A non profit I am trying to help out publishes a very modest newsletter, with the uh, photocopier, and I have been asked to help get pictures in it.
Getting good results from a photocopier can be done, but it requires knowledge and skill of basic prepress functions, such as halftoning and color correction. It also really, really helps to start with a PostScript printer to print your master. Don’t even bother trying to print the picture on an inkjet printer and then photocopy that; you’ll get garbage.
Being a veteran of small-press publishing, this is an area where I’ve had a lot of practice. 🙂
For good quality photocopiers, you should use an 85-line halftone screen for your images. A tighter screen will reduce the number of shades of gray your image will have, especially on a 600 dpi printer, and will not photocopy as clearly.
Very, very important to photocopy reproduction is the quality of the image going in to the process. Photocopying introduces significant "dot gain" into your images; what that means is that photocopied images become much darker.
To get good results when reproducing an image on a photocopier, you must get familiar with Photoshop’s Curves command. This command is found under Image->Adjust->Curves. You also must have your Info palette open and be familiar with how to read the numbers in it.
Start with a grayscale image. Set your Info palette so that one of the two readouts displays "actual color." Open the Curves window (Image->Adjust->Curves).
Since photocopying darkens an image, you are going to lighten it. It should look too light and slightly washed-out on your screen. If it looks perfect on your screen, it will look muddy and dark when you photocopy it.
First, position the mouse pointer over the darkest part of the image which still contains detail. This part of the image should not be 100% printing according to the Info palette. Instead, it should be no more than about 85% printing; the shadows in your image will darken dramatically on the photocopier.
If the darkest shadow detail in your image is darker than 85%, pull down the shadow end of your curve (the right-hand part of the curve in the Curves dialog) until your Info palette shows it to be about 85%.
Now look at the lightest part of the image which still contains detail (not the part which should print pure white; the lightest part that shows detail). It should be 5-6% in your Info window. If it is lighter than this, that part of the image will be pure white (no detail) on the photocopier. If it is darker, lighten it by moving the left-hand point on the curve to the right until the Info palette shows you it is about 5-6% printing.
Now pull the middle of the curve down slightly.
The image will look much lighter on your screen. This is what you want.
Click OK in the Curves dialog. Now print the image to your laser printer, using an 85-line halftone screen.
If you do not have a PostScript printer, you will need to make the halftone in the image. Save the grayscale image, then use Image->Mode->Bitmap. Theoutput resolution should be the resolution of your laser printer, the method should be Halftone, Round dot, 45 degrees, 85 lines per inch. Print the bitmap (or place it in your page layout program) and use it to print the master you will photocopy.
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