File size in photoshop... can anyone help me?

[porterlizz]

Hi there. I've just got my first large scale freelance project. Everything else that I have done in the past has been A3 or smaller, but I have just been asked to do some posters in A1 or A0 size.

I'm currently designing the posters on photoshop but have noticed that the file size is getting huge. I am typesetting it in A3 size. Is this necessary or as an eps will a design in A4 size be sufficient for an external printer to get a top quality picture from?

Also, in general, what resolution graphics do you use for a similar scale printing job?

Is there anyone out there who has done a similar project and if so, what file size did you go up to. I'm quite conscious of the fact that I don't want to lose quality, but I don't want the file to be too big.

I'd really appreciate it if someone could give a new freelancer some guidance on this one

Cheers Liz

[Mickey]

Hi Liz,
In photoshop you will need to do all of your designing at 100% of the final size with the resolution set at 300dpi. If you doing a large graphic this will make your file size large. What you can do to cut down on file size is try to only do your photo work in photoshop and then do the typesetting in Illustrator or Quark or Indesign. this will allow you to cut down on the overall filesize and keep you text crisp in your final printout.

If you can to all of your work in Illustrator (VECTOR) then you can do it at whatever scale you want. As long as you have the proportions correct you can resize a illustrator graphic to fit you final printout size.

[thelobst]

I wouldn't personally do everything 100%. I have created A4 300 dpi posters and then scaled them in photoshop to A1, dropping the rez to 200 dpi. I use a hp 5000 printer and quality is fine. I have done the same thing to A2 size and press printed no problem. The larger you can set it the better. Try and keep text in illustrator or quark though.

[PrintDriver]

Ya, if you are doing inkjet like the HP5000 you can drop the res to 100 (pushing it) to 150 and still be safe (and I wouldn't want to print more'n 100 pieces on a HP - take all night). But if you are doing these in Quantity on offset or such shouldn't they be 300dpi at final. At 33' x 46' (A0) in Photoshop a file size of 200mb isn't uncommon for a Lambda print (full photographic). I'd be real careful about placing something that size into Illustrator though. InD or Quark would be a better choice. Even then, do your thing to the image in photoshop then save a flattened version to bring into your layout program.
Text in Photoshop=blech.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

Post Edited (PrintDriver) : 4/6/2004 12:21:18 AM GMT