Preparing photos for Spoonflower printing

Preparing photos for printing by Spoonflower is relatively simple.  In this tutorial, I will go through the steps I use.  I use Photoshop for the preparation.  While I am not familiar with Photoshop Elements, I'm fairly sure that it can do most of the functions described below.  If you are using Paint Shop Pro there will be similar functions.

The first step is to pick the photo you want to have printed.  

I took this photo of columbine today.  It is reasonably in focus, with good contrast and a fairly simple background.    But it can be improved.

The first step is to adjust how light or dark the light values and dark values are.  The easiest way to do this in Photoshop is by using Levels. 

This is on the image -- adjustments menu.  When you select this item you will see the following:

The mountain looking block (histogram)  in the center of the dialog has three little triangles under it.  The right hand one controls the light values, the left hand one controls the dark values, and the center one controls the mid-tones.  I normally only adjust the right and left hand triangles.  If your mountains (histogram) don't go all the way to the edge, you will generally improve your photo by dragging the appropriate triangle to the end of the mountain on that side.  You can drag it further.  Watch your photo as you play with the controls and click on OK when you have what you like.

If you look at my original photo you will notice some dark spots on the petals.  They aren't particularly noticeable except on the white.   I used the spot healing brush to take them out.  Above is part of the tool bar.  The spot healing brush is the seventh tool down.  It looks like a little band-aid.  Make your cursor large enough to cover the spots using the arrow keys and click over the spot. It should be removed.   If the spot is near the edge of a color, where the colors change a lot, you may not be able to use this tool.

I also adjusted the vibrance and saturation.  This control is also under the image - adjustments menu.

Play with the sliders until you get the effect you want.  Beware of going too far; over-saturation does not print well.

Now comes the most important part of the preparation.  Spoonflower prints at 150 dpi (dots per inch)  Having your file at the correct size makes the uploading and printing much easier.  

Use the image menu and choose image size.    You will get the dialog box shown below.

Most likely the resolution will be something different than 150.  Click in the box and change it to 150.  Make sure that the width and height are locked.  (Click on the links if the lines are not there.) Change either the width or height to fit the size of the fabric you will be having printed.  If the dimensions are locked, the other dimension will change automatically.   Typically you will not get your photo to be the exact size of your fabric.  The dimensions above are the closest I can come to fat quarter size given my camera.  

Finally I like to sharpen my photos.  Digital photos tend to need some sharpening.  Remember that the printed version will not be quite as crisp as the photo would be if printed in the normal manner.

Sharpening comes under the filter menu.  Choose sharpen -- unsharp mask.

Below are the ranges I typically use.  Play around with the slides to see what you like.  Again, be careful not to go too far.

Save your  photo and you should be ready to upload it to Spoonflower.  Here's the end result of this tutorial.

If you are using one of the other on-line services most of this tutorial will apply.  Check with the service as to the pixels (or dots) per inch they use for printing and the sizes of their prints.

Most digital cameras (including those in your cell phone)  these days will give you enough resolution for at least fat quarter sized prints.  Many will allow even larger prints with good clarity.

You don't need to print just a single image or photo.  If you are doing a memory quilt, you could do a collage of the photos you want to include and have that printed.  Leave some background space between each, so you can cut the individual images out.

Enjoy!