Guide To Digital Photography

A lot of files go through our pre-press department on a daily basis and we have a lot of experience and stories to share in order to assist you to get your images prepared correctly to maximize the print quality. Look for the April newsletter where we cover tips and techniques to help you work with color while maximizing print quality.

For now, we bring you an example of a recent customer. With their consent, we share some before and after shots of their files, and how a few tips helped their designer prepare files that resulted in a top quality mailing piece.

The Anonymous Showroom is a multi-line fashion showroom in New York. As their business grows so does their need for top quality images that reflect the fashion lines they represent. The showroom receives daily shipments and sends our direct mail pieces to their clients around the country on a weekly basis. Digital photography is their only choice when it comes to a fast paced environment like Fashion.

The images were originally shot with a personal digital camera, where settings were not properly adjusted. The designer ended up with low resolution images of 72 dpi � good for web but not for offset printing.

Image 1 portrays the file the designer originally prepared. She changed the image settings from 72 dpi to 300dpi, not realizing that my simply changing the dpi number of a low resolution image does not make it any better.

Following the guidelines and tips by the BargainPrinting.com pre-press and art department, the Anonymous Showroom team was able to manage and edit the images in-house maximizing the quality of their images and consequently the quality of their print material. The designer was advised to minimize the size to get better resolution rather than simply editing the large image settings.

For example, as a first step she decreased the size in half and ended up with a 144dpi image. She then decreased that to half the size and ended up with a 288 dpi image. This resulted in higher resolution images that were too small to use as stand alone so we recommended instead of a new photo shoot, that thay use more than one image. Image 2 below portrays the final piece.

http://www.bargainprinting.com/newsletter/fashion.png

These before and after images illustrate the quality of the images used with the wrong formatting and after some basic formatting and optimization for offset printing.

Pre Press Tip: If you are looking to improve the quality of an image, do not change the settings to a highter resolution. Instead, decrease the size in half and the resolution will double.

In the last 20 years there have been tremendous advances in technology and digital photography is one of the most popular advances. Until the invention of digital technology, conventional cameras used film to create images which could be made visible by photographic processing, a process which uses special techniques and chemicals to create a picture. Digital images can be displayed, printed, stored, and edited with photo editing software such as Photoshop or other high-end professional software. They then can be transmitted and archived using digital and computer techniques, without elaborate and messy chemical processing. The best thing about digital photography is that you can see the photos instantly and they look much better than the old Polaroid instant cameras that you had to use the expensive film for. There are also a number of similarities between digital photography and conventional photography; digital cameras and conventional cameras are actually quite alike in the way that they take pictures. Just like a conventional camera, a digital camera has a series of lenses that focus light to create an image of a scene. However, instead of focusing this light onto a piece of film, a digital camera focuses it onto a semiconductor device that records light electronically. A computer then breaks this electronic information down into digital data.Understanding the Differences To understand the difference between the two photographic processes, you need to consider the type of medium which the photographic images were imprinted onto. The physical and chemical characteristics are quite different between the pre-digital cameras, and the cameras of today. Let’s say you want to take a picture of yourself and post it on your MySpace or FaceBook page or you may just want to e-mail it to a friend. In order to do this, the image needs to be represented in the language that computers recognize — bits and bytes. If you want to get a picture into this form, you have two options: * Conventional Photography -You can take a photograph using a conventional camera, have the film processed chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to scan the picture. While some photographers argue that conventional photography takes a different “quality” of photo, and opinions differ whether that is good or bad – this method still requires a number of additional steps. * Digital Photography –You can take your photo using a digital camera, transfer it to your computer via a USB cord or other means, view your picture, make edits with Photoshop tips; remove red eye, lose a few years, etc. and then upload your photo to your social networking page or your email and it is instantly visible. See how complicated your life would be if digital photography hadn’t been invented? This is why digital photography has become so popular; you can even take a picture with most cell phones. Conventional film photography still provides better picture quality, so digital cameras have not completely replaced conventional cameras. As digital imaging technology improved, digital cameras have rapidly become more popular. They are a standard in most households today. For more Photoshop Tips and Tricks, visit: www.PhotoshopDemos.com.

Digital photography is fun, convenient, and you can see the rewards of your labors quickly. No film required, no sending film off to be developed, what could be easier? Before you run out and buy the most expensive digital camera with the most megapixels and the highest optical zoom you need to do some research.Digital cameras can be expensive so the first thing you need to consider is how you will use your new digital camera. If your main use of digital photographs is to post pics of your buddies on FaceBook or MySpace, you will not require the same digital camera that you will need if you are taking pictures and getting paid for it, such as at a wedding. People generally fall into one of three categories of digital camera usage:Snappers – You need a simple point and click camera that produces reasonable quality digital photographs. Perfect for people who don’t want much fuss and rarely print their pictures.Hobbyists – You may want to be a little creative occasionally. You may take a few close ups, night shots etc. and are attempting to learn Photoshop. You print some of your pictures and want good quality 8” x 10” prints.Pro/Semi-pro – You want a camera that delivers top quality photographs, operates fast and is adaptable. You want excellent print quality and sturdy construction.How Many Megapixels Do You Need?One way to decide how many megapixels you need is to decide what you may want to do with your pictures after you take them. This chart is a guide to the amount of megapixels you may need to get a good quality print of the various sizes:Megapixels: (MP) – Quality prints up to this size:Minimum of 2MP – 4” x 6”Minimum of 3MP – 5” x 7”Minimum of 6MP – 8” x 10”Minimum of 8MP – 10” x 12”Digital Zoom and Optical ZoomMost digital cameras have both optical zoom and digital zoom. The optical zoom works just like a zoom lens on a film camera; the lens changes focal length and magnification as it is zoomed. The image quality stays high throughout the zoom range. A digital zoom simply crops the image to a smaller size, and then enlarges the cropped portion to fill the frame again. Digital zoom results in a significant loss of quality. You can do a similar if not better job using an image editing program such as Photoshop. You can find a free Photoshop download at Adobe.com.How to Get a Good Digital Camera for LessTo save a little money, look for a camera that has been out about a year. Also style can cost you more; if picture quality is important to you, disregard the shiny model for the not so stylish one that takes great pictures. Stick with brands that are established camera manufacturers; digital cameras are made in basically the same way as film cameras, but in digital photography, light falls onto an image sensor and not onto film. The other parts of the camera are basically the same. Unless you really need special features for your digital photography, don’t pay for them.After you get your new digital camera home, start using it! Luckily, digital camera memory is cheap and can be reused thousands of times. So get out there and shoot some photos and you’ll soon find your skills improving remarkably.

For more Photoshop Tips and Tricks, visit: www.PhotoshopDemos.com.