I create newspaper ads in Photoshop that have both text and images.
I've tried sending them to the newspaper as flattened TIFFs and as a
Photoshop PDF. However, the newspaper we work with has trouble using
them because the text looks bad when they output them to laser (with a
70 line screen) for paste-up.

I've also tried exporting the file as a TIFF and then placing it into
Quark adn then PDFing that page, but this creates problems with the
CMYK/RGB conversions not working right.

What is the best way to output a Photoshop image that has both text
and images to ensure the best quality in both paste-up situations and
when the publication uses the electronic file? I'm looking for the
exact settings in Photoshop or Acrobat.

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Clarification of Question by clearhill-ga on 12 Apr 2005 10:05 PDT

This sounds like a good answer, but how can I avoid the font problems.
Is there some way to have Adobe convert the fonts to outlines?

Create your canvas using the exact print size you require (or crop
your canvas when done).  Keep the resolution set high - 240 dpi is
sufficient.  Once you have completed your layout (text and images),
assuming you have a full registered version of Adobe Acrobat, you can
print the document to PDF.  CTRL-P or File --> Print - before
printing, change the settings of the PDF on the print box that comes
up: Properties --> Adobe PDF Settings --> (Set Page Size as necessary)
--> Default Settings set to Press Quality --> click OK then OK to
print.  That will create a "Press Quality" (made for use in pre-press
production) PDF document (it will be larger in size than the average
PDF because of the unique setting).

Depending on the program they are using for laying everything out, I
assume it's either Photoshop or Quark, they can edit/crop/or otherwise
alter the PDF by opening it with Photoshop (meaning they can also save
it as a TIFF, JPG, GIF, or any other images type that works best for
them).  If you find that the Press Quality is still too low quality
you can choose a higher level, and increase the resolution on your
master document (note that your images will become distorted and/or
change size if you increase the resolution in the master document
before synching them to the new resolution).

You may also want to create a single ad then convert it to the many
different options: PDFs at all different settings, TIFF (different
settings), JPG, GIF, etc and do test prints of the different versions
to see which works best.

I don't have the latest, greatest version of photoshop yet, so I'm not
sure if text is still handled the same way. It used to be that text in
photoshop could not be converted to outlines within photoshop itself
and always relied on fonts in your system to preserve proper style and
appearance. If this sounds like your problem, here are a few ideas to
try:

1) Use another program like Adobe Illustrator to create your text to
proper size/format and convert it to outlines there. You can drag and
drop this text directly into photoshop as a new layer or simply copy
and paste from the Illustrator window to your photoshop window. You
can't change or correct any of the text in the photoshop file because
it has become a picture of text now. If any corrections need to be
made, you must go back to the text file in Illustrator (make a copy of
your text in illustrator and convert the text copy to outlines so you
can modify the text when necessary). Of course, it may simply be
easier to use Adobe Illustrator to create the entire ad in the first
place, but I use this method to add text to my own photoshop images to
avoid the font issues. Macromedia Freehand will allow you to do a
similar process. I'm assuming other vector programs will, too (maybe a
corel product?). If you don't have Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia
Freehand, you can often get a 30-day free trial to test the software
from their respective sites. This would allow you to test this method
and see if it's worth the investment. By the way, text will look rough
when converted in Freehand, but usually copies smoothly to photoshop.

2) Assuming you and the recipient of the file use the same computer
platform, you can send your fonts with the photoshop images by zipping
or stuffing them in the same package. This causes more work for your
recipient as they have to load your fonts to assure they're system
reads your files correctly and then remove/discard your fonts when
they're done. This would be similar to the "collect for output" method
used by programs like QuarkXpress which need the same fonts to go with
file in order to assure text reads correctly.

3) I was under the impression that embedding your fonts in a pdf file
preserved their quality across Mac and Windows platforms whether the
recipient has your fonts or not (because the font should be embedded
in the pdf file). Check your pdf settings and make sure your are using
at least "print" quality for your pdf conversions and set the job
options to embed all fonts. Without embedding, the pdf will, again,
rely on whatever fonts are available at your recipients location and
likely change appearance.

I would test this method by using a very distinctive font and then
opening the pdf file on another computer that you're sure doesn't have
the font. If the font still appears distinctively correct, you can
assume the font was properly embedded into the pdf file.