SCANNING IMAGES TO GET THE BEST RESULTS
Producing a great book begins with great photography. No amount of digital manipulation will make a really bad photo much better. Scan only well-balanced photos with good contrasts of light and dark. Make sure the faces in your photos are not too dark (they won’t show up when printed) or too light (these will wash out).
Resolution
Scanned photos are made up of microscopic squares called pixels and are measured by dots per inch (dpi). The dpi determines resolution. For optimal quality, your TIFF photographs should be 300 dpi; line art needs to be 600 dpi.
Manipulating Images
Use Adobe PhotoShop to open and manipulate your scanned images. There are two basic ways to control the image: Levels and Curves. Whether you use levels or curves, the same rule of thumb applies: The shadow area (darkest dark) should be 90% to 93%. The highlight area (whitest white) should be from 0% to 10%. This will help ensure proper contrast and keep the picture from having an overall gray look.
When deciding on the area to use as the highlight, remember our objective is to get the best detail in the faces. If a shirt collar or background reads 0% that’s probably all right. A shadow area must NEVER read 100%. If an area of the picture is 100% or solid black it will cause problems on the press, e.g., plugging, offsetting and a general blob or posterized look. (You can tell what percentage an image is by using the Info Palette in PhotoShop. Just move the cursor over the image, and it will give you a readout of the percentage at that spot.)
Use the triangular sliders on the levels palette to darken or lighten the image. Moving the dark slider to the right will darken the image; moving the white slider to the left will lighten the image.
NOTE: Always have the Info Palette active when checking levels.
Saving images
Save your scanned images as TIFF files and place each in a folder that relates to its subject -- for instance, “Boys’ Basketball.” Be sure you give each file a descriptive name, for example, “Brianplayingball.tif.” Make certain you do not give the same name to more than one file, even if they’re in different folders!
Having a problem? Call or email us with any questions you may have.
Call 1-800-247-1526 or E-mail Us for more information
Having a problem? Call or email us with any questions you may have.
Call 1-800-247-1526 or E-mail Us for more information
