Posted by Luke Ormand on March 31, 2009 at 7:56 PM
I have been asked to submit several photos for an upcoming issue of "Winging It" which is published by the ABA (American Birding Association). The editor asked for "large, high resolution images". I've never submitted anything for publication before, but I'm thinking do the basic saturation/contrast/brightness/etc. and save the file as a .TIFF without cropping or sharpening? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Depends who I'm sending to. For the stock agency I'll colour correct in 16 bit and save as an 8 bit TIFF. Most of the publications I send to are just as happy with large JPG. Both are unsharpened.
You might want to talk to the designer. Many places want full frame even if the subject could be cropped tighter. This gives them room to put in text if desired or crop to their own requirements.
I usually resize the pics to the 12x8, convert to 8bit and save in jpeg or tif. I always use Adobe RGB. No sharpening. It would be best if you asked the editor directly if he/she has specific requirements.
Posted by Luke Ormand on March 31, 2009 at 11:56 PM
Very simple really; if you're on a color-calibrated monitor, just process as you would for any other image, using Adobe 1998 RGB as a standard color space. Typical Hi Res specs would be 12x18" @ 300 dpi. The main thing would be to avoid images that are too dark, too contrasty, or way out of gamut. You also want to avoid images that have a lot of clipping. A good way to check an image for colors being clipped is to make sure you have a smooth histogram, and not one that looks like a hair comb. You can also check for highlight & shadow clipping using ACR. Once you have the image set looking how you like it, flatten (if needed) save as an 8 bit TIFF unsharpened- and save again as a level 12 JPEG. Chances are they'll be fine using the jpegs.
As a side note, make sure you fill in all the appropriate metadata using the File Info, including Caption and Credit Line. I also include a border on each lmage that contains my name, image ID#, caption, image tech specs, etc.. I also include a note that says the color space, gamma, and that the file is unsharpened.
Discussion
5 replies- Luke
Depends who I'm sending to. For the stock agency I'll colour correct in 16 bit and save as an 8 bit TIFF. Most of the publications I send to are just as happy with large JPG. Both are unsharpened.
You might want to talk to the designer. Many places want full frame even if the subject could be cropped tighter. This gives them room to put in text if desired or crop to their own requirements.
- Luke
As a side note, make sure you fill in all the appropriate metadata using the File Info, including Caption and Credit Line. I also include a border on each lmage that contains my name, image ID#, caption, image tech specs, etc.. I also include a note that says the color space, gamma, and that the file is unsharpened.
HTH.