Expert: Glen Demers - 10/8/2009

Question
I am new to PSE 7. I am taking an online scrapbooking class and using templates provided by the instructor.  I have been provided a template of six 3x3 alpha blocks to print out on photo paper.  I successfully changed the blocks from black to brown.  However, when I print out my page, there is horizontal banding (thin black lines)on the blocks. This does not show up on the PSE image but when I go to "print preview" the lines are there. I am using an HP Photosmart 7960 printer and I am working on a PC with Windows Vista.  I have tried to research this online and have had no luck.  Thank you for your consideration.

Answer
Hi Cindy,

My guess is that the black lines are on your PSE image but are not visible at the magnification you are viewing it at. When you preview and print the blocks the printer is unable to print the lines as thin as needed and defaults to the thicker line because this is as thin as it can get.

In photoshop you can select contiguous colors using the magic wand tool and then go to Select>Similar to select the same color in other areas. Adjust your color selection by setting the tolerance to a low level to restrict selection to colors very similar to the one you click on or set a high number to increase the range of colors selected. You're less likely to miss black pixels if you have Photoshop select the colors in this manner.

If your template has many layers, Save a copy and flatten before printing to remove the lines which may be caused by underlying shapes not aligned correctly.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/photoshop.htm