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Sizing images in photoshop


UrFavSigma

UrFavSigma

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Hello everyone. I'm new to creating things within photoshop so I decided to join your forum for some help. I use photoshop often for my photography but now I'm trying out some new things. I want to create my own advertisements instead paying someone to do them for me.

Sizing
Let's say I open a new document. Of course it's asking me sizing info (width, heigh, resolution, etc). If I'm creating something to be put on a 4x6 postcard I'm assuming the width/height would need to be set at 4inches/6inches. But what about the "Bleed"? That's a term that I don't fully have a grasp of yet.

1- How do I go about adding bleed room to an image and how much do I add?
2- How do I set the trim line and safe zone line within the image as I'm working on it so I don't exceed them?
 
Since I may want to use the same image for multiple purposes and issues like bleed are printer-specific, I never bake those into the image at the start. Rather, I simply crop loosely, and then set such specific parameters when I know how a particular image is going to be used.

I suppose that if I knew with 100% confidence that all I was going to do was to have postcards printed from a specific vendor, I might work differently, but I'm never in that situation.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M
 
Tom Mann said:
Since I may want to use the same image for multiple purposes and issues like bleed are printer-specific, I never bake those into the image at the start. Rather, I simply crop loosely, and then set such specific parameters when I know how a particular image is going to be used.

I suppose that if I knew with 100% confidence that all I was going to do was to have postcards printed from a specific vendor, I might work differently, but I'm never in that situation.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Can you explain bleed? I know it's somewhat the extra spacing so the printer can have room. But is it as simple as adding more size to the width and height?
 
You might need to ask the printer what size they would like for bleed. It might be anything from a couple of millimeters to a quarter inch. (Excuse the mixed units)

When you have that figure, create your new document exactly 6 x 4 by 300dpi, and immediately copy the BG to a new layer.
Now increase the Canvas size by twice the bleed figure for both height and width. It might help if you use a different colour for the additional canvas size so you can see it.
Now, make sure the rulers are turned on, and drag Guide to the all four outside edges of the new layer you copied the BG to.

OK, you are good to go. Any images that touch the image edge should extend past the guides to fill the 'bleed' area, but make sure there is nothing crucial in that area because it won't appear in the finished print.

Sometimes you might have information near the edge of an image that you want included in the print. A good trick to get round this is to use Content Aware Fill to extend the image enough to take account of the bleed. That trick is also useful when sending off an image for a Stretched Canvas so it stretches round the edge of the frame.

Incidentally, apps like InDesign and Publisher have Bleed guides built in.
 
Trevor Dennis said:
You might need to ask the printer what size they would like for bleed. It might be anything from a couple of millimeters to a quarter inch. (Excuse the mixed units)

When you have that figure, create your new document exactly 6 x 4 by 300dpi, and immediately copy the BG to a new layer.
Now increase the Canvas size by twice the bleed figure for both height and width. It might help if you use a different colour for the additional canvas size so you can see it.
Now, make sure the rulers are turned on, and drag Guide to the all four outside edges of the new layer you copied the BG to.

OK, you are good to go. Any images that touch the image edge should extend past the guides to fill the 'bleed' area, but make sure there is nothing crucial in that area because it won't appear in the finished print.

Sometimes you might have information near the edge of an image that you want included in the print. A good trick to get round this is to use Content Aware Fill to extend the image enough to take account of the bleed. That trick is also useful when sending off an image for a Stretched Canvas so it stretches round the edge of the frame.

Incidentally, apps like InDesign and Publisher have Bleed guides built in.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this helped a lot!
 
If you don't get in touch with the printer re the bleed size, make sure you let them know what size you have used.
 
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