by Ann Druce

Created on: July 26, 2008

I have frequently had clients who want to use their own photography in an ad or a brochure and it often makes a lot of sense. For example, you might have "before", "during" and "after" photographs of a major construction. These aren't the kind of photos that you can reconstruct with a professional photographer after the fact. The moment is gone and the beautifully shot "after" photo might be meaningless without the comparison to the "before" photo.

The all-too-frequent problem, however is that the photos are simply not of an acceptable standard. Now I am not being precious here; I'm not talking artistic standards or photographic composition. I'm not even talking lighting. The issue is resolution.

Digital cameras have made instant photography accessible to almost everyone. And the speed and convenience of being able to email a photograph to your ad agency and have them use it in your brochure; giving you exactly the pic you want, with no expensive photography, sounds almost too good to be true.

Sadly, all too often it is. And the client is left with the sneaking suspicion that the agency is being unhelpful and simply wants to use a professional photographer for no reason other than ego or the mark-up they charge on photography.

But this doesn't have to be an issue. The problem is very easily solved. All you need to do is set your camera on high resolution. It is ironic that while even entry-level digital cameras offer more megapixels than you are ever likely to need, this technology is not being put to good use. Instead, users are setting their cameras on low resolution giving them photographs that are unsuitable for litho printing.

The reality is that a photograph might look perfect on your computer screen. It might even look fine printed out on your laser printer. But that doesn't mean you can use it in a newspaper or a magazine. A combination of size of the photograph, and the resolution at which the camera is set determines where and how you can use that photo.

The consequences of using a photo at low resolution is that in print, your picture will lose definition and clarity. It will become blurry and rough around the edges, and you might see little squares of colour instead of a smooth transition from one shade to the next, where pixilation is severe. Basically, the quality of the ad, the communication and the image of the brand are compromised.

There are people who will tell you that they can transform a 70dpi photo into a 300dpi photo. But while the numbers

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