calendar - help!

[coigach]

The national charity I work for is considering producing a calendar of my photos as a fundraiser. The plan is to involve corporate sponsorship and have a print run of about 3000. I'm pleased (!) but don't really have a clue about some of the practical issues that could be involved.

All my work is b+w transparencies. Any hints on how to ensure that the final product is a faithful reproduction of the film trannies? Any hints on what I should look for in printers, method of printing etc?

Any advice greatly received...!

Cheers,
Gavin

[jd callow]

It sounds like it will be offset printed. If that is the case see about having your work printed as a duotone using stochastic screens. This will give you a better looking final print. The printer can give you guidance on preparing the file, but you'll need: 1) good scans at a resolution that exceeds the one the printer asks for*; 2) a calibrated monitor and photoshop for image preparation.

You'll also want the graphic designer to talk to the printer. Sadly, in this day and age (where everyone with a bootleg copy of quark or inDesign is calling them self's graphic designers) the printer is often the most knowledgeable link in the chain. At a minimum he needs what he needs to produce good work and it is important that everybody understands.

*Having a higher res scan and nursing it down to the final size generally produces far better images than scanning to size.