Captions (who/where/what/when) and identification of subjects are required. If sending prints, color glossy prints (preferably 4” x 5” or larger) reproduce best. Do not write on back of photos with ball point or felt tip pen as ink ruins photos piled below. Use Sharpie pen or tape paper on back with caption written/typed on paper.
RESOLUTION: Remember, printing on a press requires much higher resolution; what looks good on your screen or off your laser printer will not necessarily look good when printed on a press. A minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels jpgs straight from the camera is best, any attempt to resize or resample will cause problems for us since print resolution will depend on how we ultimately size the photo in the magazine.
Use the following general guidelines:
For a 4 x 6" print, the image resolution should be 640 x 480 pixels minimum
For a 5 x 7" print, the image resolution should be 1024 x 768 pixels minimum
For an 8 x 10" print, the image resolution should be 1536 x 1024 pixels minimum
For a 16 x 20" print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum
For a 20 x 30" print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum
For a Wallet-size print, the image resolution should be 320 x 240 pixels minimum
Above are guidelines for photo processing labs, but it works as a rough guide for printing press too, in that the resolution of the digital photo will determine how we size the photo in the magazine.
What the above means is that if, for example, a photo is only 640 x 480 pixels, we cannot enlarge it any larger than 4 x 6 and it cannot be cropped.
If a photo is very low resolution, we can only use it if we size it small, and anything below 640 x 480 is very difficult. Also how the photo was framed is important. If it's a team photo shot close up with very little extraneous background, 640 x 480 pixels would be okay, but if it's taken from far away and we have to zoom and crop out the background, 640 x 480 pixels would be useless.
For HardBall Magazine, we would prefer AT LEAST 1024 x 768 pixels, If you have nothing better we can take 640 x 480 in some cases. (A good test is if on your computer screen you can zoom in on a player’s face and it’s still sharp and recognizable, it will look good in print. If the face is very fuzzy, it will look that way in print—bad.)
PLEASE, DO NOT COMPRESS PHOTOS when emailing! Many programs like Kodak Easyshare will automatically downsize photos for emailing and viewing on a computer screen, but they usually have an option you can click to send the photo without reducing its size, please choose that option! Compressed photos lose information that cannot be restored (it is not like zipping or stuffing files, they cannot be "unzipped" or "unstuffed.")
HOW to CAPTION digital photos:
If emailing: email each photo attached to its own separate email, with the caption within the email. Be sure to note the filename of the jpg in the SUBJECT line of the email and correlate the caption to that filename. (ALSO please be very clear in email about which issue this photo is for, and what league, etc. it comes from. Telling us the team name only is not helpful. We get inundated with photos and we are working on three issues of the magazine at any given time.)
If mailing CD or DVD: Type or write a list of each jpgs filename and correlating caption.
Please include photographer’s name so we can give photo credit.
HardBall Magazine
EMAIL: info@hardball.net
MAILING ADDRESS: HardBall, 4949 Lassen Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056
Questions? - Call Jackie Piro at 760-732-3477 or email info@hardball.net