Printing TEXT over IMAGES looks horrible.

TR
Posted By
Tom_Ricardo
Nov 3, 2003
Views
651
Replies
10
Status
Closed
I have higher quality images that I would like to add text to. The problem is that when I go to print these, even at highest resolutions on good printer and on photopaper, the pictures and text look horrible. I know that text in photoshop looks horrible when printed b/c it isn’t truly vector, but the pictures are not that crisp and high res. When I import into illustrator, and add vector text over the pictures and print out the text is crisp, but the pictures are poor. What can I do to obtain professional style print products, (i.e. I am making DVD box covers). What about a postscript printing process? I tried that, but it doesn’t look all the great. I NEED HELP SOON. Thankyou so very much.

k
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Z
zippy2000
Nov 3, 2003
What resolution are you using?
RL
Robert_Levine
Nov 3, 2003
What version of Photoshop are you using. Text does maintain it’s vector attributes in Photoshop 6 and 7.

Bob
CS
Carol_Steele
Nov 4, 2003
…… unless you merge the layers before printing 😉
—

Carol
(Posted from the UK)
RL
Robert_Levine
Nov 4, 2003
….. unless you merge the layers before printing 😉

Yeah, I suppose I should consider the least common denominator.

Bob
TR
Tom_Ricardo
Nov 4, 2003
the standard is 72 for the project. that is what i am using.
P
Phosphor
Nov 4, 2003
"I have higher quality images that I would like to add text to. The problem is that when I go to print these, even at highest resolutions on good printer and on photopaper, the pictures and text look horrible….but the pictures are not that crisp and high res."

This is contradictory. Either you have high-quality images or you don’t. Perhaps you’re mixing terminologies here.

"I know that text in photoshop looks horrible when printed b/c it isn’t truly vector…"

And you know this…HOW, exactly? If you’re using Photoshop 6 or newer, text can be output as clean vector, unless you rasterize it.

"When I import into illustrator, and add vector text over the pictures and print out the text is crisp, but the pictures are poor."

This is because you’re using poor quality pixel-based images. I output TONS of stuff from Illustrator that uses linked photos and it all looks brilliant.

"What can I do to obtain professional style print products, (i.e. I am making DVD box covers). What about a postscript printing process? I tried that, but it doesn’t look all the great. I NEED HELP SOON. Thankyou so very much."

It sounds like you’re in over your head on a project that you are under-qualified to do properly, efficiently and well at this point in time. There are so many issues to tackle as generated by your initial post that I’m afraid you won’t be able to digest all the education you need in a short amount of time.

And—while I’m on a tear here—which brain-dead idiot standardized on 72 ppi for a print project?

If it was you, I meant all the offense I can wring out that sentence.

Somebody has a lot to learn.

We can help you quite a bit here, but you first have to do some work yourself and learn a whole lot more about the basics so you can converse on a competent level. This isn’t meant to stoip you in your tracks, but you HAVE to learn a little more about what you’re trying to do before you even know which questions to ask and how to ask them effectively so that you elicit the best and most complete answers you’re after. Start with the manual, get some 3rd-party books, and read up on producing files for print output.
DM
Don_McCahill
Nov 4, 2003
The 72 resolution is the problem. Bump it up to 300 and things will print nicely. Only use 72 for onscreen (web) work. You may need to get images that have the higher resolution.
TR
Tom_Ricardo
Nov 5, 2003
I agree, I definitely know very little about print publishing. I’m just a college kid with some photoshop background primarily making web graphics. You say my projects should be 300ppi, is there a way to re-sample the psd’s I have?

thanks
DM
Don_McCahill
Nov 5, 2003
Tom

Resampling up can give results from horrible up to not very good. The best quality comes from aquiring higher resolution images to start with. Downsampling usually give better results than upsampling.
GH
Gary_Hummell
Nov 5, 2003
Upsampling rasterized text is usually awful, especially as much as you would need to upsample. I think overall it would be best to start over with a 300 ppi file and be sure not to flatten your text layers or rasterize the text. That will get you excellent results with a good photo printer.

Gary

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