Digital cameras and the internet have made hundreds of millions of photos easily accessible for use in print projects. When looking for photographs to use in your print project, here are few things to consider when making your selections:
Is the Photo Copyrighted?
If you’re using photos you’ve taken with your own digital camera or smartphone (many of today’s smartphones can capture professional quality images), then copyright will not be an issue. However, if you’re purchasing royalty-free stock photography or have commissioned a professional photographer to shoot images for your project, copyright compliance will be a necessity. Stock photography services list their terms of usage and limitations and it’s a good idea to review those terms before purchasing. With professional photographers, usage rights are often negotiable or can be purchased outright. Sometimes a photographer may request a credit be included on the printed piece identifying the photographer — particularly if the photograph has been provided free of charge.
It’s best to avoid simply copying images from social media platforms or other websites if you don’t know or can’t determine the provenance of the image.
Is the Photo of Sufficient Size and Resolution?
Let’s say you’re wanting to use a photograph for one entire side of an 8.5” x 5.5” postcard. Factoring in the bleed dimension, you’ll need a photo with dimensions 8.75” x 5.75” and a resolution of 300 ppi (2625 x 1725 pixels). It’s important to remember photographs posted on the internet are downsized to a lower resolution to make them load faster in web browsers. Hence, always make sure to download the hi-res version of the photograph and not the lo-res screen capture.
For larger print projects (like an 18” x 24” poster), you will, of course, need larger images. In some instances, if your photo is not of sufficient size, it can be enlarged 5-10% (via image processing software like Photoshop) without a significant degradation of image quality. New, as of this writing, are several AI-driven software programs that claim to be able to enlarge images up to 600% without any loss in image quality and/or to convert lo-res images to hi-res images. It remains to be seen what kind of impact these programs have on image processing for print projects.
Is the Photo in the Necessary Color Space?
Before printing, full-color photographs need to be converted to the CMYK color space from the digital/web standard RGB color space. This conversion is typically done using image processing software and is a necessary step to insure the best results when going to press.
If you have any questions about Photography in Print, give us a call at 330-597-8560. We’re happy to help you get the most out of your printing project.
Photo by Da Nina
