Effective PPI issues when placing photo into a document setup for Web

[Dustin_Rabin]

Hello!

I've used InDesign numerous times to makes books, but this time I want to create a PDF to be viewed on a screen, not in print, so I selected Intent: Web in the setup.

My ID document size is 1440px by 1000px.  I created a background image in Photoshop with the same dimensions.  When I place the image in ID, it is way smaller. 

I've been searching for answers online and have learned why this resizing is happening, but I haven't found any real solutions.  I understand that ID is changing the Effective PPI of my image while placing it (in this case from 72 to 144).  But that's all the info I've been able to find.

Can someone please tell me how I can create a PDF to be viewed on a screen, with images that I'm creating in Photoshop?

Thank you!!

Yours truly,

Dustin R.

[BobLevine]

You’re way overthinking this.

The only 1:1 when it comes to pixels is if you save your graphic at 72ppi.

[Dustin_Rabin]

Hi, Bob.

Thanks for your reply. 

Wouldn't that mean that as long as I save my images at 72dpi in PS, they would remain the same size in the ID document that's been set up for Web? 

That's what I've been doing and once placed, the image goes from 1440px wide at 72ppi, to 720px wide at 144ppi, and appears half the size on the canvas.

[BobLevine]

Without seeing what you’re doing it’s impossible to tell.

But I just created a 1024x768 graphic in Photoshop saved at 72ppi and then a 1024x768 InDesign doc.

Fits like a glove.

That out of the way. Why are doing it like this. You really are over thinking it. If it’s that important, just scale the image to fit the page.

[Dustin_Rabin]

Is your ID doc setup for Web?

I appreciate you telling me to keep it simple, but that's what I thought I was doing.  I'm literally just trying to place an image in ID which I've done a thousand times for print, but for web it's doing funky stuff with resizing.

I don't know of a simpler way to do it.

[Dustin_Rabin]

I tried something totally random, when saving for web in PS I unchecked Metadata and it worked fine.  There must have been something in the metadata that was scaling the image.  Makes no sense to me, but at least I can get on with the project now.

I also placed a larger photo (1600px) and it stayed the same size in ID.  As soon as I resized to 1440px (the ID doc size) and placed it, it scaled the image to 50% again.

Then I played around with resizing, trying bigger and smaller than 1440px, and every time I save the image as 1500px or smaller, it would scale it by 50% in ID.  Really weird.

Note I did all my resizing in PS, and always kept them 72ppi.  The only thing that gave me consistent positive results when placing in ID was when I unchecked the Metadata when saving for web in PS....

Baffled, but it is what it is....

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Note I did all my resizing in PS, and always kept them 72ppi.  The only thing that gave me consistent positive results when placing in ID was when I unchecked the Metadata when saving for web in PS....

There's no reason to save JPEGs or PNGs via Save for Web for your placed images. You can use the more flexible .PSD format because any desired compression will happen in your export settings when you export the PDF. Placing JPEGs will simply cause a double compression on export.

Also when you place there are a number ways you can purposefully or accidentally cause the initial scale to be something other than 100%. If you choose Place with no selection and drag on the place, the scale would depend on the drag amount. If you have a selection, the selection's object style could have an effect on the placed file. Or, if there had been a scaled image in the selection before the place the original scale might be applied. Your Preferences>File Handing>Links settings could have an effect.