Save for Web problem when going from InDesign to Photoshop

[wendywwood]

Has anyone noticed that when you go from InDesign CS3 to Photoshop CS3, and then use the "Save for Web" function, that it lightens the image, regardless of the color setting? This happens regardless if I try to copy/paste across the two programs, or if I open a JPEG/EPS/PDF saved from InDesign CS3 and then go to export it for the web from Photoshop CS3. (This is for a project where the site was designed in InDesign and now needs to be built for the web.)

The only way I can keep the file the correct color, is to bypass Photoshop altogether and just save the Indesign file as a giant JPEG, and open it up in Fireworks and use their export feature. I don't remember ever having this problem in CS2. What changed, or what setting(s) do I need to change?

Thanks!!

- Wendy

 

[eugenetyson]

I think the fact that there are only 216 web safe colours. I wouldn't bother saving for web from photoshop as JPEG is fine. You can export from InDesign the correct size if you use points as your measurements.

One point equals 1/72 of an inch. So, for a 72 dpi image, 1 point = 1 pixel. When I make slides in InDesign, I make 1024 x 768 pt documents, then export jpg at 72 dpi.

You can then use that JPEG you exported from InDesign for the web. There's no need to go to Photoshop.

 

[jimoblak]

The reference to web safe colours should only be used in the 1990s when not all displays were above 8 bit. Now we have 24 bit displays that allow millions of colors.

InDesign does not offer the interactive Save for Web preview that Photoshop does to reduce the image to the ideal file size.

The thing that may have changed on you is color management settings and working document color modes. Are they the same as what you had in CS2?

 

[eugenetyson]

Well, I agree with jimoblak that is a 1990's term but can still ring true with todays browsers and save options, I feel.

http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devsup.nsf/docs/52521.htm

 

[jimoblak]

What does that Adobe support document have to do with 'web safe' colors? What browser today only supports 216 colors?

Web safe colors in the 20th century never guaranteed a perfect color match. They only guaranteed that a color would not be dithered on either a Mac or Windows 8-bit display. Those 216 colors were the only colors that Mac and Windows systems shared in their default 8-bit (256 color) displays. Practically no one is using 8 bit displays now so the web safe color concept is pretty much useless today.

Unless you click the 'ICC Profile' checkbox in the Save for Web dialog box, any color management info is stripped out in the Save for Web process. This is the common reason for a change in color.

The issue is color management; which is rarely handled in today's web browsers anyway, regardless of how you save the image file.

 

[eugenetyson]

Sorry Jim, this was the link that I meant to share. And I admit the use of Web Safe colours is an antiquated term. I don't know what I was thinking, but lets just say I wasn't in the "right frame of mind".

Still though there is no need to use the Save for Web then really is there? Saving as a basic Jpeg is perfectly fine, and so too is exporting it directly from InDesign and it will be fine.

http://www.lynda.com/hex.asp

 

[jimoblak]

Using the 'Save for Web' function is much better than a plain JPG export from InDesign. 'Save for Web' allows you to interactively test various JPG compression levels to get the smallest file size at an acceptable quality. It appears that Wendy is aware of this and seeks that ideal file size if she is trying to optimize it in Fireworks.

 

[wendywwood]

In response to the ICC Profile - that's just it, it's checked. And the color management settings are the same as they were in CS2, and even when saving at 100%, maximum quality, and it still lightens the image when using the save for web feature in Photoshop.

I'm working on getting a link in here so I can show you what I mean with a picture.

 

[eugenetyson]

Maybe you have a transparent object on the page that the image resides. Aparently when there are objects on the pages that have transparency then the image goes through the transparency process.