Prepress Mode When printing photos, the result on paper will sometimes be different than what appears on your monitor. While the contours of objects may look perfect on the screen, on paper they may appear fuzzy. To avoid this, process the image before it is printed.
Use Prepress mode to increase the sharpness of borders and the contrast of the image. Even if you are not going to print the photos you can use this mode to improve them. For example, before publishing in your online album.
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To process an image in this mode:
- Step 1. Once this mode is selected the Preview Window will appear in the Before tab.
The Preview Window is a box outlined in a "running" dotted line which shows how an image would be processed after settings are adjusted. This box can be easily dragged and dropped to another part of the image (click and hold the left mouse button) or redrawn (double click) over any part of the image. In this way you can analyze other parts of the image.
You can compare the processed result with the original image by holding down the left mouse button in the Preview Window.
- Step 2. To correct the image, adjust these parameters:
The parameters under Sharpness can be used to make an image appear sharper and its details clearer.
- Radius. This parameter, which accepts values between 0 and 100, determines the width of the zone in which the boundaries of objects are sharpened. A high value may cause halo artifacts. The default value is 10.
- Strength. This parameter affects the degree of contrast enhancement along the boundaries of objects. When the parameter is increased the image becomes clearer. Its work depends on the value of Radius. It accepts values from 0 to 100. The default value is 25.
The parameters under Contrast enhance the contrast of the image by lightening light areas and darkening dark areas.
- Shadows. This parameter accepts values from -50 to 100. This parameter enhances shadows. Increasing the value will make dark areas darker, while decreasing the value makes them lighter.
- Highlights. This parameter accepts values from -50 to 100. When you move the cursor to the right of 0, the light areas of images become even more light. Moving the cursor to the left increases the number of gray tones.
- Step 3. To process the entire image press
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— Prepress Processing