May2015_NETWORK TOPIC

PHOTOS SENT TO US:

These are proving to be quite a headache . . . and consume much of my time with emails exchanging back and forth.  The amazing capacity of todays digital cameras – and this includes phone cameras too – is often not reflected in the photos being sent through for publication.  BIGGER is better with these files!

 

We say:

PHOTOGRAPHS:  Please include suitably sized, stamped & addressed envelope for return of actual photograph/s.  Digital photos need to be a minimum of 1063 pixels in width. #  

It is presumed that photos submitted are free of copyright and were taken with the consent of the people appearing therein.

SOME VITAL POINTS: 

Make sure that your device does not reduce the size of the attachments for the purpose of sending the email!  

Send photos as image file attachments i.e. not just inserted into a Word document.  (Well . . . maybe put the photos into the document if you want to demonstrate which photo you would like where – but do also separately attach those images to your email.) 

If your image isn’t clear . . please don’t bother sending it!  They say, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!”  . . . – Check the image on your PC or Tablet if possible – rather than just the smaller screen on your phone!  If it is blurry, has  too much light on your subject’s face etc., forget it! 

IMAGE SIZE:  Those PIXELS:  As a minimum, general use digital cameras take images at either 72 or 96 dpi (i.e. dots per inch).  For the off-set printing process we require the photos to be compressed to 300 dpi . . . and we change photos to this, you don’t need to be worrying about that.  This action of compressing the dots that make up the image, actually reduces the size that the photo will display at 100% i.e. not magnified. 

 

SIZE MATTERS:  In the case of 72 dpi the images is reduced to 24% of its original size – but lets just say a quarter of its size to made a nice round figure.  In the case of 96 dpi images, they reduce to 32% of their original size – so we will say that it is one-third of its size.  Simply make sure that your picture, displayed at 100% (i.e. un-stretched), is 4 times bigger than it needs to be!

PROPERTIES:  Another way is to look at the “Properties” of your digital file.  This can be as easy as hovering the mouse pointer over the file name – then the “Dimensions” appear.  The first number is the width and the second number is the height of the image – separated by an x.  And that folks, is also what those numbers represent when you go into your camera settings!  

IMAGE QUALITY:  Don’t sacrifice the quality of the image that you capture – that precious moment – for the sake of fitting more in the memory storage in your device.  You may only get this one opportunity!  It is digital, not film – So why take only one photo and hope it is ok, when you can take 2, or 3, or more?

# Our column-width is 9cms and, for a photo to be displayed at this full column width, the digital file of that photo must contain a minimum of 1063 pixels across its width.