Color Spot Printing & Graphics

Digital printing makes it possible for designs and layouts to dazzle the eye and impress the mind.  Like any precision printing process, achieving optimal results requires adherence to specific requirements.

You can use digital images from a variety of sources. As they say, “garbage in, garbage out.”  To end up with a sharp final print, you must begin with an image that is capable of your target clarity.  Your designs, photos and images can come from a digital camera, scanner, or the Web.

Images from a Digital Camera
If you wish to use images from a digital camera, before you snap pictures make sure the camera is set at a high enough resolution to produce the intended design size. Most cameras have variable settings for resolutions. Set your camera to the highest resolution with standard sharpness.  Also, when snapping the picture, be sure you hold your camera steady–an unsteady hand can make the image blurry.

Images from a Scanner
Like a digital camera, a scanner must be preset to the proper resolution before image capture. Many scanners default to 150 dpi (Dots Per Inch). Set your scanner’s resolution so that it results in 300 dpi at the image’s design size.

Images from the Web
Most images found on the Web are typically at a resolution of 72 dpi. This resolution by itself is much too low for a quality print. However, if the measurements of the image are large enough, you can shrink an image to about one fourth its size, the resulting resolution will scale up and should be sufficient for printing.  How this works is a subject for another time.

Caution: most images on the Web are protected by copyright laws; you must have proper permission to use them. If you plan to get your images from Web, look for Web sites that sell images or clip art.