Saving your images

There are many types of image files, but not all are acceptable to printing labs.  It is good practice to become familiar with saving your images according to your printers specification.

We have created a compatibility guide, which will allow you to quickly check that your file is being saved in the correct way for us to print it.  As we don't know which piece software you are using, we have provided steps according to Adobe Photoshop CS. 

Step 1 - Colour Space 

Your image must be converted to either 'sRGB IEC61966-2.1' or 'Adobe RGB (1998)' colour spaces for us to print them. Here is how you do it in Adobe Photoshop CS:

1) Click on Image on the top menu bar.

2) Hover over Mode from the menu to enter a sub menu.

3) Click on Convert to profile... at the bottom of the sub menu.

4) Use the drop down list to find either 'sRGB IEC61966-2.1' or 'Adobe RGB (1998)'.

5) Press OK to confirm your choice and convert the colour space.

Step 2 - Flat Images 

Photoshop allows you to edit your images in any way you see fit.  When editing, you may unknowingly add a new layer to your image.  If you have added layers to your image, you must make sure you flatten your image before you save it.  Here is how:

1) Click on Layers from the top menu bar.

2) Move down to the bottom of the menu and click on Flatten Image.

3) If you have layers which are invisible (switched off) you will receive a message to delete those layers.  Make sure you don't need them or are happy with discarding them and press OK.

Step 3 - Bit Depth

When working on your images, many scan or convert the bit depth of their images to 16 Bit.  This allows a greater range of colours in your image.  However, most output devices (printers) are unable to re-produce this many colour and are usually limited to 8 Bit colour depth.  Here is how you convert your image to 8 Bit:

1) Click on Image on the top menu bar.

2) Hover over Mode from the menu to enter a sub menu.

3) Click on 8 Bits / Channel.

Step 4 - Saving Images 

We can print images from tiff and jpg files only.  These are the industry standard output file types, so it is a good idea to become familiar with saving as these files. 

Jpg files are compressed versions of the image.  This does reduce the quality of the image when you save as this type of file, but depending on the size you are printing at, this reduction may be invisible when printed.  Jpg files are much smaller than tif files and are ideal for sending over the internet via our ftp service.

Tiff files are lossless versions of your image.  Much like a Raw file, they contain all the detail and information in your image.  Saving as a tiff will not reduce the quality of your image.  Tiff files are much larger than their jpg counterparts, usually as much as ten times the size.  These are not recommended for transfer over the internet, but are ideal for sending on CD if you want to print a large file i.e 40"x30".

Saving as a Jpg 

1) Click on File from the top menu bar.

2) Select the Save As option.

3) At the bottom of the new box, use the drop down list to select jpg.

4) You will notice a group of tick boxes at the bottom. Please untick all of these except for Embed colour profile... (see step 1 for more on this). 

5) When you are happy with the name and destination of your file click on Save.

6) A smaller box will appear with a slider 'quality' bar and 3 buttons.

7) Type 12 into the box above the slider bar, or slide the bar all the way to the right.

8) Below the bar, make sure the top option Baseline (standard) is selected.

9) Finally, click on OK. 

Saving as a Tiff 

1) Click on File from the top menu bar.

2) Select the Save As option.

3) At the bottom of the new box, use the drop down list to select tiff.

4) You will notice a group of tick boxes at the bottom. Please untick all of these except for Embed colour profile... (see step 1 for more on this).

5) When you are happy with the name and destination of your file click on Save.

6) A smaller box will appear with 3 boxes inside it named Image Compression, Byte Order and Layer Compression.

7) Set the first box to NONE.

8) Set the second box to IBM PC.

9) The third box should be grey (unselectable) if you have already flattened the image. If you can click this third box, select Discard Layers and Save a Copy which is right at the bottom.

10) Finally click OK.