In theory you should not increase an images size but in the real world you can (within limits). In a best case scenario, you will be making the images smaller, not larger to meet the criteria. Use the Image Size box to set each image to this width at 600 ppi (red arrow). Since there will be 3 equal width columns, each column should be 5.5 cm wide.
In this situation, I'm designing the plate to be 16.5 cm wide and no more than 24 cm in height (full page format). Now, determine what size each print should be. Now all measurements on the rulers and in Image Size will be metric. Most publications list their page widths in metric units so go to Edit/Preferences/Units and Rulers and convert to metric (either cm or mm - red arrow). I always turn on Rulers (View/Rulers) so each image has it's own built in scale. This will not change the actual dimensions of any img but will make the images a uniform ppi.Īt this point it's probably a good idea to go metric if you aren't already. For each picture, open the Image Size box (Image/Image Size), set the ppi to 600 (or 300 if you know that will suffice) and set the Width and Height to 100 percent. Most publishers require 300 pixel/inch resolution at the publication size and many request 600ppi if the image contains symbols or text, so I usually start at 600 ppi and reduce the size later if possible. Since each of these images might have come from different sources (your 6 Mpixel camera, someone elses 3 Mpixel camera, slide scan, etc.) they should all be made the same resolution at the start. I tend to design the plate for the largest possible publication size, and then reduce the size later if neccessary. However the journal may have a 3 column format, which would allow a 2 column figure with caption running down the 3rd column.
#HOW DO I ADD GUIDE LINES TO PHOTOSHOP 5.5 FULL#
In this situation, to see detail in the individual images, the plate should probably be full page width. Don't start with an image that has already been reduced in size and compressed, such as one prepared for a Powerpoint presentation (see Sizing Digital Images for Powerpoint).Ĭonsult the Instructions to Authors for your intended publication and determine what column width you wish the final figure to fill. If you have multiple versions of a picture, I would suggest working with the largest, uncompressed version of that picture (see Image File Formats). Each row consists of a front, back, and magnified view of a leaf with lesions. In this example, I have made a grid of 3 rows with 3 columns of pictures per row. This gives you an idea of the final layout and will allow you to make decisions on exactly which pictures to use.
I like to begin making a plate by opening, in Photoshop, all the images I hope to include and placing them in roughly the position and size they will be in the final composite. Spend the time to learn Photoshop (this example) or Adobe Pagemaker for compiling plates and you will save yourself many headaches in the future. eps) at an acceptable resolution is often difficult. Powerpoint provides an easy, user friendly interface for the plate construction but few publishers will accept Powerpoint files for printing and converting a Powerpoint file into a usable format (ie.tif or. Many researchers build plates using Powerpoint, which in my opinion is a bad idea. Photoshop contains all the tools neccessary to build these plates and also has the ability to save the final plate in multiple formats, color spaces, and resolutions, to match any publishers demands. Building a Composite Plate in Photoshop Creating publishable composite image plates is an important skill for any scientific researcher to master.