Preparing the image for digital printing

Having beautiful photos on your computer is good. Having beautiful prints of your best photos is better! But then a myriad of questions often arises: how do you prepare an image for a photo print? Which format should you choose? In which color space? What mistakes should you avoid?

WHICH FORMAT TO CHOOSE?

Modern digital cameras generally let you shoot in two formats:

• The native format known as RAW, specific to each brand (CR2, NEF...), sometimes even to each camera. Very high quality, it requires a little processing on a computer. Using software such as Lightroom, iPhoto, Photoshop, etc., retouching it and converting it to TIFF at the end is child's play.
• The JPEG format, universal and directly usable with most of the software installed by default on a computer.

To produce a photo print, your image will need to be in a format suited to theprinting, the three main ones being:

• JPEG.Advantages: universal, smaller file size. Disadvantages: used with too high a compression rate, quality loss quickly becomes visible.
  -> If you use this format, choose the highest quality and include the color profile.
• TIFF.Advantages: universal, no loss of information when saving. This is the format we recommend for your prints. Disadvantages: its file size.
  -> If you use this format, choose to flatten the layers, compress the data (ZIP or LZW) and include the color profile.
• PSD.Advantages: no loss of information when saving. Disadvantages: format specific to Adobe Photoshop, largest file size.
  ->If you use this format, flatten the layers before saving and enable the "Maximize Compatibility" option if available.
  

WHICH COLOR SPACE?

First of all, what is a color space? A color space is a tool used to describe the range of possibilities of a device or an image in terms of color. The choice of this space determines, for example, the depth and fidelity of the colors, the brightness or the contrast.

In photography, the most widely used color spaces are theAdobe RGB(Adobe RGB in English) for professional devices and generally thesRGB(sRGB in English) for consumer ranges. TheAdobe RGB (1998)is larger than sRGB and contains it. That said, if you shoot in sRGB, there is no point in switching to Adobe RGB during processing.

The RGB color space compared with Adobe RGB. Adobe RGB is wider and contains RGB.

There are also other color spaces such as ProPhoto RGB or CMYK. The first often contains more information than necessary, and the second is dedicated to four-color process printing (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black), more often used in advertising and magazines.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

With all this information and all these settings to get right, mistakes are common, especially at first. If you come across a print operator who loves their work, chances are they will call you to guide you in sending other, more suitable files. If not, your prints will often fall short of your expectations… To avoid these mistakes, here are some frequently asked questions and their answers:

• My image is too small for a large print at 300 dpi, what can I do?
  

  It is often not necessary to print at 300 dpi, as we explain in the article"What resolution for a print?". Above all, do not resample your images by stretching them to create new pixels, as this will degrade their quality.

• For Black and White, which color space should I use?
  

  The printers in any photo lab worthy of the name are calibrated. In that case, black and white photos are printed on a color printer in color mode for a more neutral rendering. So you should send your black and white images in color, using one of the profiles mentioned above, preferably in Adobe RGB!

• For maximum quality, should I send my RAW files?
  

  RAW is a very good format for digital processing and archiving (though the universal DNG format is preferable). However, it must be converted to TIFF or JPEG before you send it to us. This ensures that the rendering will be the same on our end as on yours.

A FEW EXAMPLES IN EDITING SOFTWARE

• WITH ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM CC.

Lightroom is very handy for choosing an image's format and color space. Simply choose "Export…" (Ctrl+Shift+E on PC and Cmd+Shift+E on Mac), then select the following options in the window that appears:

Example with Lightroom. Careful, don't forget to uncheck the "Resize" tab.

• WITH ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC.

With Adobe Photoshop, you must first set the image mode and its color space before making any changes. In the "Image" menu, select the "Convert to Profile…" option, which opens the following window:

Adjust the settings as shown in this image.

Then choose the color space, which is set via the "Mode" menu.

• WITH APERTURE.

With Aperture, as with Lightroom, simply export a selection and configure everything in the export window.

With Aperture, everything is set in the export window.

With these settings, you can be sure of getting optimal-quality prints with pixelprint.fr. That said, you will benefit even more from these tips with a calibrated screen. If yours is not calibrated, request manual optimization, which can save you a lot of disappointment! Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments or to contact us.

Learn more"What resolution for a print?".

No artwork yet? Create it with ViralWave

ViralWave is the ATON group's artificial intelligence creation platform, from the same house as pixelprint. It generates images from a simple description, retouches them, upscales them, and is also used to produce visuals for your social media.

The steps to follow for a print run:

1. Describe your artwork in one sentence, in the language of your choice, and let the platform suggest several directions.
2. Retouch what needs it: cut-outs, background changes, adding or removing an element.
3. Zoom in on the file before downloading it. It's the step everyone forgets: a generated image usually comes out at around 1,000 to 2,000 pixels per side, which works perfectly on a screen and not at all on a three-meter banner.
4. Check the image definition obtained with our page what resolution for a print, then send us the file.

Unsure about your file before placing the order? Send it to us from the contact form by choosing "Prepress": we check it and tell you what it will look like at your size, before printing.