GETTING READY: Preparing Your
Images for the Web
Getting your artwork ready for the web is a process very different
from getting it ready for printing. All that stuff about dots per
inch (DPI), lines per inch (LPI) and resolution? You still need
to know it, but you'll need to learn other numbers, as well. One
of the main differences between preparing artwork for printing and
preparing artwork for the screen
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SCAN IT
The price of scanners, like the rest of technology, has become
more and more affordable each year--decent quality scanners can
be purchased for less than $100. If you don't already own a scanner
and are in the market for a scanner, here are a few links to get
you started on your scanner-buying mission:
- Need a good place to begin? Check out 'what to look for in a
scanner' where Cnet's experts explain the 'specs that matter'
(http://reviews.cnet.com/Scanners/4520-3136_7-5020735-1.html)
- When you have a better idea of what features you're looking
for, head on over to Cnet's Scanner Reviews. You can search reviews
by price range or manufacturer. (
http://reviews.cnet.com/Scanners/2001-3136_7-0.html)
- Now that you've got your eye on one scanner in particular, visit
MySimon to find the best price. MySimon is a free comparison-shopping
service that looks for an item and compares pricing from hundreds
of online stores. (www.mysimon.com)
PERFECT SCANNING THE FIRST TIME
Now that your scanner is hooked up and ready to go, it's time to
get your artwork web-ready. Here are a few tips for digitizing your
artwork right the first time.
FREE UP YOUR RESOURCES
Scanning is a memory-intensive application for your computer. If
you're running many programs simultaneously, or are working in an
image editing or word processing program at the same time you're
trying to scan, your computer might decide to stop working. Consider
closing other memory-hogging programs before you start scanning.
SETTING THE SETTINGS
There's a fine line to be aware of when scanning your artwork or
photography—the resolution line. If you scan it at too low of a
resolution, your artwork will come out grainy and blotchy…scanning
it at too high of a resolution will make it a large file, rendering
it difficult to manipulate.
We suggest scanning your artwork or photographs (no matter if they're
color, black and white or grayscale) with the following settings:
- 150 dots per inch. Computer monitors show images at 72dpi. Scanning
an image at a resolution of 150dpi gives you some 'play' in determining
image sizing without creating an unwieldy large file.
- 16 million colors. Always scan your artwork, no matter how many
colors it contains, with the most number of colors possible. Why?
Because getting the best scan initially means that you'll have
a better source to manipulate in an image editing program. Your
scanning program is for scanning…you can tweak settings and options
like curves, level, hue and brightness in a program better suited
for image manipulation.
JPEG or GIF?
JPEG (or JPG)
- The preferred format for photographs
- Reduces file size from 0-99%
- A lossy compression (each time they are saved, they are compressed
again. More image information is lost and cannot be restored)
GIF
- The preferred format for images with a few distinct colors (logos,
clip art, black and white images)
- Reduces file size by 30-50%
- Handles images of 256 colors or less
- Allows transparency and animation
- A lossless compression (each time they are saved, no data is
lost)
ADVANCED TIP: Use PhotoShop Actions
Let's say you have a series of artwork or photographs that all
need similar tweaks. Perhaps you want to add a drop shadow, correct
brightness and contrast or do any other task to a number of different
photos. Is there a way to tweak one image and then magically tweak
other images with the same settings? Yes, there is. PhotoShop actions.
Record actions
Available in PhotoShop 4.0 and later, recording actions allow you
to execute a series of commands on a single file or several files.
- Open a file
- Locate the action palette (choose Window > Show Actions to see
the palette)
- Choose 'New Action' from the palette menu, then name the action
- Click 'Record.' Then perform the tasks you want to record (e.g.
change contrast, brightness, add drop shadow, etc.)
- When you've finished your task, choose 'Stop Recording' from
the Actions Palette
Play actions
Playing an action means that all the tasks and commands that you
recorded will be applied to a different file.
- Open the file you want to apply changes to
- Locate the action palette (choose Window > Show Actions to see
the palette)
- Select the action name and choose 'Play' from the Actions Palette
- Save your image with its new changes
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