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• • November 8, 2012 at 7:44 am #63530
    Daffi

    Participant

    I do a lot of ads for newspapers and for some reason they never come out quite as vibrant and sharp as other ads I see. I am wondering what the best way to export them is, if there is another method of doing it or are there certain colors I should be using? I usually export as a pdf x1a, convert to destination (preserve numbers) Working cmyk-us web coated (swop)v2. High-res flattening. Do you ever play around with the ink manager? I have spoken to the girl who works at the newspaper and she couldnt help. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

    Thanks in advance.

  • November 8, 2012 at 8:57 am #63531
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Big complicated issue, Daffi. When you say “vibrant and sharp” are you referring to images? Or is text also blurry or not sharp? Are you converting the images to CMYK before placing them into InDesign or letting InDesign do it?

    I don't think ink manager will help. But you might ask the newspaper if there is a better ICC profile to use besides SWOP.

  • November 8, 2012 at 10:12 am #63532
    Gert Verrept

    Member

    “vibrant and sharp” images in newspapers? If they are printed on glossy paper, then yes, it's possible. But most papers are printed on non coated papers. The inks are more absorbed and this gives you a “flat” image.

    Is the paper still printed or is it digitally printed? This too makes a big difference. Tner versus ink. Check on https://www.ECI.org for the right settings for your pdf. CMUK is ok, but “coated” should better be “uncoated”. The best way to find out is of course asking the printer for the settings he uses. In any case, no matter how vibrant your images are,if they are printed on a non-coated paper, they will be “flat” looking.

  • November 8, 2012 at 3:07 pm #63533
    Daffi

    Participant

    David-I dont convert the images to cmyk before I place them. Will that make them more vibrant? Gert, I know its 'more' of a flat image when printed on newspaper but when I flip through I do see other ads that seem more vibrant than mine so I thought it must be the way they are exporting them or the color setting they are using. I will speak to the paper again and see about a better ICC profile, maybe that wil help. Thank you!

  • November 8, 2012 at 4:33 pm #63534
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Converting them to CMYK in advance is not necessary. I recommend leaving them in RGB. However, you might want to size them properly and adjust the resolution so that they are about 2x the newspaper halftone frequency, and then apply Unsharp Masking in Photoshop. Sometimes what seems “vibrant” is just better sharpened. We discuss this in “Real World Photoshop” (no CS6 version, sadly). But the best thing is to check with your printer about whether you can use something other than SWOP, which is really “middle of the road, lowest common denominator” kind of color.

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