Archive 2012 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

treebeard
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

I did a search on resize and did not come up with any topics so I will try here. I shoot for a weekly magazine and a bi-monthly magazine which is high quality. I have been resizing my images for the weekly magazine to 800x600 and a quality of 85 using LR 4.1 and that seems more than sufficient for the newspaper. However, I am concerned about resizing the images for the bi-monthly magazine due to the need for a high quality image. Does anyone have a tutorial or perhaps some suggestions using CS5 or LR4.1? I have the OnOne Software suite for CS5 which has Perfect Resize 7 Professional. I would appreciate any advice/help. Thanks.

Sep 12, 2012 at 08:38 AM

EL_PIC
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

Each Mag has a "secret sauce" of editing for publication and most of it is color and exposure based on the printers offset equipment and use of press and inks. Ask the mag if you wish but the photo editor is the one that sets final pre press and not the photographer.
Resize is also done by the photo editor but 9X12 at highest res is a good thing to submit unless they tell you otherwise.

Sep 12, 2012 at 09:56 AM

mdude85
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

You should assume that the printer's resolution is 300 PPI.

That means that if you send in an 800x600 photo, it will print at 2.67" x 2".

As for color rendition and so forth, it depends on the printer.

Sep 12, 2012 at 01:52 PM

treebeard
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

Thanks for the input. I found this article here: http://mansurovs.com/how-to-properly-resize-images-in-photoshop. I found it to be very useful.

Sep 12, 2012 at 04:15 PM

swoop
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

2500px @ 300dpi is a good size I use for various media outlets.

Sep 12, 2012 at 04:39 PM

JohnJ
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

Just dont. Don't resize at all because if you do then you are taking away from the publishers ability to crop into an image or to use it in a different format. Always give them the full image, at full resolution. They will resize to suite themselves.

Of course if you are emailing or 'ftp'ing images and size is an issue then do as you please.

Sep 15, 2012 at 05:13 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

In order to properly size an image for print, you need to know what size it's going to print at and what line screen the magazine prints with and to a certain extent, the type of paper you're printing on. The traditional rule of thumb is to have your file be twice the line screen ruling in resolution at final print size - meaning that if your image is going to print a full 8-1/2x11 page at 200 line screen, then, ideally, you'd want your file to be 8-1/2 x 11 @ 400 ppi. High quality, whatever that means, is usually printed on a premium coated paper using 175-200 line screen. U.S based magazines usually, but not always conform loosely to SWOP or FOGRA web press standards, and spec total ink limits between 280 and 320 percent. Whether you want to leave the CMYK conversion up to the magazine is a whole different topic, but if you have little or no experience in that department, it's better that you leave it alone.

The double the line screen resolution guideline is only a rough guideline, and depending on image content, you may want to go either up or down. Usually you can safely get away with less than double, but with images that might be prone to moiré on press (different from on screen), going with an even higher resolution in your file can actually soften the images in print and help to head off a potential moiré.

The main thing is to not go too low in resolution or you'll be looking at stairstepping of diagonals and pixelation in print - usually not a great thing. After a few images in print, you'll start to get an intuitive feel for what works and what doesn't.

Sep 16, 2012 at 04:54 AM

justruss
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

For my newspaper clients I tend to deliver my 5Dmk2 files via FTP @ ~ 12MP for file size purposes. These run in color at up to large size.

For the magazine clients they get full res, and the images may run in glossy full color double-truck.

Both seen by millions of people. And fine.

Why would YOU do the resizing? That's for the PE and publishing team.

Sep 18, 2012 at 03:47 AM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

"Why would YOU do the resizing? That's for the PE and publishing team. "

Why would I do the resizing? Because I do a better job on all aspects of file prep for offset than anyone I've ever met or dealt with in a print shop. They typically don't know about the best sharpening routines, which have to be done at final size. They really don't know about color separations or the implications of black plate and total ink numbers. They all too often don't know how to bias an image to make it pop as much as possible in the limited genre or four color ink on press.

May 25, 2013 at 01:18 AM

aborr
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Help with resizing for magazine print!

For glossy magazines, I send a full res file, especially if I know or suspect the image will be printed large.

May 25, 2013 at 09:01 PM


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