Print Production

DIGITAL IMAGES
DIGITAL IMAGES
Photography is carried out mainly with digital cameras. To
achieve high image quality with  digital photography you first
have to understand how digital images work and also
understand and be  able to manage the camera.
 Object Graphics
Object graphics consist outlines with filled-in areas. Mathematical values tell the
computer to  draw a certain type of line or curve from one point to another in the
image. You get a very exact figure  with a perfectly sharp outline that can be enlarged
without affecting the quality. Only the limitations  of the printer or the monitor you use
affect the image quality. Object graphics use very little memory  because only the
location and design information must be defined— very simple values. This also 
applies to the colors used in object graphics, which are expressed numerically. 
Object graphics are based on a number of basic components: outlines and lines, fill,
patterns,  gradients, knockouts, superimpositions, and transparency. 
 Outlines and Lines
Lines and outlines in object graphics can assume any color. You
can also specify how thick the  lines should be, the style of the
lines (solid, dotted, etc.), and the shape of the corners (curved, 
pointed, or squared). 
 Fill 
Curved and closed objects can be filled with colors, color shift
s, and patterns. The colors are  expressed numerically in terms of
the ink coverage required for the respective printing inks. You can 
select fill patterns and color shift s from a predetermined menu.
 Patterns  
A pattern consists of a small group of objects repeated in a
square configuration. It is easy to  make your own patterns.
 Gradients   
Color shift s are transitions among several colors at set
distances. Gradients can be either  linear or circular.
 Knockouts     
A curve that is placed within a closed object—a circle within a square, for
example—can be  extracted as a knockout. In this example, the extraction
means that a circle knocks out a transparent  hole in the square. As a result,
whatever you put behind the square will be visible through the circular  hole. 
 Superimpositions and Transparency       
Objects can be made transparent and/or combined with
underlying objects using different  software tools.. 
 Pixel Graphics
A pixel graphic is divided into tiny squares of color, almost like a mosaic. These tiny
squares of  color are referred to as pixels (from the words picture element). A pixel-based
image can be created  in different ways:  
• With the help of a scanner, which reads in the physical original such as photographic film 
(slides or negatives), photographic prints, drawn illustrations, signatures, previously printed 
material, etc.  
• With the help of a digital camera, which directly creates a pixel image when taking the 
photograph  
• Directly in the computer, with different design applications such as, for example, Corel 
Painter or Adobe Photoshop 
 Color Modes
Pixel-based images can be black and white or color and contain
different numbers of colors.  Usually the images are referred to as
having different color modes. The simplest color mode is line art, 
which contains only two colors: black and white. Some other example
of color modes are grayscale  images such as black and white
photographs, duotone images for tinted black and white images, 
indexed color images for the Web, images in RGB mode for image
editing, and CMYK images for four color printing.  
 Color Modes
Every pixel in the image requires a different amount of memory depending
on which color  mode the image is saved in. The necessary memory is
expressed in bits per pixel; the more bits per  pixel you have, the greater the
number of different hues and values a pixel can assume. 
a. Line Art  e. LAB 
b. Grayscale Images  f. CMYK 
c. Duotones: Tinted Grayscale Images  g. Index Color Mode 
d. RGB  h. RAW Format
 Color Modes
Every pixel in the image requires a different amount of memory depending
on which color  mode the image is saved in. The necessary memory is
expressed in bits per pixel; the more bits per  pixel you have, the greater the
number of different hues and values a pixel can assume. 
a. Line Art  e. LAB 
b. Grayscale Images  f. CMYK 
c. Duotones: Tinted Grayscale Images  g. Index Color Mode 
d. RGB  h. RAW Format
 Resolution
When scanning, you must specify the resolution of the image. Two things
determine the  scanning resolution: the screen frequency you wish to print
with, and whether or not you need to  change the size of the image. The screen
frequency is determined by the printing method and paper  you use. If you
assume that a pixel-based image is printed in a certain size, the image will
consist of a  certain number of pixels per centimeter (ppcm) or pixels per inch
(ppi) (1 inch = 2.54 cm). The  resolution of an image is measured in ppi or
ppcm. 

 
 Resolution
The higher the resolution, the more pixels per inch and the more detailed
the image can be  when reproduced. The fewer pixels per inch, the larger the
pixels will be and the less detailed the  image will be when reproduced.  
An image that consists of 300 pixels in width and is made one inch wide
will have a resolution  of 300 ppi. 
 File Formats
Pixel-based images can be saved in a number of file formats.
Some of them have more or less  become industry standards. They
are primarily differentiated by which color mode they can handle as 
well as the level of features they are capable ..
File Formats
The most common image file formats are:

u. WF ( Shockwave Flash)
 Compression
Pixel-based images often take up a lot of storage space in the computer.
Most of the time this  is not a problem, but when transporting images,
particularly via network and telephone lines, it is  important to minimize the
memory used to ensure fast transmission times. Therefore images are  usually
compressed.
 Compression
 There are two types of image compressions: lossless and lossy. Aside from
these,  there is also the possibility of using certain common file compression
programs, which can be used on  all file types 
a. Run Length Encoding (RLE) 
b. LZW Compression(named after the scientists Abraham Lempel, Jacob Ziv, and
Terry  Welch, who developed the method) 
c. Huffman Coding 
d. ZIP Compression 
e. CCITT (Comité Con)
 Short Quiz
Print Production Lesson 4
Part 1: True or False
1. The higher the resolution, the more pixels per inch and
the more detailed the image can be when reproduced.
2. An image that consists of 500 pixels in width and is
made one inch wide will have a resolution of 330 ppi.
Part 1: True or False
3. Object graphic is divided into tiny squares of color,
almost like a mosaic.
4. A pixel graphic is multiplied into tiny squares of color,
almost like a mosaic
5. Object can be made transparent and or combined with
underlying objects using different hardware tools.
Identification:
6. Consists of small groups of objects, repeated in a square
configuration.
7. It consists of outlined fill-in areas
8. It is carried out mainly with digital cameras
9. It is determined by the printing method and paper of use
10. It tells the computer to draw a certain type of line or
curve from one point to another in the image
Enumeration:
11-12: Two main types of digital images
13-14: The image may consist of a certain number of:
__________ and__________.