Need advice about learning Indesign...

chillba · #1 10-18-2007, 05:47 AM

I need to put together a printed portfolio of images of my paintings to send out for various art projects and also put images on line. I would like to put a brief text under each numerical image and was told that Indesign with Photoshop would be good for this. I would then send out for printing at a semi-pro lab. The problem is I do not know quite where to start as far as learning how to do this. Anyone have a step-by-step recommendation for me.
Thanks for your help. I am blocked.

perianthal · #2 10-18-2007, 08:11 AM

Do you own InDesign already? It is a great program, I love it, but there is a learning curve. If so, I'd go to Amazon or other such vendor and search for a step by step manual. I actually took a class at the local community college. Very worthwhile, but a lot of time if you are only doing ONE project.

**Oldthumbs** · #3 10-18-2007, 09:26 AM

InDesign is WAY too much overkill for this. I assume you have some kind of image editing program, such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. You can easily add text to the bottom of th images right in those programs. In Photoshop, you just need to increase the canvas size to add white space at the bottom of the image and then enter your text in that space.

Ray

chillba · #4 10-18-2007, 11:01 AM

Thanks for your reply but I was advised to use Indesign with Photoshop because the quality of the text would be poor with Photoshop alone. It does sound too oevrwhelming to learn though for such a simple need.

**Oldthumbs** · #5 10-18-2007, 11:24 AM

If you create the image at the size to which you want to have it printed, the text copy will not be poor in Photoshop. Certainly, you will not be saving the images as jpg's for commercial printing, and the lossless format (such as a tiff) would yield perfectly acceptable results with text.

If you have money and time to burn, InDesign is a great program and can be used for creating brochures and other publications, so it may have greater utility for you. It also handles PDF as a native file format.

One other option - let the printer put the text on the image. They should have some type of program that will allow them to add it. It would probably be cheaper than buying InDesign, unless you have thousands of images to do.

Ray

chillba · #6 10-19-2007, 06:13 AM

Thanks Oldthumbs. that's what I needed to know. I will thus use photoshop to get this project underway (and stop procrastinating) and learn In design later for future usage.

graphixgeek · #7 11-03-2007, 06:20 PM

InDesign does have a steep learning curve, but for printing out a portfolio, it is very good. I made my printed portfolio using InDesign and impressed the interviewer at my current job that he hired me on the spot. It is however, easy to learn the basic skills needed to layout a portfolio. There's the rub though. You need to be aware of how files get printed, color management, etc. (depending on if you have it professionally printed or not) Also, it's not that the text in Photoshop is poor, its just that PS treats text like an image so it is susceptible to poor resolution and the like. InDesign is infintely better at text layout and leaves text crisp like a word processing program. Good luck!

**Oldthumbs** · #8 11-03-2007, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graphixgeek

Also, it's not that the text in Photoshop is poor, its just that PS treats text like an image so it is susceptible to poor resolution and the like.

It only treats text like an image after you have raterized the text, either directly or by doing something like flattening the image.

Ray

**Elainepsq** · #9 11-04-2007, 03:53 PM

You've gotten some good advice here. But I'll ad my 2 cent worth.

If your working high res, text in Photoshop should not be a problem, and as Ray said, don't rasterize it. Also, I bold, blocky font would be best. Fonts with thick and thin lines are more likely to look fuzzy in Photoshop.

If you want to learn indesign, I have a book by PeachPit press I'd recommend. Their books make great reference for getting started in the program. I've been using Indesign for over a year now. I found it pretty easy after using Quark, pagemaker and other AD layout programs. However, I still have things driving me crazy that are more advanced questions than the PeachPit book covers. if there are any gurus reading this who would be ready to answer some questions, or refer me to a more advanced manual, Please PM me.

richfarr · #10 06-10-2008, 03:56 AM

My $0.02. Since Photoshop outputs raster-based files rather than a vector-based ones that Indesign creates there is a possibility that the text you create in Photoshop could look degraded. You could overcome that by creating an enormous file in PS but the file size would be prohibitive.

In any case, the results will likely be fine for your purposes especially if you're not printing your samples on an offset machine. If you are, you'd be better off hiring the services of a designer or contact the printer that will output your work.

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