Printing - Help

[Baggy]

Hi guys, first congrats for mypublisher.com, i think i'm in love.

Anyway, I was just wondering about the printing, I'm making my own book but i'm kind of scared about the printing. I dont know if the pictures will come up to light or to dark. Do your printers print darker or lighter normally ? It's probably a stupid question but what do people say of this normally ? Can I just send a pic so you guys tell me what you think ?

The second picture is normally very colorful and the 3rd one is supposed to be dark...

These are small formats :

http://www.bagradbadalian.com/fichiers/testprint.jpg

Thanks in advance !

[mypublisher]

Hello Baggy,

Thank you for your business with MyPublisher, and for your feedback!

It is not unusual to experience a difference in how your computer screen and how printed output will express image attributes such as brightness, color, contrast and other qualities. After all, photo book publishing is actually the translation of images from one medium to another. The primary difference might simply be that a computer screen projects light while a printed page reflects light. In any case, MyPublisher employs the latest technology and the best possible industry practices to produce the best printed representation of your images.

The unique configuration of your computer screen will determine the brightness and color emphasis seen in your images. This expression cannot always be perfectly emulated through print. The MyPublisher press prints the color scheme as dictated by your images in their file attributes to the highest technical degree of accuracy available. In fact, the press actually prints at a much higher resolution than a computer screen displays.

To ensure that all of your images are printed to our highest standards though, it's crucial that they each conform to the following specifications:

--- FILE FORMAT ---------------------------------

Your images must be saved as JPEG files (file ends in .jpg or .jpeg)

--- IMAGE SIZE ---------------------------------

Image size requirements (in pixels) ultimately depend on the desired printed size.

The software will warn you if you have used a photo that has insufficient resolution for the size you have chosen. These images will be outlined in red as opposed to blue. Reduce the size of any red outlined images (by using the Zoom Out button) until the outline turns from red to blue; otherwise, images will not print clearly and may appear pixelated.

If, on the other hand, your images slightly exceed the specs, or are used in a smaller size in the book (in a four per page layout for example), your software will downsize them accordingly – no adjustments are necessary.

The following image sizes (in pixels) represent the minimum dimensions for the largest images (one photo per page) in each of our products:

- Paperback PocketBooks: 1500x1150 pixels
- Classic Hardcover Books: 2150x1700 pixels
- Deluxe Hardcover Books: 2850x2225 pixels

The maximum dimensions are:

- Paperback PocketBooks: 2250 x1725 pixels
- Classic Hardcover Books: 3225x2550 pixels
- Deluxe Hardcover Books: 4275x3338 pixels

--- RESIZING ---------------------------------

If you have a lot of large images that exceed the maximum specs listed above, you may want to consider resizing them with a third party image editor prior to bringing them into your software.

While your software is capable of sizing the images accordingly when the book is purchased, resizing them first using a dedicated image editor will give rise to better performance while making the book, as well as faster uploads.

--- USING THIRD PARTY IMAGE EDITING SOFTWARE ---------------------

If you are using photo editing software to create or edit your images, please keep these points in mind:

~ Use sRGB or RGB when enhancing photos – no CMYK.
~ Use sRGB or RGB for black and white photos – no Grayscale.
~ Remove any vectors, slices or layers from your images.

IMPORTANT: Please allow a 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch 'gutter' around all sides of these images to allow for cropping. Without this allowance, any text or image elements near the edges of the image will be cut off when the book is printed.

--- ASPECT RATIO ---------------------------------

If you want to use square images in your book, we recommend that you use a third party image editor to create a rectangular document that maintains a 4:3 aspect ratio, using at least the minimum specs listed above.

You can then place the square image into this rectangular document, allowing a border or background to occupy the remaining space in the rectangle.

Inserting this rectangular image with the 4:3 aspect ratio into the templates in your softwarewill ensure that images with differing aspect ratios are printed without distortion or cropping. This also holds true for any image whose aspect ratio differs from that of the book – ie, panoramic or widescreen images.

--- VIEWING IMAGE DETAILS -----------------------------

To verify specific information about your images, you'll need to take the following steps. Please note that you cannot do this from within your software– this information can only be acquired from the original image file.

PC Users

~ Right click on the image
~ Left click 'Properties' from the menu that follows
~ Left click on the Summary tab
~ Left click on Advanced

Mac Users

~ Right (or ctrl) click on the image
~ Left click 'Get Info' from the menu that follows
~ Left click on the 'More Info' arrow

From here, you can view an image's pixel dimensions

Again, thanks for your business, and we hope this information is helpful.

Please let us know if there's anything else you need:

Phone Support: (877) 411-6978 (available between the hours of 9AM-9PM EST, Monday through Friday);
E-mail Support: <customerservice@mypublisher.com>, available 24/7!

Best regards,

MyPublisher Customer Support

[ed anger]

hey bagrad,

nice shots.

i think the best thing to do is retouch on a calibrated monitor, then what you see should be close to what you get. mypublisher takes rbg files, but you want to preview them as cmyk because they will be printed that way, obviously.

good luck.