Expert: LizaL - 3/27/2007

Question
QUESTION: hello I am a web designer w/ not too much experience in print world. I have a pdf, that i saved as a tiff, then updated and resaved as a pdf and jpeg. Both saved copies are at 72dpi - but I need the graphic at 300dpi suitable for printing in a magazine. How can I prepare this graphic properly for print? Right now, I only have macromedia freehand and photoshop elements. please help me. what are my options to saving this file. I guess I can download a trail adobe version ofcorrect spftware - but from there what is correct steps to get a high res graphic? Will simply saving/exporting it from within the correct software produce a high res graphic?

Thanks in advance!


ANSWER: Hi Nisa,

In a word, no. Simply saving and exporting the graphic will not make it high-res.

If it's a photograph, and the resolution is 72dpi, and you try to enlarge it to 300dpi, you'll be asking your graphics program to interpolate pixels that aren't there. In other words, when you enlarge the image to 300dpi, there won't be enough pixels within the photograph to accurately "spread" to the larger size, and the graphics program will try and create pixels on its own in order to fill the gaps. Does that make sense?

If it's a vector, or line drawing, that's somewhat different. Those are much more scalable because you don't have the issue of interpolation to deal with. But even with a line drawing, if you blow it up from 72dpi to 300dpi, you stand to lose a lot of clarity of the lines -- in other words, the lines will tend to get fuzzy and soft, where they should be crisp.

The software you should use for resizing images for print is Photoshop, but Photoshop Elements will work too. However, it's never a good idea to take a small image and try to make it large. It's much better to go the other way -- that is, take a large image and size it down.

The commands for resizing an image in Photoshop (I don't use Elements) are located under the Image pulldown menu, within the submenu Image Size... The dialog box there is pretty self-explanatory, but again, I would caution you greatly about trying to enlarge a small graphic to a very large one.

You can try enlarging just the resolution of the image and not the actual physical size by entering a larger document size number in the Document Size part of the dialog box (near the bottom), and then unchecking "Resample Image," which is found below that. That will increase the number of pixels within the image, but not the actual physical size.

But before you do anything, you should talk with the production people at the magazine and ask them the correct size and resolution you need for print in their publication. Most of the time magazines only print at 150lpi, and it might not actually be necessary for you to try and enlarge something from 72dpi to 300dpi.

Hope this helps --

Lisa

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for your fast response!
the image is vector not a photograph. Its 6X9 - a postcard size ad. It's a layout that was forwarded to me and I needed to update text on the postcard. But when I save it its low res 72 dpi. The magazine has told me I need to submit a high res jpeg or pdf. I tried fooling around with the reslotion numbers but the size changed - I don't want the size to change just the quality. What settings automatically produce a high quality res?  I may be able to access illustrator by using someone elses pc later on today.
Thanks

Answer
Hi again Nisa,

If what you want to do is change the resolution and not the physical size of the image, UNcheck the Resample Image check box (and I'm referring here to using Photoshop) and change the Document Size. This will change the amount of pixels within the image, but not the size at which it's output.

Take a look at this link for more info:
http://tinyurl.com/7rn5y

They explain it pretty thoroughly.

The ideal situation would be for you to obtain the original layout, of course, and you could update the text that way. Or, if it's at all possible, you could re-scan the original ad at a higher resolution.

But notice I said 'original' -- because working from copies tends to degrade the quality of any image when it's printed. I know that sometimes that's all you get when you're working on a project, but it's always best to try and obtain the original.

Once you've submitted the ad, you should ask the magazine for a proof of the ad before they print. Magazines generally print some form of proof (a blueline, Cromalins, etc.), and you should request a copy *before* they go to press so you can get some idea of how this is going to look. If they're not able to provide you with this, I would definitely talk to the production manager *before* it goes to press and see what they think about the quality of your submission.

Hope this helps!

Lisa