Topic: PDF to Photoshop prints jagged - Why? (Page 1 of 1)

A coworker approached me about this one. He moved a PDF image to Photoshop to make changes to a logo on it. When he printed it from Photoshop, it printed jagged. Printed from the original PDF, it looks smooth and fine. I checked the resolution in Photoshop and it was at 72dpi. However, that's how it transferred over. I know a 72 dpi is going to be jagged on a printer, but don't get why it prints fine off the PDF at, I assume, the same resolution.

I don't know much about PDF. Can anyone explain why it prints fine from the PDF, but with no changes made other than moving it into Photoshop, it prints jagged? Is there a way to pull it over from the PDF at a better quality?

Many thanks for your advice.

I'm guessing that when the PDF was imported to photoshop, it was imported at 72dpi, even though the original PDF was a higher resolution.

I'm sure its the same as an illustrator file when you import in into PS you set the resolution? dont have ps in front of my so i cant check. i could be completly wrong though

I'd try it with Illustrator. I good PDF (eww, if there is such a thing) is going to be mostly scalable, which is Illustrator's domain.

Maruman, your suggestion worked. It does work like importing an Illustrator file. Thanks for the help!

What maruman said is exactly right when you drag a PDF into PS it lets you set the DPI you want it to be in PS. It may be a 300 DPI image embedded in the PDF but when you import it at 72 it's going to lose a lot. If teh Loog is only a part of the PDF and you have Acrobat ( Not reader only) you can use the touch up object tool to select just that object of the PDF. Right(Shift) Click it and select edit object and it will open that object in Illustrator if it is Vector or Photoshop if it is raster. When it does this it seems to open it at teh resolution it was embedded at. you can tehn make changes and hit file save and then go back to the PDF and will reinsert the file with your changes back into PDF.

I have to do this a the time when someone sends me a PDF to go on the press as all black but an image in it is in color. I do this, change it to grayscale and save and boom only one plate to worry about.