Saving Screen Captures for Printing
Use the Right File Formats and Sizing

Continued... • Part 1: Set Up Your Screen    Related Resources • Screen Capture Tips & Techniques • Best Graphics Formats    From Graphics Software • Screen Capture Utilities for PC • Screen Capture Utilities for Mac • Screen Shot Tips & Tricks (for On-screen display)    Join the Discussion "You will not be able to get a clean image from a sceen shot if you resample in Photoshop, it wil come out extremely blurry but the trick is to take the screen shot and resize it in a page layout program." Calvin L.    Join the Discussion Still have questions or want more details on any aspect of desktop publishing? Join us in the Forums • General DTP • Type & Fonts • DTP Classroom

Avoid Compression
For screen display you want low resolution and small file sizes for faster downloads. For print you'll want to keep all the resolution and pixels you can get.

• Avoid "lossy" compression formats such as JPG for your screen captures.

• If exporting a file containing screen captures to PDF, turn off the automatic graphics compression in your Distiller options.

• Don't let your software change the resolution of your images (turn off any such options) before sending your document to the printer.

Convert the Color
Converting to CMYK color for printing can cause problems with fuzzy or blurry black text with some printing methods. By default, in most software RGB to CMYK conversions, black is not plain black. Black areas print with a certain amount of Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow inks. Due to the way printing presses work it is possible that the different colors will shift slightly causing fuzzy edges all around black areas. There are two schools of thought on how to handle the black. Some people think it looks fine and others believe the text needs to by 100% black. If color isn't necessary, consider converting the screen shot to grayscale.

• 100% Black - Method 1: Before converting your image to CMYK, substitute plain black for all black in your image. In Photoshop this is done by choosing Maximum for Black Generation under GCR (Gray Component Removal) in your Color Settings. Refer to your own software to find how to control how black is used.

• Because black is usually added to most colors to enhance their printed appearance, the above method may result in unwanted color shifts in other areas of your screen shot. You'll need to weigh the importance of subtle color changes against your tolerance for slightly blurred or fuzzy text.

• 100% Black - Method 2: Another way to change the black is to convert the image to CMYK then select a bit of black in the image with the magic wand tool (anti-aliasing OFF, tolerance 0) then select all similar portions of the image (Photoshop: Select | Similar; Photo-Paint: Mask | Similar). Fill all selected areas with 100% Black.

Size it Right
Avoid resizing your screen captures in your image editing software. This goes against everything you've probably ever heard about image editing. In most cases it is best to get your image to the correct dimensions before placing it in a page layout program. Here's the exception to the rule. With screen shots you can often get better results if you resize it (smaller!) directly in your page layout program.

• Don't rely on what you see on your screen. The one that looks best on the monitor may not be the one that prints best. Make a copy of your screen capture and print a version resized in your image editing software and a version resized in your page layout program to find what works best for you. This can change depending on the amount of resizing.

• Avoid moiré patterns by resizing your screen shot proportionately.

• Try to resize in increments of 25% (75%, 50%, 25%).

• Avoid enlarging your screen shots. Due to their naturally low resolution, making them larger usually results in jagged edges.

Tweak it, Fake it
Sometimes the only way to get exactly what you need is to fake it. In your image editing program you can replace colors, combine elements of different screen shots, retype text, and redraw portions of the screen. This not only allows you to show elements in a different way, it allows you to tweak each portion of an image so that questionable parts print better. Here's an example of a fake or composite screen capture with various alterations: