What’s the lowest DPI I can use in offset printing?

MC
Posted By
Mark_Christensen
Feb 4, 2004
Views
254
Replies
8
Status
Closed
Hello,

I’ve got an image that’s 7" wide at 300 DPI. But I need it to be about 9.25" wide in the catalog I’m making. When I enlarge it to 9.25" wide, the DPI goes down to 225. Is this too low for offset printing? It will be on the cover of my catalog. I’d prefer not to have to reshoot the photo if possible. Thanks.

Mark

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RL
Robert_Levine
Feb 4, 2004
Talk to your printer, but 225 should be good enough for most presses to handle.

Bob
I
ID._Awe
Feb 4, 2004
A good order of measure is 2*LPI for most press work, ask your printer what the LPI for the print job is.
MC
Mark_Christensen
Feb 4, 2004
OK, thanks for the advice – I appreciate it!

Mark
RL
Robert_Levine
Feb 4, 2004
It’s a good measure but not carved in stone. You can almost always get away with quite a bit less.

Bob
GS
Gustavo_Sanchez
Feb 4, 2004
…. And, depending on the quality and subject of the picture, even surprisingly less (as I learned thanks to Len Hewitt and D. Blatner).

But for the picture in the cover of a catalogue… I would not take risks if I were doing it myself.

The possibility of having an evident pixelation or strange fringes in the image due to harsh upsamplig is too heavy.

I don’t know… May be here you might try a technique called something like "step stair interpolation <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.2ccf7bc8>" (or whatever similar <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.2ccd8e05/0>, I’m not an English speaker) and afterwards apply a bit of clone tool where due? (anybody else with support or discourage for this?)

Gustavo Sánchez

(Posted from Spain)
MC
Mark_Christensen
Feb 4, 2004
I sent my printer the photo and he said it should be fine, but we won’t be 100% certain until the proof. I hope it’s OK.

Mark
J
JasonSmith
Feb 4, 2004
Unless there is super delicate detail in the image – like say the strings on a harp, you should be fine.
L
LenHewitt
Feb 4, 2004
Mark,

If you need a ‘confidence’ boost see:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ef7d043

2x linescreen frequency is just about ALWAYS overkill…..

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

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