Printing at a commercial printing service

Transcription

1 Photo 65a Kate Jordahl Printing at a commercial printing service Foothill College Commercial printing services range in price and product. For this type of service, you will likely have to Convert to Profile so that your screen colors will look like the colors that come out of the printer. I am going to do this process step by step here for Costco. The process for other printing services will be similar but read their literature and websites carefully so that you choose process that they recommend. 1. Go to and click on the View the database. (You might also want to read the useful material on color management ) 2. This will take you to a place to choose the state in which you live. We will click California. 1 of 5

2 3. You will then choose the city/costco you will visit. Here we will click Mountain View. Note that here we must make a number of decisions and take note of any additional information given here. You must choose Glossy or Lustre. I generally use Lustre, but it is just a preference. The lustre seems a little more durable. It shows less dings, smears and bends than the Glossy. You must use the paper that is right for your image and then chose the profile for your paper. These profiles are updated, so check regularly and they are good for both pc and Mac. I clicked on Lustre paper profile. 4. This file downloaded to my computer. I must place it in the right place in my computer for Photoshop to see it. To see the full details of how to use this profile, go to or download the pdf of this process: The following is from the Dry Creek Site: After downloading the profile, you need to save it in a location that depends on what operating system you are using. The profiles are not compressed, as the files can't be squeezed down significantly. The profile files work equally well on Windows or Mac computers. Note that the profiles are binary files they do not contain readily readable information. Image editing applications such as Photoshop and color printer drivers are equipped to use them. These locations are: Mac OS X: Storing profiles in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles allows all users to use them. An alternative area, for users without Admin privileges, is /Users/<username>/Library/ColorSync/Profiles any profiles stored here are available only to the current user. The ColorSync Utility gives access to the details of individual profiles, shows gamut plots, can rename profiles, validates profile structure, among other useful tasks. Mac OS 9.x: System Folder:ColorSync Profiles Windows XP: \Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color Microsoft has a Control Panel Applet that emulates some of the functionality of Apple's ColorSync utility. It allows easy installation and removal of profiles, editing of internal and external names, viewing 3-D gamut plots, comparing two different profiles, and much more. 2 of 5

3 If you do not use the Color Applet, the easiest way to install a profile in Windows XP is to right click on the profile in Windows Explorer and select "install profile". Windows copies the profile to the correct directory automatically. Important note: If you are replacing a profile in Windows XP, the above shortcut does not work. The profiles must be manually copied to the correct directory for the original profile to be replaced. Windows NT/2000: \Winnt\system32\spool\drivers\color See above note for installing profiles in Windows XP - the same technique works in Windows Windows 98/ME: \Windows\System\Color 5. Now open Photoshop and work on your photograph until it is exactly as you like it. It is now time to soft proof. This means to let the Photoshop software show us an estimate of how the image will be affected by the printing process you have chosen. (Below Image as it appears on screen and one with Mountain View Costco Soft proof and an Epson matte paper soft proof. The Green areas will not print as you expect. 6. As described on the workflow handout, you should now save this file as a psd master file. You may choose to include the word master in the file name so that you know that you have done a full round of retouching and corrections on this file. 7. Before any printing, you should sharpen. I recommend flattening the file and saving it as a tiff with the word sharpened in the title. Then you will do final sizing and sharpening. 3 of 5

4 8. Sizing is very important. Most commercial printers will enlarge slightly to not have a white edge on your prints. If you have any important information near the edge of your print, it will be cropped off. Please read the Dry creek information carefully if this is of great concern. This is what I recommend for an easy solution to print an 8x10 print at the Mountain View Costco. A. Set file resolution to 300 dpi in the image size dialogue. Use what you understand about resolution and file sizes to do this in the best way for file quality. B. RE-OPEN the image size dialogue and set the longest side to 9. Make sure the other side is less than 7. (You will likely have to upsample or downsample to do this. I recommend Upsampling in Bicubic smoother and downsampling in Bicubic sharper.) C. Open the Canvas size. Change the units to pixels and type 3020x2416 if it is horizontal and 2416 x 3020 if it is vertical. Make sure Relative is NOT checked, that the image is centered and then choose the color you want around the picture in the pull down menu. The extra edges will make sure that your image is not cropped and can give you a nice border to protect your image and look nice. (IF you want to make a 12x18, size the image to 16 and then use the pixel lengths of 3624x5436 in the image size dialogue.) 9. Sharpening is an important step before printing. It is a very subjective process. Too sharp pictures will look gritty and unpleasant; unsharpened pictures will look too soft. There are many methods to sharpening. Use your flattened file and try the two following methods: 4 of 5

5 A. Unsharp mask The simplest method of sharpening and a good starting place. See the handout on Unsharp mask for details, but a good all purpose starting point is Amount 85%/Radius 1/Threshold 4. You should not see the sharpening on screen. If you use command Z there should be no or only the slightest brightening of the image. This is the right amount for most printing. B. High Pass Sharpening This is another method that offers more control in your sharpening process. In your flattened file, copy the background layer. On this new layer use Filter/Other/High pass. Try a Radius of 1 to 3 pixels. A good starting point is 2 pixels. Click ok. You will have a gray mess. You will then change the blending mode of this layer of overlay. You will see you image again. Turn on and off the sharpen layer. You should see no or only the slightest of brightening. If the effect seems too strong, turn down the opacity of this layer. If not enough undo and try again with a higher pixel radius. Flatten and save. 10. Convert to profile is next. Go to Edit/Convert to profile. Choose the proper profile and use black point comp/dither/flatten image. Experiment between Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric for best effect. If you are not sure, use perceptual. 11. Save as jpg with NO embedded profile. I would use word printcostco in this jpg file. You will consider your sharpening file and printing files as disposable. If you want to make any changes you go back to the master file, make the changes and then follow steps 7-11 again. Either upload your file to costco.com or take a cd to the store and get your print. Let them know that you used profiles and you want it just the way you have made it. The clerk may not even know what a profile is. Many of the workers just run the machines. Make sure you turn off the color correction as you go through the dialogue boxes to print the file. In the online dialogue you will choose edit options and choose AutoCorrect off 5 of 5