Photo Guide

The Right Resolution For The Job:
Photos For Commercial Printing

The photo requirements for high-quality commercial printing, such as that used on Business People-Vermont, are very different than for photos used on your Web site.

• Film cameras:
  Send a high-resolution scan
  -OR-
  send the original print,
  -NOT-
  a printed scan.
  
  
• Digital cameras:
  Send high-resolution JPEGS or the original JPEG photo files from your digital camera (or scan at 300ppi).
  
  
• Label your photos or files with the correctly spelled first and last name of the person in the press release. (Richard Smith label should be "Richard Smith," not "Chip Smith."
  
  
• Send press release and photo together.
  
  
• AVOID prints of digital photos.
  
  
• AVOID Web site pictures.

What difference does resolution make?

Web Resolution images like the tiny sample on the left, have detail removed so that Web pages will load faster.

Below: A photo sized for the Web "upsampled" to show how it would look printed in the magazine. Blurry, mushy and full of "artifacts."

Below: If you send a headshot about this size with this much detail, it will print well in our Faces & Places section. Crisp, handsome and full of character.

Why Magazine Printing Uses
More Resolution Than Your Web Site

The enlargement on the left: Your computer screen uses pixels to reproduce a black and white photo.

Each pixel can be any of 256 shades of gray. (Color images use millions of colors.)

The enlargement on the right: To print a photo on a commercial press, photos are converted to "halftones."

Varying sizes of black dots on white paper color give the illusion of shades gray.

Since there are only two colors — black and white — much more detail is needed in the original.