Optimizing for Newspaper. Please Help Quick!

[BroLuke]

HI,

A small local paper is going to do an article on me. They need several images from me NOW but I can't get in touch with them to find out size and resolution or format.

I have to make a disc of a few images so they can pick right away. Probably 1/2 or 1/4 page....

IS there a standard for newsprint that I could use?

Thanks,

Bro.Luke

 

[newsshooterjim]

I normally crop mine to 12 inches on the wide side, 300dpi, Tiff, CMYK, sharpened a bit more than I think I need, and a bit lighter than I think it should be. This is because our press invariably darkens and dulls anything we feed it.

Also, if you crop, remember to leave enough for the layout person to fit it to the page, and give both horizontal and verticals.

I'd suggest sending the highest rez images you can, converted to CMYK. That way, they can sharpen as needed, and you'll have some control over the color since you did the CMYK.

Most newspaper photos spend most of their life as Jpegs-we generally don't have the time that properly processing a RAW image requires, so if you end up sending JPEGS, that'll be fine too.

If you have an upload site, like Picasa, they can probably pull from there if the rez is good enough.

Jim Dean
Paid professional rubbernecker. I stop at the car wreck so you don't have to.

 

[little laker]

edit,
It looks like Jim had a better answer than mine.
--
http://www.bcscenicwonder.com

 

[BroLuke]

Big Thanks!

BL

 

[Curtis Clegg]

I normally don't have to crop my photos that large... usually I crop it to 10 inches on the longest side at 200 dpi (most newspapers print at 144 line pairs, which equates to about 200 dpi).

Also, I would recommend leaving your photos in RGB and let the newspaper do the CMYK conversion. The help file in Photoshop says that

"CMYK Determines the CMYK color space of the application. All CMYK working spaces are device-dependent, meaning that they are based on actual ink and paper combinations."

If you go to Edit > Color Settings you will see there over a dozen different CMYK profiles, each customizable with variables in ink type, paper type, and dot gain.

If you do convert to CMYK though, make that the absolute last step in you workflow... since your monitor displays RGB and not CMYK, any changes you make after you convert to CMYK probably won't display properly on your screen.

--
Curtis Clegg
Belvidere, IL

 

[newsshooterjim]

Curtis, excellent points. I just thought that doing the conversion himself might give him an idea what changes will happen-as you know, the look can change quite dramatically going from one to the other.

We usually prefer the get the shots as large as possible without someone uprezing them. It's easier to make it smaller than bigger.

Jim

I normally don't have to crop my photos that large... usually I crop
it to 10 inches on the longest side at 200 dpi (most newspapers print
at 144 line pairs, which equates to about 200 dpi).

Also, I would recommend leaving your photos in RGB and let the
newspaper do the CMYK conversion. The help file in Photoshop says
that

"CMYK Determines the CMYK color space of the application. All CMYK
working spaces are device-dependent, meaning that they are based on
actual ink and paper combinations."

If you go to Edit > Color Settings you will see there over a dozen
different CMYK profiles, each customizable with variables in ink
type, paper type, and dot gain.

If you do convert to CMYK though, make that the absolute last step in
you workflow... since your monitor displays RGB and not CMYK, any
changes you make after you convert to CMYK probably won't display
properly on your screen.

--
Curtis Clegg
Belvidere, IL

--
Jim Dean
Paid professional rubbernecker. I stop at the car wreck so you don't have to.

 

[james b norman]

send 8-bit tiff files, and let the newspaper graphics person prepare the image file for printing.
--
jnorman
sunridge studios
salem, oregon
Panasonic FX100
D200, nikon 12-24mm ED-IF AF-S DX, 18-70mm DX
Cambo 45NX, nikkor SW 90/8, 135/5.6, 210/5.6
Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 (1948 model)

 

[RudivanS]

srgb
300dpi
basic color, contrast correction
do not over sharpen
save ps (10-12) max
This is what I used for the International Herald Tribune.
--
Rudi - freelancer (15 years of film - 5 of digital)