Photos Print Too Dark

I've read a similar thread about this but didn't understand the suggestions.
I'm new to cs3 indesign and have windows xp. I've prepared a newsletter with colors photos saved as pdf which are being printed for black and white newsprint. The photos come out way too dark and lightening them only washes them out. Is there a setting I'm suppose to be using when saving to pdf? If I need to change any settings for the images could you please give me step by step instructions?
Michael Baribeau

> The photos come out way too dark
This is called dot gain. Different printing devices print dots
differently. Some throw a bunch of ink (or toner) at the paper, while
others are more conservative. You need to talk to your printer and
prepare your pictures specifically for his press. Ask about color
correction. And yes, when you're talking about color correction, black
is a "color".
And if you're starting with color pictures, convert them to grays first.
You're letting the output device decide how to convert colors to grays.
If you do it yourself, in Photoshop, you'll get a much better idea of
what it will look like on paper.
> lightening them only washes them out.
Washes them out onscreen, or washes them out in the final printed
output? Work with the numbers, not what you see onscreen. Dot gain means
that, for instance, the dots that make up a 90% black will run together
on press, effectively printing at 100%. Dots that make up a nice 50%
black will probably yield an effective 54%. On press, darks usually get
darker, midtones usually get a littler darker, and very lights get
whiter. So you compensate for that by color correcting: lightening the
darks, lightening the midtones a little, and darkening the
almost-whites. Different kinds of presses (and different presses,
different papers, even different press operators) experience different
amounts of dot gain.
In Photoshop, you want Image > Adjustments > Curves, and the exact curve
depends on numbers you would get from your printer. After you get a
curve you like, you can save it as a .ACV file for that printer, using
that print process.
> Is there a setting I'm suppose
> to be using when saving to pdf?
What program are you using to save your photos to PDF? Why PDF? Why not
TIFF, or PSD, or even Photoshop PDF (PDP)?
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

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