Tiff files

So it's a cloudy rainy day here and I was messing around in Lightroom with shots I took this morning before it got crappy out. I shoot raw, import into Lightroom and convert to dng, do my editing and then export in jpeg and upload to Flickr.

I decided to export into a tiff file, I know nothing about them just wanted to see what it was. I was shocked at the file size. The DNG was 60.5mb jpeg down to 16.4mb and the tiff was a huge 199.1mb.

So what is the purpose of a tiff file and does anybody use them? And why does it increase the file size three times the original?

 

The RAW DNG file contains all the colour information which is then separated into the three colour channels of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) in the TIFF file and each channel can be either 8 or 16 bits (only 8 bits in JPG) so it is normal that the TIFF file will be three times the size of a RAW file. JPG will be smaller as it is compressed.
I export from LR as JPG for the web but I also export as TIFF as there is no loss of data as there is with JPG. HTH.

 

So what do you do with the tiff file then?

I thought maybe it would be better to use to get printed but the place I go to doesn’t except them and a place online I have used to print images doesn’t use them either.

 

I know that I don't need to export TIF files from LR but I usually do that from Photoshop when I might want to work on the file again. I could save the file as a PSD (Photoshop's file format that also saves all the layers) but they are even larger. JPG files are called "lossy" because they lose data and they lose more data every time you save them so you normally only save as the LAST part of the process e.g. for printing.

 

That is a useful explanation.

I would only send a TIFF to a relative or a very good friend otherwise they would get a JPG. I never ever part with one of my RAW files. But that is just me. YMMV.