Preparing Your Job Files
Before submitting your files to us, there are a number of things we require for a job to print correctly. Whether it was created on a PC or a Mac, this list applies to both.
IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CLOSELY!
Images
With the advancements of technologies, digital camera's and even camera phones, these types of images are being used more and more. Below are some tips on making sure the settings are acceptable for use in print.
1. Keep in mind that digital images created by phones and digital cameras are, more or less, set "out-of-the-box" for on-screen purposes. This means that they are only 72dpi, and the printing process uses a much higher dpi/resolution of 300dpi.
2. For the reason stated above you must go into your camera "settings" menu and select the highest resolution, or "best quality", possible. This will most likely reduce the number of pictures you'll be able to save to the SIMM card, but this will ensure quality images for printing.
3. One alternative option would be (available on some, but not all cameras) a medium-quality image. This will give you the option to take and save more pictures to your camera, but when converted to 300dpi printable images, will reduce the dimensions of the final image size. (For example: a mid-quality - 150dpi image at 5"x7" would print at 2.5"x3.5")
For additional help in figuring your image sizes, click on the "Image Calculator" link in the column to the left.
Files
1. Be sure that all of your image, illustration and page files are in CMYK mode. Additional time and/or expenses will likely occur in order for us to rectify the problem if they are not in CMYK mode.
2. All photos are to be 300dpi CMYK for best output. They also need to be saved as either high-quality setting .jpg, .eps or .tif files. Illustrator and other vector-based files should be saved as .eps.
3. All fonts for the entire project, both screen and printer, are to be included.
4. All images (photos & illustrations) need to be included. Most of the softwares on the market merely "place" the source file, meaning it links to an outside file and therefore the source file must accompany it or it won't "know" what to place in that spot.
5. All files need to have a suffix appending. Claffey Printing accepts and supports most any (but not all) softwares. If the extensions are at the end of all of the files, not only will there be a greater chance of the file opening correctly on our end, but if there are files that have extensions to software that we don't have, at least we know from/to what software that file is associated and how best to handle it.
6. A PDF file of the job showing how it should look when completed, is required. This should be a low-resolution version so that the images (and the rest of the content) are sampled down. This will aid in keeping file size down, while showing the final product as intended.
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