How to Choose Photos for Print Production
- 1). Select well-composed images. Landscapes should project near and far images for perspective. Group shots and portraits need careful planning of body placement for a flattering shot.
- 2). Frame your photograph within the lens to produce a good-quality shot. For example, a landscape could have a nearby tree on one side to anchor the eye and then send it beyond that tree to the image you are capturing.
- 3). Download basic photo-editing software onto your computer, if it doesn't have it built in. Most digital cameras have a disk with that software.
- 4). Set your camera to record images at their highest resolution. You can downgrade the resolution, but you cannot upgrade the pixel count and still retain a clear image. Internet photographs should be 72 ppi (pixels per inch) for quick data transfer and fast updoading. Print-quality photographs need to be at least a 300 ppi or 1600 ppi-x-1250 ppi ratio for good-quality images.
- 5). Crop out any extraneous image that does not add to the composition of your photograph. However, reducing the image size affects the ppi. This can be corrected to an extent in photographic software, but it takes some technical knowledge to do this well for a magazine-quality image.
- 6). Change your digital image from a three-color RGB (red, green, blue) color format to a printing quality CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) mode via photo software. You do not need to do this for personal photographic prints; however, professional printing requires this.
- 7). Save your photograph as a .tif or .eps image for professionally printed magazine-quality images. Saving as a .jpg is fine for ordering online prints.
- 8). Investigate purchasing simple photo software, such as Photoshop Elements. The instructions for both Internet-bound and print-shop-quality images are not difficult.
