Size and Resolution
- Bitmaps should be at
least 300 dots per inch (dpi) at
the final printed size (600 dpi
is preferred). When in doubt, it
is best to err by making the
image larger, rather than
smaller. Check the settings of
your graphics software; do not
try to estimate the resolution
from the file size, since
compression, color and other
information encoded in the file
makes this an unreliable
yardstick.
Most home and office scanners are
set on 72 dpi as a default.
Images scanned at this setting will
be unacceptable for publication.
Please make sure your scanner is
set to at least 600 dpi.
Images created for or captured from
the Web are generally
unacceptable for publication because
they are optimized for viewing
on a computer monitor at 72 dpi;
too low a resolution for print
media. GIF images are generally
optimized for use on the Web and
should be avoided. Likewise,
screen captures will also be
low-resolution imagines and should
be avoided.
Photographs, images
with tints (use tints only when
necessary, never just for
appearance), and other grayscale
images should be of good quality
with proper contrast. Too high a
contrast will cause your image to
appear “washed out”
when printed; too low a contrast
will appear to be a blob of
black or gray. If there is text
in the image, it should have
sufficient contrast with the
surrounding area to be legible.
(If you are adding text in Adobe
PhotoShop, please add text on a
separate layer and send the file
in native PhotoShop [*.PSD]
format.)
Digital Cameras -
Photographs taken with digital
cameras are acceptable as long as
they meet all the above
requirements. In general you should
always set the camera to its
highest resolution and size
settings, with compression set to
“off.” Once again,
files that are larger than
necessary are perfectly
acceptable, while files that are
smaller than 300 dpi are not.
(Note that many older consumer
digital cameras are not capable
of producing an acceptable
resolution even at their highest
settings.)
In most cases, the minimum image
size should be 1,050 pixels in
width for a single column image, and
2,100 pixels in width for a two-
or three-column image. Twice
this size is optimal.
Digital camera images are usually
stored as JPEG files and should
be submitted as such. If another
format is used, please make sure
that it matches one of the
acceptable file formats listed
above.
Illustrations
- Color images should meet
all the requirements of
grayscale images and should
be saved in CMYK format.
Bitmaps should be saved in
TIFF (*.TIF) format. Saving
a low-resolution file with a
higher resolution setting in
a program such as PhotoShop
does not increase the
resolution of the image. All
it does is create a larger,
low resolution image.
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