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Photoshop printing tips
Photo Shop Prints: Tips for Quality Color Printing
http://www.photo-shop-tutorials.net/photo-shop-prints.htmlPhoto Shop Prints is an article about one of the more challenging areas of computer graphics, largely due to the difference between what you see on the screen (RGB) and what appears on paper when RGB (red-green-blue) is converted to CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black). Here are a variety of tips to help you get quality results with your home or office printer, or if you choose to use a professional printer.
As noted in the Slides Scanning article, colors that work in the RGB color space are often out of gamut in the CMYK color space; meaning that what you see on the screen cannot be printed using color inks. Other Photo shop print issues are different RGB spaces among scanners or monitors, a different CMYK space among printers and printing presses and your monitor going through color shifts as it ages.
If you choose to use a commercial printer, I recommend that you do all of your work in RGB. DO NOT convert your Photo shop print files to CMYK. Instead, collect all your edited and original files (don't edit your originals in case there's a problem), then bring them to the printer and make them responsible. (If you do convert to CMYK be aware that you lose a great deal of color data. And if you do too many manipulations past this point, the loss of color data could posterize your image.)
If you want more control over the CMYK process, I recommend Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction. This is considered to be the bible of color printing. The author, Dan Margulis, is a color correction expert and is one of first three individuals to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame.Page layout. When setting up your Photo shop print layout, make sure that the page size of the electronic document matches the size of the actual printed piece. If you change the resolution of your document, make sure the page size doesn't also change. Missing this detail can create disastrous consequences later.
About graphics. When manipulating graphics, functions such as mirror and rotation should be performed in an image-editing application such as Photoshop CS v8.0 (Win) / Mac
Using these functions in page layout programs such as Quark Xpress 6.0 (Win) / (Mac), Pagemaker 7.0.2 (Win) / (Mac) or Indesign cs v3.0 (Win) / (Mac) will add to processing times when you send your files to a commercial printer. ~ Photo Shop PrintsScreen vs. print resolutions. You will need to use different resolutions depending on the final output. When working with screen resolutions, your images are at 72dpi; whereas for printing, resolutions range from 125dpi to 400dpi, depending on the final output. While a screen image at 72dpi may look great on your monitor, it will appear highly pixelated in print and lack sharpness and depth. ~ Photo Shop Prints
Quality fonts. Avoid the use of cheap fonts, they can wreak havoc on the printing end. For best results, stick with Type 1 fonts from quality sources such as Adobe font folio 9.0 (PC/Macmac). When you send fonts to your printer, make sure to include both the screen font (that is used for your monitor) and the printer font (for smooth print). If only the screen font is included, the print will be of poor quality. ~ Photo Shop Prints
About bleeds. If you create a Photoshop print layout where you want your images or colors to run to the edge of the page, you will need to set a "bleed" of up to 1/4 of an inch to allow for trimming afterwards.
Crop marks and color scales. When sending your file to the printer, use page layout software, such as QuarkXPress, Adobe PageMaker, or InDesign to include cropping marks for trimming and bending, along with color swatches to check for the correct color in your printed copy. Collect for output. QuarkXPress is the industry standard for page layout software, just make sure that the colors you create in QuarkXPress are separated colors (CMYK) if you are doing four-color printing. When your job is done, use the Collect For Output feature from the File menu in QuarkXPress because it collects all the files for you automatically (but it doesn’t collect the fonts; you’ll have to do that on your own). For more information, visit the Service page at: . Type in "collect for output," in the Search options. ~ Photo Shop Prints
About file formats. When saving Photoshop print files, you need to use a TIFF or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format. Another option for printing is to output your file in PDF format. This ensures that all the relevant data, including fonts, will be in the file. Additionally, PDF files can be saved at a maximum resolution of 300dpi, which is perfect for the printing process.
Other Considerations. Many things will affect the quality of your commercial printing job, such as the inks used by the printer, coated and uncoated paper stock, and more. Before you spend any time creating a Photoshop print layout, find out at what resolution your project or ad will be printed. As an example, if your project is being run on a printing press at 150lpi (lines per inch), then that’s the resolution your film (color separations before print) needs to be output at. At 150lpi, your scans and images should be at a minimum of 300dpi at its actual size.
Photoshop printing at home. All inks saturate the paper used with your desktop printer, some more than others. With light paper grades, the ink tends to bleed through to the other side more than with a heavier grade of paper. This can cause problems if you want to print on both sides of the sheet. A good overall paper choice is a 20-pound to 24-pound bond. However, if you're looking for a photographic result, that's not the best choice. Instead, look at photo quality papers, such as those produced by Epson or HP. Also, the color accuracy and quality of your prints will depend on several factors, such as the inks used, the heaviness of application, the paper and the printer itself. Future articles in this section will cover How to Buy a Printer and Giclee Printing.
Additional Resources If you're looking for a printer who can deliver high quality results, look no further than Wayne Sampson at Watermark Lithography
Watermark provides prepress services for British Columbia magazine. The printer is Quebecor World, Vancouver. The magazine's title changed about 2 years ago from "Beautiful British Columbia" to just "British Columbia" magazine concurrent with the transfer of ownership back to the province of BC.
Their prepress services to the magazine includes: the scanning of all non-digital photography; conversion of digital photography into CMYK; routine general color correction & editing; specific color and content editing as requested by the art director; creation of the digital PDF proofs for editorial proofreading; creation of reflective Fuji Pictro proofs for proofreading by the art director; creation of final PDF data for plating at Quebecor; and creation of the final "contract" color proofs which are used in the pressroom.
The proofs are of critical importance in that they must represent the data in a manner which is accurate to the data, pleasing to the reader and attainable within the printing environment while getting the most that environment can yield. The art director attends all press runs, merging his judgement with the first pressman's experience, assessing and adjusting the print in context with the proofs, to get the very most out of the final stage of production.
Next to the design and photography itself, the prepress task will most determine the outcome of the finished product. Modern prepress skills begin with the interpretation of photographic and real world color into data, and end with a thorough understanding of how that data will render onto paper in the pressroom. While prepress becomes ever more digital in nature, the pressroom remains largely analog with digital dressing.
Watermark Lithography
468 Bay Street
Victoria, BC V8T 5H2
Phone: (250) 361-1521
fax: (250) 361-1564A second resource that I often use is Prism Photo, located at 791 Fort St, also in Victora. Their phone number is 1 (877) 523-FILM or (250) 386-7787 and you'll want to talk with Terry Zlot. Prism Photo offers their clients the highest quality, most versatile, and widest range of digital services on the Island. From high resolution scanning, digital photo printing, large format output, fine art reproduction, display printing, or wholesale output, they have a solution that will work for you.
Recently, Prism received their new d.lab, the first photo lab of its kind in Canada. This printer enables them to produce unrivaled digital prints from 4x6 up to 12x18 inches. For more information, visit their web site or call them at the above numbers.
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