Printed image size

Dreamspinner

I have some prints where the printed images (not the prints themselves) need to be an exact size. So I need to know how much Bay photo scales up the image size to allow themselves some bleed.

Thanks! Richard

SteveM

Hi Richard,

It really depends on the print size, but check out http://www.smugmug.com/help/bleed-trim for info. For an 8x10 print, you'll want to add about 1/4" of breathing room. For 8.5x11 magazine covers I make, doing this gets them just about perfectly identical to the concept art.

I hope this helps! Shout with more questions!

Dreamspinner

Thanks!

jfriend

For what it's worth, this is very difficult to do with a remote printer. They are purposely not precise on the exact amount of bleed because it's a tolerance issue for them. The whole reason they have bleed is so that they don't have to have perfect alignment of paper in the printer.

The only way I've found to get a print of an exact known amount of bleed or an exact magnification is to either print it myself or work directly with a local printer that you can describe what you're trying to accomplish and they are willing to accommodate. The remote printers just put it in to their system and you get what you get and that is within a tolerance band.

So, if you want precision, you're going to need more control than that. If you just want to get close, then maybe Steve's advice will be enough.