Book print quality, resolution, presets, etc...

I just ordered my first book from Apple and was overall disappointed by the quality. Colors and contrast a bit cheap, apparent loss of resolution, some banding in the sky, etc... Nothing like what i get with my home printer (canon 9900).
So i looked a bit more into the issue and wondered whether, among other things, there was not an issue with the Output PDF file. I tried comparing a picture at full magnification between aperture (from the original Raw file) and preview (from the Output PDF file) and i could indeed notice a huge difference in resolution, which was much lower on the PDF.
Then i asked myself whereas there could be something to tune with the export presets. On the preset list (on the right of the export preset window), the "JPEG - Fit within 1024x1024" was indeed highlighted, with a DPI of 72 and quality of 8... So i created a "PDF Book" preset, with Jpeg - Original size, max quality (12) and set DPI at 300. And "selected" it...
I recreated the PDF file, and much to my excitement, size moved from 150 Megs to 250 Megs. But deception quickly took over as a close look at a picture within the new PDF showed a similar loss of resolution, with color and micro-contrast having slightly shifted compared to first PDF.
Final test, to be sure that i was not comparing tomatoes and, well.. apples, i created a jpeg file from the raw file with that same "PDF book" preset. And in Preview it looked just like the Raw in aperture, much better apparent resolution when viewed at full size than what i got from the PDF.
Sorry for having been a bit longish, hope ur still with me
Here are my comments/questions :
- As for the comments, i concur with other previous posts on the erratic character of the apple book output. I would not at that stage recommend it to anyone who has a need beyond sharing vacation or party pics with friends or family. For reference, this book was ordered in Japan.
- Now my test leaves me with as many questions as answers. Something i found out (maybe i was not the first one but i could not find previous post on the topic) is that Export preset settings do have an influence over the Output PDF. But still i could not get where i wanted to...
- So my dearest wish today would be to have someone to tell me how i can have the same quality (apparent resolution, etc...) in the pics embedded in the PDF as the one i get when i export a file from aperture into a full size/full quality jpeg.
Otherwise, you can't even use the cool book edition tool of Aperture, and you are just back to going into Adobe illustrator directly...
Thanks for your comments and answers.
YM

I've only printed "mini" books from Apple, and was actually pretty pleased at overall look, the res...the color and tonal matching, was surprisingly accurate as it was on screen in the book preview. But the mini books are really tiny, so resolution flaws, I would think, would be masked. I don't think I yet trust printing in a bigger size with Apple. Actually, I can't figure out how to, in Aperture, get a paper back, like the mini, at a larger page size. It doesn't seem to have that option. I won't buy iphoto 8 just to do that. I'll just go to Asuka or some other printer. But was wondering if I'm missing settings in Aperture.

Similar Messages

Print quality / resolution for iPhoto books

Hi -
I am getting ready to upload my first iPhoto book for printing, and a colleague told me to beware of a potential issue. After searching these forums, and searching Google, I found that people in the past (perhaps prior to iPhoto '08?) have had print quality problems when printing 8.5 x 11 books vs. 6x10 books.
Basically, we are creating an 8.5 x 11 book and will have several books printed by Apple. At some point in the future, we will make similar books at the 6x10 size. Will the photos that are included in the books print at similar quality?
Thanks -

I have ordered books in the past that were made up of photos 1600 x 1200 pixels in dimension and they came out fine. HOWEVER, I had no pages with a photo filling the entire page as Larry warned about.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Hardcover Book Print Quality = Very Poor!

In the past with iPhoto 4 & 5, I have ordered and recieved hardcover books of very high print quality. I have just recieved my first hardcover book using iPhoto 6.01, and the print quality is down right poor and unacceptable. My high resolution shots all look extremely grainy and "poster-ized". The contrast on most shots is all out of sorts. I have read other posts regarding local printing of books (using your home printer, etc.) and people are sayint the same things. It looks like v.6 has some output problems which Apple must resolve. Until then, no more books for me (But how will we know when this issue is fixed?? Wait a while, take our chances, and order another one?).
STEVE

I'm pushing Apple to provide full printing specs on the books, using some enterprise-level contacts to try to get around the lack of response from the official consumer support channel. I have an open ticket with the print services support people as well. I'll post info here in the "Photo book quality" topic:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=313677&tstart=15
if and when I get answers.
Meanwhile, you might want to consider asking for a refund. Others have had success doing so.

Photo book print quality: large vs. medium (both softcover)

hello all,
I just wanted to share my experience about the difference in print quality between the medium softcover and large (in my case, softcover) books from iPhoto, something I wondered about before I took the plunge and ordered them.
I recently received copies of both, ordered a week apart, both using the 300 dpi hack, but unfortunately of diff't photos in each, so the comparison won't be too scientific.
First impressions: the photos in the large softcover seemed to me better than the medium. You can detect some very fine dots with the naked eye, in the places where a color shades into white. Overall, not objectionable at all, especially at a reasonable viewing distance. Akin to a decent/average inkjet photo. Meanwhile, the medium format struck me as having a worse print resolution, like a photo in a newspaper or cheaply printed magazine. The halftone pattern seemed more noticeable.
However, on closer inspection, side by side, I can see the halftone dots in each, and I wonder if they're actually printed at the same resolution. I think it was partly the bigger size of the average photo in the large book that convinced me it had a better resolution, and the smaller photos in a medium book can make the whole thing look bad. Also, I can definitely detect banding from the halftone pattern in the medium book that I don't notice in the large; but could this be due to the subject matter in the medium (blurred washes of muted color) more than a print resolution difference? Perhaps.
My conclusion: while it could be that the print resolution on the large is slightly better, I suspect my perception of the quality difference is based more on photo size and subject matter (sharp focus w/patterns, texture, moderate detail rather than empty color looks best). Still, despite my suspicion that the print resolution is the same, I can't shake the sense the large looks a little better.
Which is too bad in a way, as I think the medium has a lot going for it: it's cheaper than the large, and I actually much prefer to have a series of single, full-bleed images at 6x8 than two or three or more cluttered together on a bigger page for the same price. Plus I find the peek-a-boo cutout on the cover of the large book a bit cheesy.
So if you're going to go medium, I would definitely stay away from those six-photos-a-page layouts, especially if you have people in your small photos: their features will be degraded enough they start to look a little funny/unrecognizable. Bigger is better.
And if anyone has the same photo at the same size in two differently sized books to compare, that would settle things.
Also, I had a number of grayscale scans that I converted to rgb before adding to iPhoto, and the b&w photos printed in the book look great. While I would describe them as 'cool', I don't detect a noticeable color cast, and the blacks are decent.
Overall, as an amateur whose expectations were aimed a bit low, I'm pleased with both for the price, and will look to large for special occasions, medium for everyday photosets.

You're confusing two similar though technically different things.
You have the dpi (dot's per inch in the raster file) resolution of the images (assuming the image will not be reduced or enlarged) of 300 dpi - that is a static resolution and it one of two resolution settings that affect the quality of a printed image.
I was told the books are printed cmyk with screening so the other resolution that you have no control over is the "LPI" or "Lines per Inch" of the printing process. The CMYK separations are each printed at a different angle to achieve the full color effect.
The soft cover books appear to be printed at a lesser lpi than the hard cover books which would give the images a courser look to them.
I have not compared the books under a loop so this is going on what I was told.

Book Printing Quality

I just finished a photo book in Aperture and thinking of getting it printed through Apple (Kodak).
Before sending, I would like to get some input on the book quality. Is it professional quality or .... ? ? ?
Any comments will help me make a decision whether go the Apple route.

That's good info to know because I was considering Blurb as well...
So I guess the only unanswered part of the question is: is there a difference in print quality betwee Aperture and iPhoto Books?
I would assume they are the same being printed via Apple's company (or hired printers)...
However since iPhoto is billed as a "Photo App for everyone", and Aperture is billed as "The Professional Photo App", maybe there is a difference in printers and thus print quality?
The Books seem to be more expensive in Aperture vs iPhoto... at least at first glance...

How do I maintain print quality resolution when using both Lightroom and Photoshop?

I usually edit only in LIghtroom, but in this recent photoshoot, the woman's skirt lining was peeking out and I need to photoshop it out. When I try to do this and save it in Photoshop, the file size drops dramatically and I'm guessing the picture quality. I also tried to right-click on the picture in Lightroom and choose "Edit in" photoshop, but Photoshop told me I couldn't use the clone tool unless I changed from 16 bit color depth to 8 bit because it had limited support for 16 bit. I know there has to be a way to do this. Any ideas? By the way, I am using LIghtroom 3.6 and an old Photoshop Elements 5.0.

Isacksen
I am not completely convinced that your Premiere Elements 7 project settings are not at the core of your problems.
1. You say that you have 1280 x 720 at X progressive frames per second (probably .mov) from a Canon camera and presumed 1920 x 1080 16:9 .mts @ 29.97 interlaced frames per second (aka 60i). What are you setting as the project preset in the new project dialog? Are you just OK'd it and accepting the default which would be NTSC DV Standard (720 x 480)?
2. As for versions 11 and 12 helping you out with an automatic project preset, sometimes it does it OK and sometimes it does not. So, that feature is not a given cure all for an inappropriate project preset. Whatever the Premiere Elements version, you need to know the properties of your source media and set the project preset accordingly or make sure the program is doing it right. And, when you have a Timeline with a mixed of formats, you need to set priorities.
Is the .mov and .mts both affected by the issue or just one?
Three things to look at:
a. The quality of just the 1280 x 720 in a Premiere Elements 7 project set for
NTSC
HDV
HDV 720p30
b. The quality of just the1920 x 1080 in a Premiere Elements 7 project set for
NTSC
AVCHD
Full HD 1080p30
c. Then look at the quality of both brought into a Premiere Elements 7 project set for
NTSC
AVCHD
Full HD 1080p30
Please consider. And, if you decide to check out the above, please let us know the outcome.
Thank you.
ATR

Are there any presets in iPhoto '11 for print quality?

Are there any presets in iPhoto '11 for print quality?

No. Just use the greatest number of pixels for your photo available. Other quality settings would be in the printer window, i.e. color settings, etc.
OT

I upload iPhone pics to Shutterfly, which gives me a "low resolution" warning and blurry prints. Does anyone know how to enhance resolution/printing quality of iPhone pictures? iPhone 5

i upload iPhone pics to Shutterfly, which gives me a "low resolution" warning and blurry prints. Does anyone know how to enhance resolution/printing quality of iPhone pictures?
iPhone 5

How does iPhoto play a part in this? You're in the iPhoto forum. Shouldn't you be asking your question in the iPhone forum? I'll ask the powers to be to move you question to the iPhone forum.
OT

HT2486 I'm entering in my address book I enter the names etc but when I go to Print labels it only prints the address not the name??

I am entering in my address book, enter whole name address etc but when I go to print a label only the address get printed no name

Thunderbird gets all suggestions for addressing from one of your address books. You have two books by default. The Personal and the Collected books. If you have sent an email to the wrong address then it will be in your collected book for sure. You need to go there and delete it and then find any other occurrences of the incorrect address and fix or delete it.

How can I place one iPhoto order that includes multiple items (books, prints, etc)?

I'd like to order several books, and different prints and different sizes, etc through iPhoto. But it appears I can only order/buy/ship one item at a time... is there a way to get a "shopping cart" going so I can keep adding to it and then just do one big order and have one shipment arrive (or at least some consolidated shipments). I don't want a separate package for each print I am ordering... will Apple do this automatically if I order 15-20 items within one hour...?
Thanks.

Afraid not.
Regards
TD

I have HP Deskjet 3510 connected wireless - problem is that it wants to print only black and white - is there a color button I am missing? The print quality report is fine in color etc.

I have a HP Deskjet 3510 and it wants to print only in black and white.
The Print Quality Report is fine and in color.
Is there a color button I am missing?

In the Print & Scan system preferences, does it indicate it is using a generic printer driver or a Gutenprint driver?
Also, if you click on Options & Supplies, you might want to check and see if has to be enabled. That kind of sounds odd though.
Another thing is it might not be showing. If the bottom of the print dialog has a button that says "Show Details," click it. Then, you can change settings in the popup menu.

Aperture Book Printing+Poor Print Quality

Hello,
I'm wondering if this is a one off, but i just received a book printed through Aperture, the printed pages look terrible, there's banding through several of the images, the images are grainy, it looks like they have printed it on a lazer printer. the images all print fine on an Epson 7800, so there's no problem with the images.
Has anyone had these problems - or did i just get a bad example ?
Thanks
Darren

It depends.
There do seem to be several reports of pages (on the interior, in particular) printing with washed-out coloring.
You can contact Photo Services and get a credit. They can also review the file and see if there is a problem there; they keep the files for 40 days.

Icc profiles for aperture book printing...

Do the Aperture Book Printing folks provide icc profiles so I can soft-proof the images beforehand?

Please note that monitors provide fairly accurate color when the images are saved in an sRGB color space, however, presses are not as reliable...
Well, Mike, thanks for sharing the info here.
At one point, in Mark's email to you, as mentioned above in his email from Apple, I have to say I am a little surprised about his statement re: monitors provide fairly accurate... when the images saved in an sRGB colour space...
It is very tricky statement where it depends on how we define the term "fairly accurate" in monitors. What we don't know if Mark meant by when monitor has been "properly" set up as profiled and calibrated with high-grade calibration hardware. Unless IF the monitor has been proper profiled and calibrated, then his statement would be correct. But IF not profiled or calibrated at all, I am afraid that his statement is incorrect.
Now these days with newer monitors and newer Apple laptops with better monitor technology, it is still need to be properly profiled and calibrated. It just depends on individual's preference, desire and the purpose of such project whatever someone is working on. While majority of Aperture users' are probably mostly professional photographers or those who are into photography savvy, then colour-managed workflow is a norm. For me, it IS absolute A MUST colour-managed workflow.
Although, I do a heavy post-production workflow on MacPro where I always have my monitors calibrated. I don't typically calibrate my laptop, though. Because sometimes I forgot to turn off the automatic ambient light in System Preference in Display section. It is a little inconvenience in that case. Unless if I am being away on photographic trips far from Canada abroad, then it is a different story. But not always bring my calibration device with me. Too inconvenience to haul it around at the airports etc. So colour-managed workflow is a must with MacPro in my studio.
However, other individuals have their own preference, comfort zone and the purpose of such project. Perhaps their workflow set up differently than yours or mine, that is ok.
But in that email you received from someone at Apple didn't make it clear about that statement about 'fairly accuracy'.
Then something else is something else actually--when Apple guy said presses are not always.... Again, that is why it is important that you get monitor properly profiled and calibrated. Once it is done properly, then it is all good. But remember, you need to re-calibrate monitor once a week or every two weeks or once month. In order to get pretty close to printed output, always a good idea to soft proof. If needed to make slightly conservative adjustments to your satisfaction or level of expectation, the output would be fairly close to what it is appeared in monitor. When I mean "fairly close" in comparing the output to what you are seeing in monitor with these post-production images used in that output, in fairness, I would estimate fairly close in terms of anywhere in range between 92 to 95 percent - that is very fair conservative perspective on how close in the output vs monitor. It is truly, really, truly rare to get the output 100% as obvious and precise as you are seeing in monitor. If that is the case, and if that is true FOR that person achieved this, this probably means takes that person many years to perfect his/her colour-managed workflow for that matter. Never has been that pretty close, but I'd be shocked if I see mine aced right on spot. I'd be lying to you if I get all output perfect as appeared in my monitors. If I did, that would be incorrect statement.
It seems a lot of factors and things to do and things need to require in a thoroughly colour-managed workflow production, it is how it is done. But this can also means save money, effort and time if done properly right from the beginning.
In fairness, I would really wish that guy from Apple should have said a little more obvious and precise with his definition of fairly accuracy with monitors. It doesn't says what kind of monitors he refers to. Low quality, cheap monitors deliver good results? Lot of factors need to be looked at for consideration for yourself.
Of course, as you can tell that colour management topic is pretty heavy, highly technical and everything in deep thinking with world of colours. It takes years for an individual (both pros and non-pro individuals) finally understand what it is all about. Again, technologies evolve rapid for the better in many cases for new monitors, commercial print equips, advanced ink technology, advanced paper production technology... That goes on effortless endless, actually.
Hope some of thoughtfu perspective and experience be of some interest, and it is obvious that this discussion probably will attract some more excitement discussion, the more the better. So that every other Aperture users who have the similar issues, they'll definitely want to come to here... And learn and share.
I also use Blurb too. They are getting better than it was once a couple years ago when Blurb first started. As they add more variety of book sizes, types of paper stock and things like that. This also give someone some flexibility in choosing workflow production using Blurb software or online bookmaking or using PDF to Book service for those who are advanced users that use InDesign layout design app. In that case of PDF to Book, the advanced users would need to download Blurb's preset plug-in to put in InDesign in order to export the PDF output to meet and integrate into Blurb's Preflight Checklist at the time of upload. I use PDF to Book service with InDesign, etc. It is fairly self explanatory and easy to follow steps. Also slightly off topic, but when making Blurb book, to get most out of their product and service with Blurb, in that case, they came up with brilliant resource called Colour Resource Centre designed for making more beautiful books. In that resource centre, it is easy to read and follow.
I would think this probably shed some insights and understanding the basics of colour management, the whole thing all about this, that and the other all together.
I would also want other high-powered hard-core Aperture users share their experience with Aperture Book printing service. I'd be happy to share my experience about making Aperture Book vs. Blurb Book through PDF to Book service. However, I would think the export to PDF from Aperture probably has it's own different setting or slightly different configuration inside the PDF engine on Mac for Blurb book. There has been some discussion about wanting a Aperture Plug In for Blurb Book. blurb has been quiet on it, I take that they probably will not develop a special plug-in for Aperture Users. Sorry if it is a little off topic. But somehow someone in the discussion mention Blurb. so...
Anyhow, hope that helps.

Improving photo print quality

I had to delete CS3 and re-install it and now photos printed on my Epson picture mate do not look good. I had this problem before, but don't remember the exact solution. I could not find specific instructions for getting the best photo print quality by searching in the forums. I would think this would be a big topic. We all want to print the best quality pictures and once the instructions are well documented, I would think they would be easy to find. Could someone help me out? I am using Leopard.
Thanks,
Tom

If it's just a color setting, you shouldn't have to download anything.
I'm not sure if it's the same method in CS4 as in CS2, which I'm using, but you could just open Photoshop, select Edit from the top of the screen, and click on Color Settings…
In there, you can choose one of the presets from the "Settings" drop-down menu: Monitor Color, North America General Purpose 2, North America Prepress 2, etc. Or you can manually select from various CMYK, RGB, Gray, and Spot working spaces below that. Just use whichever works best for you.
Regarding not finding what you're looking for easily, I have a feeling it has something to do with lack of specifics. Your original post didn't really mention in what way your photos looked bad. If it's a color thing, are your photos too dark? Too light? Too blue/yellow? Or is it, instead, a resolution issue (too pixellated and/or blurry)? "My photos look bad" doesn't really provide enough info.

Book printing - Unique Workflows? - Cross-Posted from Aperture forum

(Cross-posted. I think this post might be of interest to iPhoto users as well)
I am exploring the book printing features in Aperture. My goal was to build the book in Aperture and get this into iPhoto so that I could use MyPublisher to print the book. MyPublisher currently has a 50% off coupon for orders over $50. iPhoto needs their plugin to upload to MyPublisher instead of Apple when the BuyBook button is chosen. (code is MAC2550 - good though Dec 31). The design features in Aperture are rudimentary at best. It's simple to customize the design for photo placement, adding and deleting photos, resizing, etc. The type design features are not simple to customize, though. However, with patience a suitable design can be made. You can add and delete text boxes at will but these will always default to the template's built in style. I continually had to reformat the type by right clicking on the selected text and applying my preferred style. One trick when cutting and pasting text is to place the cursor one letter in from the beginning of a preformatted line, select the remaining text and paste - this will pick up the current style rather than default to the template default. Then delete the leftover first character of the line. From Aperture I printed the book to PDF, being sure to choose letter size and borderless paper option. Once book is printed to PDF I opened in Acrobat and "saved as" to PNG. In the PNG options I chose 600ppi (the default of 300ppi might have been just fine for quality, not sure). Saving to PNG creates an individual file for each page. In testing Apple's Preview software for this I found it would make a nice PNG - but of just one page at a time. I then imported all PNG pages into iPhoto. Within iPhoto create a book. I used "Modern Lines" with double sided pages. To create the cover (it's actually a label that is adhered to the linen hard cover book) I had to import the actual cover photo used in Aperture to recreate a new design based on the "Modern Lines" template. I then recreated my pages using the template. The key step being to assign the single photo page design for each page. For each page I dropped in the corresponding PNG file which included all type and images created previously in Aperture. One minor point when adjusting the placed PNG images in the iPhoto template is the option to fit photo to frame size (an option when right clicking on the photo). When fit photo is selected the image gets resized very slightly. I opted not to use this feature as I thought the resizing might compromise quality. I then clicked on the "buy book" button and the file was assembled and sent to MyPublisher. Since I had the 50% coupon I opted for the leather bound book option and ordered two 24 page books for $53.74 which included $9.98 standard FedEx fee. As for quality I'll have to wait and see. I'll post back once books are in hand.

It is important to realize there are two aspects to an index.
1) Topics
2) Page References
Topics have no relation to the text of the actual document. Topics can
be imported from one InDesign document to another. Also, creating topics
from a list of text is trivial. Just type all the words (or place them
from a text document or Word doc) and then press Ctrl+A to select all of
them and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+[, then delete the text.
Page references, however are not as simple. These have to be created at
each place in the text where you want the page to be referenced it the
index. This *can* in fact be done Word if you are using the text from
the Word document.
What you really have to watch out for is that when you want to create a
page reference you have the "Reference" radio button selected in the
index panel. Otherwise you will just be creating a topic. It is best to
work with hidden characters turned on so you can see and make sure
InDesign created an index marker in the text after you created your page
reference.

Book print quality, resolution, presets, etc...

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