![]() Even if images start their lives as RGB when they are photographed or scanned, they have to be converted to CMYK before being sent to print. CMYK color is also called “process color” or “full color.” Instead of the additive colors, printing uses the subtractive colors (cyan, magenta and yellow or CMY), plus black (abbreviated to K) for further definition in shadow areas and type. Printing, however, uses ink, and RGB is pretty alien to printing presses. Computer monitors, televisions and the World Wide Web are all RGB media. And once you’ve shot your pictures during an event, you don’t get a chance to go back and make new ones! So make sure the camera supports a print-worthy resolution and that the camera is set to take advantage of it.Ĭolor makes up the visible light spectrum, which is made up of red, green and blue (the additive colors). Just because you have a 5 megapixel camera, doesn’t mean you have set it up to shoot a maximum size photograph. ![]() If you “rez up” a raster image like this sunflower, shown at three times its original size, it gets blurry and reveals all the distortions that were invisible at its intended size.ĭigital cameras are a great advantage for everyone in communications, but it’s important to be aware of the resolution limits and settings on your camera. ![]() This is called “rezzing up” and it is generally a bad idea. Raster images can easily be made smaller in programs such as Photoshop, but if you make them larger, the image will become either blurry or appear jaggy. You might be able to use that, if you only need a tiny photo, but it wouldn’t work as a dominant image in your layout. For instance, a photo from a website that is about 3” wide (or 216 pixels) could be used at only 1” wide in a printed piece. So an image that is used on a website cannot be used for printed materials, unless it is very large on the website. Online images have a low resolution (usually 72 pixels per inch), while printed images need a lot more, usually 300 pixels per inch. Resolution (and we don’t mean the kind you make on New Year’s Eve)Įvery raster image has a resolution, which is basically a measure of how much information is in the picture. Rasterized Ns from very low resolution to high resolution, compared to a vectorized N. Common vector file formats are EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), PNG (portable network graphic) and WMF (Windows Meta File). Vector files tend to be the province of professionals in the printing and design fields, although there are some files that are appropriate for Web use. ![]() Common file formats for raster images are TIFF, JPG, or GIF. Your computer monitor is a raster, as are digital photographs. Vector images are not made up of dots at all-they are drawings of lines that are represented in the file as mathematical descriptions (similar to your worst memories of plotting X Y coordinates in high school math). Raster images like a photograph are made up of pixels-every piece of visual information is a little dot that is set in a specific color. To understand resolution, you have to first know that there are two types of image files. If this all sounds like alphabet soup, read on. When you have to provide images for a design project, suddenly you find yourself scrambling for answers to questions you may not understand, such as: What’s the required resolution? Should it be a TIFF or a JPG? And is it CMYK or RGB? ![]()
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