Gujustud
11-03-2007, 06:29 AM
Hello!
This is my first post, after receiving my first book (classic hardcover) today.
First off, the time from ordering to shipping blew me away. I ordered on Tuesday at midnight (wed morning) and my book arrived today (Friday). WOW, just wow. And that was shipped to Canada. I did have to pay $10 in extra fees, but I was aware that I may of had to (just something to note however).
The quality isin't bad. For a quick book at this speed, i'm not expecting high professional quality stuff. I also did my book rather quickly. The images I used were taken with a Canon 20D (shot in RAW).
I imported in lightroom, did some basic adjustments, then exported into JPEG (sRGB) at 300dpi.
From there I imported into photoshop, ran auto noise ninja (most images were shot at ISO 400-800-1600), then ran USM in two steps (100,.03,0 then 10,100,0).
All images were saved at the SAME SIZE, I did not resize any images. I then created my book and just pulled the images in.
Most of the 'large' images (ie ones that take up an entire page) look good. However most of the smaller ones don't look as good and are slightly pixelated. I'm taking a guess this is from mypublishers downsizing.
This is probably something that is normal. My question really is what methods are you using prior to pulling your images into the Bookmaker software? Do you resize images accordingly to the size in the book so that the bookmaker software does the least amount of resizing?
What about 'pre'editing the images in your photo editing software? Any tips for getting the BEST quality out of the prints? Any secret sharpening techniques for printing?
sRGB worked great. My monitor (dell 2407) is calibrated with a Gretagmacbeth Huey, and the colors in my book were pretty much spot on (just ever so SLIGHTLY darker).
In the end, i'm quite happy (the shipping time just blew me away!!). I'll be making more books very soon, but would like to know what your secrets are (okay they won't be secrets anymore!)
TIA!
This is my first post, after receiving my first book (classic hardcover) today.
First off, the time from ordering to shipping blew me away. I ordered on Tuesday at midnight (wed morning) and my book arrived today (Friday). WOW, just wow. And that was shipped to Canada. I did have to pay $10 in extra fees, but I was aware that I may of had to (just something to note however).
The quality isin't bad. For a quick book at this speed, i'm not expecting high professional quality stuff. I also did my book rather quickly. The images I used were taken with a Canon 20D (shot in RAW).
I imported in lightroom, did some basic adjustments, then exported into JPEG (sRGB) at 300dpi.
From there I imported into photoshop, ran auto noise ninja (most images were shot at ISO 400-800-1600), then ran USM in two steps (100,.03,0 then 10,100,0).
All images were saved at the SAME SIZE, I did not resize any images. I then created my book and just pulled the images in.
Most of the 'large' images (ie ones that take up an entire page) look good. However most of the smaller ones don't look as good and are slightly pixelated. I'm taking a guess this is from mypublishers downsizing.
This is probably something that is normal. My question really is what methods are you using prior to pulling your images into the Bookmaker software? Do you resize images accordingly to the size in the book so that the bookmaker software does the least amount of resizing?
What about 'pre'editing the images in your photo editing software? Any tips for getting the BEST quality out of the prints? Any secret sharpening techniques for printing?
sRGB worked great. My monitor (dell 2407) is calibrated with a Gretagmacbeth Huey, and the colors in my book were pretty much spot on (just ever so SLIGHTLY darker).
In the end, i'm quite happy (the shipping time just blew me away!!). I'll be making more books very soon, but would like to know what your secrets are (okay they won't be secrets anymore!)
TIA!