Printing/Photocopying Issues

[Sarah C Frey]

I've been having some issues regarding the quality of my photographic images. I understand that with each reproduction some quality is going to deteriorate, but i'm losing a lot of detail and my images are considerably darker.

I've read many zines with heavy photo content that don't appear to lose photographic information. I'm wondering if there is some trick to reproducing good images.

I've considered the following possibilities:

my master flat should be created from the originals and not from copies
the photocopier that I use is not designed to reproduce hi res photocopies

i've tried using the photo settings for the machine that I use, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. And when copying the master, it is best that I use the text only setting to get better saturation.

i'm open to any suggestions.

please excuse me if there is another thread out there that deals with print issues.


thanks!

[Rick Bradford]

Are you pasting original photos onto your masters or are you talking about scanned photos?

[NicoleIntrovert]

To make my master flats, i always color copy my mock-ups. Then i use the color copy to make all of my zines from. It does help to mess with the contrast settings on the copier as well.

[kami]

if possible (maybe not?) use computer - ie pdf as yr master copy ... makes hell of a difference... of course, i know that isnt always possible. i'm lucky, local printer has digital copier set up...

you just have to try and get the best copy you can for the master. if yre assembling on yr computer make sure you have 'best quality' on yr printer setup.. if you have to - use original photos on the master. and as pointed out above, check the machine itself... maybe u will have to find a better copier to start ... hope this helps

[NicoleIntrovert]

Aside from the Staples on Midlothian Turnpike next to Petsmart. I have been using them lately and love it. Beats the crap out of the UPS Store on this side of town.

Sarah said:

If you're in America, don't go to Staples. Their self-service machines are not particularly good with photocopying any images.

[Sarah C Frey]

thank you for the suggestions. i'm going to try experimenting with different machines, although the one I have now is free for me to use.

i will need to be mindful about reproducing photos when creating my next issue, for now i think i'm ready to put my current project to rest. I ended up editing my photos in photoshop, laying them out in indesign and using a laser printer to print. not the best solution, because i have to print and insert pages into the photocopied master but i'm satisfied with my product for the moment.

again thank you!

[Dan 10things]

Scan them in, lighten them 25% lighter than you want them took look in the final copies, and depending on your photo software, try to play around with the tools and see if you have anything where you can adjust line screen or pixilate them. The problem with photocopying is it reduces everything to black and white, no grays. But if you work with the photo ahead of time you can prep it for photocopying. Back in the old days when people pasted photos into magazine and newspaper layouts before printing, they do something similar in the dark room. Even with offset printing, you have to factor in for the black and white final product and the amount of dot gain you get in the printing process. If you look around the web, I'm sure some zinester has done a guide for how to prepare photos best...