Sizing images for print

turnpike

turnpike

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Carl
Edit My Images
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I've just made my first order with DS Colour Labs. The problem I had was the 1st choice of online ordering system just doesn't load up. It sits at a progress bar.

So the 3rd choice which I used seemed ok, but I had to choose the "let them manage the size/colour". Although I've resampled to 300dpi and cropped at 420mmx297mm for A3, for some reason photoshop often shows not quite the right size. So I felt like I'd have to let DSlabs scale it so I don't get any white space.

Has anyone had this problem with sizing in photoshop?

According to DS, A3 is A3 3510x4950 pixels. That just isn't the case when I set 300 dpi and 420mmx297mm in photoshop :-Z
 
They're not far out.
At your dimensions (420mmx297mm) the print would have 3508x4961 pixels.
 
Yeah that's what it says. But if DS are saying one thing and photoshop something else, if I tell DS labs NOT to mess with size or colour, won't I end up with white space around my images?

Am I being too particular? I suppose once it's mounted you wouldn't see any white around the edges due to size mismatch anyway.

The odd thing about photoshop, is I can tell it to resample at 300dpi to 420mmx297mm, and the next time I look at image size, it's not exactly those mm anymore.
 
11 pixels (the difference between 4961 and 4950) at 300dpi measure 0.93mm.
DSCL are probably giving you the exact number of pixels on an A3 sheet.
 
By default, changing dpi in photoshop does change the pixels size of the image. You can turn off resampling and change dpi if you want, but thats not really what I'm after in this case.

Rightly or wrongly, printers ask you to set the size and dpi before sending them images.
 
it may do by default but you can turn it off by un-toggling the re-sample image toggle. This allows you to change both dpi and image size without affecting the pixel resolution of the image. Re-sampling degrades image quality and takes time. You really don't want to have it re-sample your images.
 
turnpike said:
Some do, some don't. All you are doing if they ask you to set the size and dpi is saving them a bit of work.

edit: I have just had a gander at their web site and the prices are very reasonable - if they are any good then it is worthwhile pre-sizing.
I would be interested in feedback with regards to quality.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah kimaldis, as I said, you can turn it off. However, if you don't resample, then the print firm will have to , assuming you want a print bigger than the original image can go at the dpi.

If you do it yourself, as they ask, you are using your own (photoshop perhaps) resampling options. If you leave it for someone else to do, it might not be as good.

Roy, I've heard good things about them. Will let you know when my order turns up.

The first lot I ordered, I used the option which lets them manage it, which made all my images a bit too bright. I think that won't happen if you choose the pro option.
 
Why would they resize/resample it if it's the right size? I'm not adding one more step to the degradation.

I think that's the whole point of ds colour labs giving you an option which means they don't do anything to the image at all, they assume you have the right size exactly, dpi, pixels etc, and they print as is. It's well worth doing that (as mentioned elsewhere on the forum) as it means you get your image unchanged, with no automatic ds adjustments to size, contrast etc.

So doing it (resampling, if needed) yourself at least means you can choose to use adobes bicubic, which is apparently a goodun. This is all assuming ofcourse that you need to size up at all. Which you wouldn't need to with the camera you're using (for the size we're talking about).
 
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