When you are creating your own images for your desktop publishing projects, there are some basic guidelines that you may want to stick to. They will save you edits later.
You’ve probably had a DTP project to create where you just couldn’t find the perfect image. It is an annoying scenario for any desktop publisher. That means you are going to have to edit your own images. That can be a bit intimidating if you have not done so before. Don’t worry, it is not nearly as hard as it may seem. Nonetheless, here are some helpful tips for editing your images for desktop publishing projects.
Cropping
Cropping, or cutting your image down can be one of the most challenging things to master. If you want to crop with the best of them take a look at these tips.
* When in doubt crop a bit too big. You can always crop more later but deciding that you need to add back to the image six steps later will be more difficult.
* Crop to center your target section of the image, off center images work sometimes, but more often than not you want it front and center. That being said, don’t crowd your image.
Colors
If you want to alter, or need to connect a color then you are going to correct a color it is best to simply pull from a local area. That way you get the closest possible match. To add new colors you are better off pulling from the wheel than you are trying to use hexadecimal numbers. Unless of course, you have extensive experience with them.
Bordering
Even if your images does not have a formal border then you should consider leaving a small white border, something as small as 5 pixels will give you a nice buffer to keep text from bleeding.
Sharpening
Quality matters in your images. If you have any blurriness you will want to use the sharpen tool on your image. You can do this multiple times if you need to. Also be sure to save your images at a high resolution. 90% or higher is a good rule of thumb.
A Free Image Editor
Now you can make quality images for desktop publishing. You just have to get an image editor. One great free option is GIMP. You can find out more about this free image editing program in these articles:
Review of GIMP - Free Photo Editing Software
