Preparing your ad
for newspaper reproduction

• IMAGE PREPARATION
• IMAGE RESOLUTION
• HALFTONE REPRODUCTION
• BLACK & WHITE HALFTONE REPRODUCTION
• MECHANICAL SPOT COLOR

IMAGE PREPARATION
In order to achieve optimum newspaper reproduction, certain guidelines and specifications need to be considered when preparing your digital files. The following information will help you optimize your files for reproduction in the Mercury News.

IMAGE RESOLUTION
Factors for input and output resolutions must be taken into consideration to ensure best quality reproduction. For best results, scans should be made at final size and crop. Although reducing or cropping an image after scanning does not adversely effect the image quality, enlarging the image reduces overall resolution and quality. Planning ahead and scanning for the largest anticipated output size minimizes the need to rescan an original for satisfactory resolution.

Continuous Tone Images:
For good quality scans, the general rule is to scan images at a resolution of 2 times the output line screen ruling. Since the Mercury News prints at 100 lpi, the equation would be 2 x 100 = 200 dpi. Scanning at a higher resolution than needed does not necessarily improve the quality of an image and could adversely effect processing time and storage space requirements.

NOTE: It is not a good idea to scan an image which has already been converted into a halftone (i.e.printed media). This will most likely lead to a moiré in the printed image.

Line Art:
Scanning line art requires considerably more input resolution than continuous tone images. Ideally, elements should be scanned in at the same resolution they will be output. For newsprint, 1200 dpi is the recommended output resolution for quality reproduction. This minimizes jagged or stair-stepped edges and results in smooth, sharp images.

HALFTONE REPRODUCTION
A halftone is a continuous tone image that has been converted into various size dots for print reproduction. An important aspect which must be compensated for in press reproduction is dot gain. Because of the highly porous characteristic of newsprint, newspaper reproduction incurs a significant amount of dot gain. With an 85 line screen, halftone dots gain 12-15% in size for highlights and shadows, and 28-34% in the midtones. For example, a 50% dot grows to approximately an 80% dot on the press. Dot gain adjustments must be made to avoid muddy reproduction and dirty colors. Below you will find guidelines to help you compensate for dot gain in your halftones.

BLACK & WHITE HALFTONE REPRODUCTION
Newspapers usually cannot print less than a 5% dot and "plug up" at about 85%. Dot gain averages 30-34% in the midtone, meaning that a 50% dot will grow to as much as an 84% dot on press. Typical dot gain values are:

Our available range of tones is about 80 percentage points. The secret behind good tonal reproduction is distributing the original image's grays over these remaining tones. This is done through the application of transfer functions to your scanned images.

MECHANICAL SPOT COLOR
The Mercury News has printed a NAA Ad-Litho color chart to insure predictable printed results when using spot colors in your ad. All of our spot colors are created with process color inks. Please contact your sales representative to get our most current chart of spot color mixes.

When producing spot color mechanically with process color inks, it is important to take dot gain and secondary color contamination into consideration. This follows the same logic applicable to the subtle color corrections needed in separating continuous tone originals.

To reproduce a lighter shade of the spot color, reduce the specified screens by the desired tint shade value.

Example: A 50% tint of NAA Ad-Litho 0740 Red

Specified screen breakdowns for 100% 0740 Red are 70% magenta, 40% yellow.

Breakdowns for 50% tint shade are 35% magenta, 20% yellow.

Please set up your files to output spot colors as process (CMYK) colors.