Photo Quality

Photographs that have good definition with good graduations of dark to light shades will engrave better than images that have a dark background which blends into the subject of the picture. When we speak of gray scale, we are also speaking of color photos. In most cases, school pictures and studio photos process well. Photos taken in poor lighting will not engrave with the clarity that you may desire. Typically a very a photograph will engrave dark if the image is somewhat dark and vise versa for a light image. If you have a very bright area, say a reflection from the sun or flash, that area will not engrave at all. Sometimes a dark image can be lightened to engrave better. It is important to us that when you place your order, that you describe any special intent on how your plaque is going to look as well as layout specifics.

Not all photographs are meant to be engraved.
Not all photographs engrave well on all materials.
Photographs that have large amounts of blending and gradual shading of one color into another  engrave the best.
Photographs with large areas of dark and light colors will result in a blocky appearance when engraved.
Photographs with a lot of gradual light to dark shading often produce very attractive engraved images.
Newspaper photographs, magazine photographs images printed from your computer or images enlarged and printed at a department store kiosk do not engrave well at all.


Image and Text Placement

When we receive an image (w/ or w/out text to be include) we will attempt to place and size the image to fill as much area as possible within, but not more than, 1/4" from the edge of engraved surface. If text is to be included, we will balance the text with the image. In some cases, the amount of text limits the size of the image. So if you are interested in an artistic creation, be specific with your intent. It is out goal to provide you with what you want. Please understand that we will follow instructions as precisely to specifications as possible - given the variables. If you need your specifications to be without variation, you should notify us of this at the time of your of placing your order, otherwise we will process your order as described.


Information About Images, Sizes and Processing

One of the most important things in achieving a quality engraving is to start with a quality image. We have covered what makes a quality photograph (a physical photograph) and now we’re going to look at digital images. Some customers want to email or upload their scanned images or digital camera images. This works well with smaller images but larger images can present a problem. When we speak of digital images, the quality of the image equates to a high resolution image and high resolution equates to a large file size. The larger the file size the less feasible it is to send it over the web.

Aside of image size and resolution, how the image is processed is also very important. Digital cameras and scanners can produce great high resolution pictures. But the file size is huge. Saving an image with the wrong input settings can also ruin image quality. The higher the file compression the lower the image quality will be and, it doesn’t take much file compression to completely degrade image quality. Most bitmap graphic programs have a “Sharpening” filter that does not actually improve image quality. It may look better on your monitor but, it won’t necessarily make it printed any better. A good rule to go by is… if it looks great printed (at the size it is to be engraved), it will most likely laser engrave well also.

The hardest thing about explaining “resolution” is that unfortunately, the word is used in different ways and in different contexts through the computer industry. Digital cameras, scanners, printers, and your computer monitor all specify a “resolution” either through their DPI capabilities. Even digital image files have a “file resolution” and an “embedded resolution”. One devices resolution is not the same as another. To explain the differences between each of them would take a good deal of writing , resulting in a whole lot of reading. So to make this as simple as possible, we have set a few simple guidelines for you to go by for emailing or uploading your images to us – if you have the capability to do so. First, we will example a couple bare bone specs on a few different digital image devices to bring more perspective on this subject.

As you can see in the chart below, to produce a 4” X 6” photographic laser engraving, if you scanned a 4” X 6” image at 300 dpi resolution and saved it as a .bmp file the result is an file size of approx. 6.17 megabytes. A 4” X 6” laser photograph image is an average size photograph.
 

* We can enlarge a 4" X 6" 300 dpi photo to engrave well.


Guidelines to Emailing Images to us.

Digital Premium uses a High Speed Cable Internet connection. So receiving large images is not a problem. If you are not sure if your image is of good enough quality to laser engrave, email your image(s) with your order and we will check it out for you. Preferred maximum file size = 7 megabytes. Scanning images should be done at 300 dpi (over 300 dpi will result in HUGE a file size is is not recommended). Digital images should be saved the file as a .bmp, .tif or a .jpg with no compression please. The more you compress a digital image file the smaller the file size and the worst the image quality is.

Digital images should be clean! Please do not use enhancement filters to sharpen, clarify or otherwise "improve" the image. It is best that the image is sent to us as you got it off the scanner or camera. Using filters such as "sharpening" may make an image look better on your monitor but in really, you maybe loosing actual image quality, which is usually the case. For plaques: You want to crop an image (not the same thing as resizing) to the area you want engraved, that is fine. Remember when you save your image to check you options for no compression)

As a final note about digital images, you can successfully make a graphic file smaller and retain good image quality, whereas, you cannot take a smaller image file and make it bigger without losing image quality. Depending on the initial quality of an image, Charms Connection may be able to enlarge a photograph or other physical image up to three times. But it is not always recommended for high quality photographic laser engravings. If you have any questions, you may contact us with your inquiry. Click here for contacting us.