Scanning

[fitchy]

I am using photos from a 4MP camera, are these ok when i'm printing the large deluxe book. When i download the pics and place them in my book none of the lines are "red" around the photos: does this indicate that they will all print exactly how i see them on the software.

Question 2. if i'm scanning old pictures are they OK in Jpeg format. I want the best quality all the time so what format should i be saving and scanning photo's under. P.S. what is this DPI you keep talking about. Why 300???

please help i don't want to send my book off and it return with blurry pictures.

Thanks

[abczoo]

dpi means dots per inch

I am confused by some of the information in your help section, for example:
under the scanning section:
We do not recommend using images saved at a higher resolution than 200 dpi (unless you are scanning wallet-sized images). Increasing the resolution will not produce a better quality print.

"fitchy" in the post above quotes 300 dpi (where did you find that info at MyPublisher?) - but the scanning help page says higher than 200 dpi won't produce a better quality print.

I work on the yearbook for my son's intermediate school and we have to use no less than 300dpi photos or the software completely rejects them, so I have always scanned or resized my own photos at 300dpi thinking that was what was necessary to have clear photos.

And another part of the scanning help section that totally baffles me:
Photos taken with a 7 mega-pixel or greater digital camera may print blurry and/or pixilated. We do not recommend you use these photos in the BookMaker software unless they are reduced to a lower pixel setting.

Why would a 7 mega-pixel or greater image be BLURRY???
I know the more mega-pixels, the bigger the file size - but what causes it to be blurry?

[mypublisher]

Hi Abczoo -

Regarding scanning - our presses print 180 lines per inch. 300 dpi is standard print resolution for very large print items like posters. So, we don't need it to be that high. However 300dpi will print just fine in our PhotoBooks.

As for the megapixel...sometimes 7+ megapixel images contain too much information and if you put them into small image molds, they get compressed and there is too much data to be compressed. The outcome is blurry or pixelated.

Sincerely,
MyPublisher

[debcal1946]

My camera has 7.1 MP and the album came out great. All the pictures were clear.

[michaelejahn]

I have no idea why the person commenting on resolution from "MyPublisher" would suggest that 'too much data makes a blurry output". Perhaps this is some strange campaign to reduce file size passing through some digital workflow system, or perhaps they apply an amount of unsharp masking that is based on pixel value that does not work when images are over 200ppi - who knows. I do not know much, but what I know is this - most images - at 100% scale - should be 300 ppi. depending on the system that is doing the printing - certain types of artifical images (such as some element like a type effect) could be helped if the resolution is higher, but if you are walking into Costco with a JPEG image, 300 and 600 ppi look identical.

Hope this helps.

--
Michael Jahn
Director of Product Innovation
Magicomm West
1824 North Garvin Avenue
Simi Valley
California 93065
Office: (805) 527 8130
Cell: (805) 217 6741
Fax: (610) 808 3986
Email: jahn@magicomm.biz
http://www.magicomm.biz/