Output sharping for magazine submissions

[ned]

I will be submitting images for publication in a regional magazine. The only guidelines given were images should be jpeg @ 300dpi. Nothing about image size, etc.

I use PK for both my input and output sharping (love it in brush mode) however I don't know given the guidelines if I should do any output sharpening?  And which colorspace should I output?

Any other guidance you can give me would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Ned

[MichaelWorley]

I will be submitting images for publication in a regional magazine. The only guidelines given were images should be jpeg @ 300dpi. Nothing about image size, etc.

Ned

I would definitely call the magazine. We can only guess from here. And while you're at it, ask to talk to the person who thinks that "jpeg @ 300dpi" is in any way meaningful.

Mike

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... ask to talk to the person who thinks that "jpeg @ 300dpi" is in any way meaningful...

Of course it is. Check the maximum dimension of the magazine (usually double-spread) and you will find out the needed file dimension.

[Schewe]

I use PK for both my input and output sharping (love it in brush mode) however I don't know given the guidelines if I should do any output sharpening?  And which colorspace should I output?

Any other guidance you can give me would be much appreciated.

The PKS Halftone Output Sharpening would be the way to go but...the problem is that trying to nail the correct sharpening won't be ideal unless you know the exact reproduction size. If you do the sharpening at the full size and then the art director up or downsizes for the page, the sharping won't be optimal. Ideally, when going to halftone you really need the final output size and resolution to properly sharpen the pixels...one way I've handled that in the past is to send them the full size image but at 72PPI to be used for position only. When they design the page and resize it, I then resize the original and then do the output sharpening.

If I were you, I would still try to get more info from the pubs...

[ned]

Since I am a printing newbie I never noticed how image size affected output sharping. I would just sharpen until it looked good on my screen. I didn't even know what good really looked like. Since then I have followed the PK users guide and sharpen depending on where the image was going. Not only does it look good I no longer worry that the image is over sharpened. I will be doing a presentation next week showing how I enhance my images, maybe you will get one or two orders from that since PK is part of my work flow   :-)

[langier]

When somebody tells me to simply send a photo at 300dpi with little to no other information, I usually know they don't know...you still need an image dimension. Does the client need a 1-inch image or 100 inches? I wish they simply would say 5x7 at 300 ppi or 2000x3000 pixels. That's the info I need!

In most cases, I send my editors unsharpened images at full camera resolution, 300 ppi and usually jpeg quality 10-12. In most cases, it's overkill. Newspapers and web clients get smaller images. I send RGB and let the client determine the best way and proper profile he wishes to use upon the CMYK conversion. My master files are nearly always saved at full res and Adobe RGB (1998). I'll export as needed from these to the specs of the client. For web and low-res, sRGB, other times it's full-res, 16bit TIFF Adobe RGB (1998). It all depends...

Unless you have the right profiles and a fully color calibrated and profiled workflow, leave the conversions other than initial sizing and file type to the client.

One seldom sharpens and image before it is sent to a publication since it will generally be reduced in size (thus sharpened to a certain extent,) and many prepress workflows will sharpen the image as needed based upon the output quality, paper, press idiosyncrasies, etc. That's their job.

In any case, call and ask and if they can't tell you, have them put you in contact with their prepress people or printer.