actually try to import layered PSD files into Lightroom? Isn't the workflow usually in the other direction? I think you will find that the PSD file has become more universally supported than you suggest.

Editing photo files in Photoshop and converting to TIFF as a general workflow makes no sense to me. Personally, I will always use Photoshop as my photo editing program and save my images as PDF files, keeping the originals as RAW. I will go back to Photoshop and re-edit depending on my project needs prior to exporting to a page layout program. I prefer Adobe InDesign because it can use native Photoshop and Illustrator files and does an excellent job of exporting to PDF, maintaining the features of each file type.

I was taught to always use IBM (PC) compatible byte order for TIFF files because they are also MAC compatible. When saving TIFF files, I never use any compression.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2009, 10:26:51 am by jerryrock »
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Gerald J Skrocki

Schewe

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2009, 03:43:23 pm »

Quote from: jerryrock
How many people actually try to import layered PSD files into Lightroom? Isn't the workflow usually in the other direction? I think you will find that the PSD file has become more universally supported than you suggest.


No, I guess you weren't around when Lightroom first launched and scores of users screamed bloody murder because LR refused to import layered PSD files unless the backwards compatibility check was on. People have been warned that some applications won't support layered PSD's without the backwards compatibility checked...Lightroom proved that (you STILL can't import PSD's without the backwards compatibility checked).

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jerryrock

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2009, 11:01:02 am »

Quote from: Schewe
No, I guess you weren't around when Lightroom first launched and scores of users screamed bloody murder because LR refused to import layered PSD files unless the backwards compatibility check was on. People have been warned that some applications won't support layered PSD's without the backwards compatibility checked...Lightroom proved that (you STILL can't import PSD's without the backwards compatibility checked).

As storage solutions increase in size, the price per MB for storage decreases. With that said, there is no reason not to use the maximize compatibility feature when saving Photoshop files.

I don't use Lightroom, I am an Aperture user which also requires PSD files to be saved with maximum compatibility for import.
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Gerald J Skrocki

skid00skid00

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2009, 08:30:28 pm »

TWS, -why- do you want to go -back- into ACR after converting your RAW files?  I think most of us do the necessary RAW conversion work in ACR, and any final tweaks in PS.  It sounds like you aren't doing the initial RAW processing...

Also, you should keep your original RAW files -forever-!  There will be improved RAW conversion applications in the future, which will enable you to get even better results from your RAW files.
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tws

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converting psd files to tif that will open in ARC
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2010, 03:53:33 pm »

Quote from: skid00skid00
TWS, -why- do you want to go -back- into ACR after converting your RAW files?  I think most of us do the necessary RAW conversion work in ACR, and any final tweaks in PS.  It sounds like you aren't doing the initial RAW processing...

Also, you should keep your original RAW files -forever-!  There will be improved RAW conversion applications in the future, which will enable you to get even better results from your RAW files.


good point... actually i seldom, if ever, go back to the orginal nef file from a tif or psd file... just wasn't aware that a layered tiff or psd file could not be opened again by ACR

rather, i'd start from scratch.

i do keep my orginal raw files.

things change and i don't often keep up... i'm curious about the newer ACR 5.5 features and need to learn more about the presets... where can you get them, and also learn to make my own...
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