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Electronic Files Guidelines
- Select the proper mode for your work: Color
or Grayscale. Most artwork should be sent in color. True black
and white prints (not toned) and graphite/pencil drawings on white
paper should be sent as grayscale images as this will reduce the
image file size significantly.
You may use RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color mode to send the images.
This is the default for most computer image programs. They will be
converted to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) before printing.
Most images convert to CMYK without noticeable color shifting. On
the other hand, when nearing the extreme edges of the RGB and CMYK
color spaces color shifts do occur. The colors you can see on a
computer monitor are different from the ones that can be printed on
a high-speed color press.
- Setting the proper resolution: Our printer
suggests that the source images be twice the final printing
resolution to eliminate artifacts. Our images usually print a
maximum of four inches tall. So at 350-dots-per inch, that means a
4-inch tall image requires 1,400 pixels (or dots) resolution
vertically.
A ballpark estimate for scanning is to divide 1,400 by the height of
the image. For example: 1,400 divided by a 9-inch tall image equals
approximately 155. If you scan at 155 dots per inch or higher (such
as 200 dots-per-inch -- scanner controls vary) you should be very
close. Then reduce the image, if required, to 1,400 pixels after any
necessary cropping.
Using a lower resolution image than we require and "blowing it
up" by resizing it will usually give poor results unless your
image is very near to the size we need. Resizing it larger does not
add resolution, which is what we are after. Scanning an image larger
than our requirements and reducing to our specs will work!
If you are working from a photograph of your artwork instead of a
scan, there may be some distortion or keystoning of your image. If
you do not have the ability to correct for this, please send the
image at 16,000 pixels vertical resolution and we can make the
adjustments for you.
If you have an exceptionally tall or wide image, please contact us
for special instructions.
- Image adjustment: Since we will not have the
original artwork for comparison, we have to "guess" what
the image should look like. Color monitors, unless they are
professionally calibrated, vary wildly -- what you see on your
monitor may be very different from our monitor!
Suggestion: Include a small section of a photographer's "gray
card" (the Kodak card is 18% neutral gray) in your scan or
photograph. Gray cards are available from most photographic stores.
This provides a known reference that can help remove color casts
that may have crept into the image file.
If you or a friend have pre-press experience and the image has been
prepared for print, let us know and we will not attempt adjustments
to the image.
- Image format:
Save the image you are sending to us in JPG format with
"high quality" (though not the very highest quality) compression
if you are sending by e-mail. Files of this sort are commonly 1
to 3 megabytes in size. Our e-mail system is capable of handling
files of this size.
Save the image in TIF format or in JPG format at the
highest quality possible if sending your images on CD.
(Floppies typically do not have enough space for the quality we need.)
We cannot read ZIP drive cassettes if they were created on a MacIntosh,
IBM formatted ZIP are okay, although we prefer CDs.
- Send your image to:
E-mail: LouisJay@TomOfFinlandFoundation.org
Mailing: See our Contacts
Page for the address and send "Attn: Dispatch".
Thanks -- from your
friends at the Foundation!
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