Photo Expert Question

Re: Photo Expert Question

Russ Fairfield

>You should ask the magazine. All of them will be different. Some are more willing to work with the photos than others. They will have some requirements for resolution, image size, and they may prefer a format other than JPEG.

some answers

Wayne Cease - Atlanta

>I would not consider myself an expert, but rather a knowledgeable person. Years ago I did a lot of photography with a Pentax K-1000, which is a pure manual camera; no auto options. So, I learned how to shoot by setting everything.

Framing and final photo size are going to drive a lot surrounding pixels. One of the things I love about my 5 megapixel camera is that with 5 Mp I can significantly crop the photo and still have enough pixels for a 4x6 print.

If you frame the image as needed in the magazine and the final print is small, then yes, but just barely. At 1200 dpi a print requires 1.44 Mp per square inch! If the photo will be large, then it will need more pixels. Lighting and setting will still be important.

One limitation that most people do not consider is the glass (lens). Good glass makes a world of difference when you enlarge a photo. Those cover/full page shots need good glass and _lots_ of pixels.

Wayne

Re: Photo Expert Question

Scott Greaves in Blackfoot Idaho

>Hi Mark,

Like Wayne, I'm hardly an expert. But while I was working on my article for the American Woodturner I found that they were hesitant to even receive a photo if it wasn't shot with at least a five megapixel camera. Mine is a 3.2mp, and it just didn't cut it for them!

Good Luck!

Scott.

Re: Photo Expert Question

Paul Porter in Phoenix, AZ

>Mark,

Ask the graphics folks at the magazine. They should be able to tell you. Generally you will need to supply them with a 300dpi TIFF (taged image file format) file at least 4" x 5" in physical size. Or you could give them the raw file from your camera and let them size it. Shoot your photos at the largest file size your camera can handle.

hope this helps

-Paul

Graphic Answer

Ed Thomas, Leaside (Toronto) Ontario

>Hi Mark,

I do this for a living and the answer is ... it depends. Without getting into the complexities of different screening methods, print files require a minimum resolution of 1.5 times to an optimum of 2 times the screen weight being output on the imaging device. Most magazines on coated paper are printed with 133/150 line screen so the requirement can range from 200-300 dpi (fine art/coffee table books may be printed with higher values and require larger files). Graphic departments request 300 dpi as it is industry standard.

A 4x5 pic at 300 dpi would be 4x300x5x300=1,800,000 pixels so your camera may be adequate if the dynamic range is there. RGB.tif file size would be about 5Mb.

As has been mentioned it's best to ask the mag for their requirements. If you want you could send a sample offline.

Ed

Not surprised

Wayne Cease, Atlanta

>Thanks for the info. I haven't done anything for magazines; prints (small to large), yearbooks, web sites and newspapers, but never magazines.

The problem with a 2 Mp photo is that there is no room to crop anything out and still have enough pixels left. And even the whole image will not print to much more than a thumbprint photo at high resolutions.

Wayne

Re: Graphic Answer

JamieDonaldson

>Mark- if you crop tight to final output size and average 300dpi you should still have at least 3M, and 5M would be better. You can boost appearance by tagging files with TIFF rather than compressed JPEG and let printer make adjustments for prepress.

Re: Photo Expert Question

john Lucas

>Mark

Everything we do is for brochures or magazines on campus. We do almost everything as a 5x7 at 300 dpi. I personally prefer 5 megs or more because have many more options when cropping, or if you use a file that compresses the image.

Rule no 1 when dealing with magazines. Call the editor and ask what they prefer. The trick to getting things published is to make it easy for the editor. They are always under a deadline and they have quality images to choose from you'll get in.

I talked with Mark Baker who is the editor for Woodturning and he echod the response by the Carl Voss who is the editor of American Woodturner. Most of the problems they have are bad photos. Both from a shooting standpoint and from a quality standpoint. Many magazines won't even look at digital because they've been burned by people giving them low resolution images. The reason they asked Jamie and I to demo at the symposium this year was to try to improve the quality of the images that are being sent to the Journal. Well that and we're both great turners. (is my nose growing)

Any way the point is to contact the editor for any magazine you want to be publish in. This tell s the editor up front that you want to do things correctly and also gives you all the info you need to get something in the magazine.

Re: Photo Expert Question

Pascal Oudet

>Mark, I have written several step-by-step articles for a woodworking magazine, and while at the beginning we had some fears, eventually the editor was pleased with 1200*1600, for pictures which are printed to ~48*64mm (1 7/8"*2 1/2").

the featured piece is also shown at the top of the article, and in the latest issue, it is 110mm high (4 5/16").

(paper and print quality of this magazine are very good, better than most similar magazines I know).

(of course my 2Mpix camera would not be sufficient for a "full page" picture)

hth,

Pascal