WHAT TYPES OF IMAGES WILL
WORK FOR QUALITY PRINTING?
If
you are scanning images it is best to save them as a
.tif format.This image format will preserve the color
and sharpness of your pictures. File formats like gif
or .jpg use compression and the pictures color and resolution
can be severely distorted.
JPG’s and gif’s are the most popular image
formats on the web, it’s a good idea not to simply
copy an image from a website and use it in your layout.The
quality will be very poor since the image are only 72
dpi.
You should scan your images using a resolution of 300dpi
at the final dimensions you intend to use them.Your
colors and sharpness will look vibrant and smooth. Don’t
scan an image at 300dpi and then enlarge the picture
by 300% in your layout program! Scan it to the actual
size. If you scan it at 300 dpi and then reduce it in
you layout program you should still get good results.
If you are using pictures from a digital camera they
should work ok if they are .jpgs.The quality of .jpg
images from digital cameras are much better quality
than .jpgs from the web.You must do the math to make
sure that it is high enough in pixel resolution though.
For example, if your camera puts out an image of 1280
x 960 pixels at 72dpi you get about 17” x 13”
of image at 72dpi.You would need to reduce the image
to about 4” x 3” to get decent quality on
the printing press.
If you used just the fonts that came with MS Publisher,Word
or Excel then we have those fonts and you don’t
need to send them. If you used some fonts from other sources
then you do need to send them to us.
If you use our Desktop
PDF printer driver you don’t have to worry about
fonts, images or links. All of the fonts
and linked images are embedded in the file when it’s
generated and you will see an instant proof. See “Desktop
PDF Printing”.
WILL THE COLORS ON MY
PRINTED PIECE MATCH MY COMPUTER MONITOR?
Not exactly, there are some differences. Digital cameras
create images using combinations of three colors. Red,
Green and Blue (called RGB).These are the colors that
computers use to display images on your monitor. Printing
presses print color pictures using cyan, magenta, yellow
and black (called CMYK).Your RGB image must be converted
to CMYK in order to print it on a press.This is easily
done using an image editing program like PhotoShop, PhotoDeluxe,
or Corel PhotoPaint.
RGB
colors
(what you see on screen)
CMYK colors
(printing inks
will do this)
You most likely won't notice
this kind of color shift in a color photograph.
It is more likely to happen if you pick a very rich,
vibrant color for a background or some other element
of your layout. It probably won't look bad, it just
won't look exactly the same. But it may not be noticeable
at all either. In any event it will look more professional
compared to a piece printed on an inkjet printer.
CAUTION: PLEASE DO THE
RGB-TO-CMYK CONVERSION OF YOUR IMAGES!
You will have total control over the appearance of your
printed piece if you convert the images from RGB to CMYK
before sending them to us.When we receive files with RGB
images we do a standard conversion to CMYK. We cannot
be responsible for sub-par results if you furnish RGB
images or low-res images.
There are colors that can only be done in RGB that can
not be reproduced in CMYK.They are out of the CMYK color
gamut.These colors are translated as close as possible.
If you have to have a certain color that needs to match
exactly you may have to use a special PMS match color.
Your order will run as a 5-color job, CMYK plus PMS. Call
for information and pricing on 5-color jobs.
You shouldn’t notice a color shift in a color photograph.
It is more likely to happen if you pick a deep or vibrant
color for a background or some other element in your design.
It probably won’t look bad, it just won’t
look exactly the same as on screen. Many colors look almost
exactly the same.
RGB Image
CMYK Image
Color
photos don’t suffer much from CMYK translation
There is almost no visible difference between
the two!
It’s
best not to colorize or reverse out small text.What will
happen is that all presses have very slight amount of
variance in the registration from one printing unit to
the next.This is called mis-registration and even the
top of the line presses have this minute mis-registration.The
black, cyan, magenta and yellow portions of the text characters
don’t line up perfectly.The result is little colored
halos around the type.The smaller the type the more noticeable
the effect. It’s ok to use colored or reversed out
text on large type or smaller sizes down to about 11 point
size. Any smaller than that and you might notice it. The
word register above is enlarged to show what may happen
to small text.
If you put text on top of images it can be very hard to
read. The best thing to do is put type over the light
areas of an image. If you have to put text over a dark
area then use a reverse out with white. Be sure not to
use small text or you will have the problem with register
as above.
Bleed is the term for printing that makes it appear
that the printing goes right to the edge of the paper.
Printing is never printed off the edge of the paper
on the press. We use over sized paper and then trim
the paper so that it appears that the image was printed
off the page.The best way to do this is to make your
document .125” bigger in all dimensions. For example,
if the final size is 8.5” x 11” then make
your document 8.75” x 11.25”. Draw guides
on the layout that are .125” from the edge all
the way around.
Create your document with the idea that the layout will
be cut off where those guides are. Be sure that any
photographs, images or backgrounds that you want to
bleed go past the guidelines.After we print your piece
we will trim off that extra .125” all the way
around and you will end up with your 8.5” x 11”
piece.
If
you are scanning images it is best to save them as a
.tif format.This image format will preserve the color
and sharpness of your pictures. File formats like gif
or .jpg use compression and the pictures color and resolution
can be severely distorted.
It’s
best not to colorize or reverse out small text.What will
happen is that all presses have very slight amount of
variance in the registration from one printing unit to
the next.This is called mis-registration and even the
top of the line presses have this minute mis-registration.The
black, cyan, magenta and yellow portions of the text characters
don’t line up perfectly.The result is little colored
halos around the type.The smaller the type the more noticeable
the effect. It’s ok to use colored or reversed out
text on large type or smaller sizes down to about 11 point
size. Any smaller than that and you might notice it. The
word register above is enlarged to show what may happen
to small text.
