alright, i need some good tutorials for print work.... what i mean is designs that look as good on paper as they do on your screen also some cutting edge techniques used in print ads or around those line...

applied for a job at a printing company and they wanna see what I can do with photoshop so i just wanna pick up some new techniques... thx!

Okay my suggestion is you work something up and post it in the pre-press section of the forum and we will make the recommendations and whatnot then. :)

Also take a look at the posts already in the pre-press forum if you havent already, there are few helpful tips. :)

Cheers.

Do you know what they are looking for?
Do you have samples or a link you can post?

Most stuff (98%) that goes for print is not done in Photoshop. Parts of jobs are done in Photoshop but it is usually compiled in another program like Illustrator, Indesign, Pagemaker or Quark.

I would say Photoshop is necessary for less than 25% of the jobs I see; and we print mostly full colour stuff. Most jobs that use photos are plain scans (with some adj.) put in some kind of picture box.

We almost never see photo manips, filters and such used in print. Usually what I end up using Photoshop for is adjusting scans, converting colour modes and the odd masking of someone’s head for a business card or brochure.

Pre-press people usually make fun of people who design whole jobs in Photoshop (not me of course). :)

and post in the print/prepress area I get lonely. :)


freakyclean

heheh, i didnt read the part where he mentioned using PS...I must slow down. :)

I see photomanips on the street every day. Ads, poster and the like. And in magazines.
Just wanted to say that :)

I guess I should clarify that.

Yes you do see them (photo manips) in magazines and billboard but those are usually run on large web or sheet fed presses and designed by medium to large ad agencies not by printers. I design about 10% of the stuff where I work the rest comes from outside designers and agencies. I would have to assume that Culture-Trend is talking about a fairly small printer as the larger ones do even less design work.

For example there is a print shop in Vancouver, BC that has a 68 inch 6 colour sheet fed press and is run by 2 people. The paper comes in one end of the shop the disk is fed into the press and the finished product comes out the other and is shipped for bindery. They have no pre-press or design people.

Places like Palmer Jarvis would design most of the things Shade mentioned. http://www.pjddb.com/

I have designed magazine ads for some good clients but they are for magazines printed out of the states or eastern Canada.
Magazines also have their own designers who put the magazine together then take it to the printers. Large magazines are run at facilities across North America because one printer alone could not handle the volume on the deadline they have.

Posters would be about the only exception but they are usually done by designers and brought to printers.

And as said before the whole ad or poster usually wouldn't be done in Photoshop just the image part.

At least these are my experiences from working at ad agencies and printers and for myself.

freakyclean

ok, you're probably right, I have no idea :) I do use XPress for print myself, but haven't done anything serious yet.

Originally posted by Shade
ok, you're probably right, I have no idea :) I do use XPress for print myself, but haven't done anything serious yet.

Things work differently in Europe than in North America it's just a different lifestyle, so you may very well be correct for where you live. The print industry here right now is in chaos. Small print shops are closing, large ones are merging or going bankrupt and the medium ones are struggling to survive and find niche markets.

There may very well be a printer looking for a Photoshop person but I think that particular print shop would be in the minority.

Also it should be pointed out that a lot of printers are not up to date on the new technology so there is the possibility that they don't know the difference between Photoshop and other programs. You may end up in a situation where they say your file doesn't work and you say that what they asked for.

Like the customers that say I did this in "Adobe" or this may need to be "Photoshopped"

:)

well, guys they do use other programs but during the interview they told me that the top two canidates would be contacted to show what they could do with photoshop. i'm guessing they want ad layouts as well as photo corrections since that's what they do I just want to be fully prepared. thx

If you want to practice some stuff you can try some of following menial stuff. It's also useful to give yourself a time limit when doing exercises because you can only take so long for certain things. Scanning & cleaning logos 5-10 min, masking 10-20 min, adj. colours 2-5 min, create bus card 30 min, create small ad 1 hour, full page 1.5-2 hours (this includes all scanning and proofing time).

Scan logos out of the phone book and clean them up so they look good at 300dpi. Practice using different descreen values when scanning printed stuff

You can also take photos and practice masking around people especially hair (the hardest part).
Also try ripping a "photo" (like out of a mag) in two, scanning the two pieces and sticking them back together in Photoshop.

As for layout stuff see if you can find out the work they have done for clients in the past. They should keep samples in their office. This will give you a good idea of their style or the styles they like. You can use this to see the standard of work they have produced and what you can add to that. They may also be unreceptive to someone who has a radically different style as what they are used to.

To practice layout you can get a local mag/guide or newspaper and find a bunch of "bad" ads then recreate them so they look better. Keep the size and format the same. You can also use this to practice logo scanning.

Hope some of this helps
:)

sounds good! i will try that thx