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A
apinhas
Known Participant
August 21, 2020
Question

Fuzzy/Blurry images in printed PDF

  • August 21, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 4903 views

I am having an issue with an exported InDesign PDF of a manuscript. I am working with an offset printing company (gorhamprinting.com) to print my InDesign manuscript. I sent them my exported PDF, and received the proof of the manuscript in the mail today.

 

Everything in the manuscript is fine, except for that there is significant difference in image quality between the images in the submitted PDF and those actually printed. The images in the PDF are 400 dpi .jpgs and look good on Adobe Acrobat. The PDF itself is exported as PDF/X-4:2008. However, for some reason, the printed images are fuzzy/blurry. See the attached images for a typical comparison of the two versions (though I realise it is somewhat hard to distinguish a difference based on given images).

 

Does anyone know why this might be happening? I asked the company and they too seem confused. They suggested trying to switch the .jpg images to .tiff format, yet still acknowledged that many customers submit manuscripts using .jpgs and they print fine. Should I use Press Quality as an export instead?

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    1 reply

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 22, 2020

    The “proof” PDF file you sent doesn't seem particularly fuzzy/blurry. However, without having the original PDF/X-4 file that you exported from InDesign, we really can't tell exactly what if anything is wrong.

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    A
    apinhasAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 22, 2020

    Hi Dov,

     

    The proof is not the PDF file. I was sent a physical proof, of which I took a screenshot with my phone. The proof is the .jpg image, while the PDF is the exported PDF from InDesign.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 22, 2020

    The reason that I thought that the PDF file was some type of “proof” is because the PDF file you provided us is not directly exported from InDesign at all. Opening the PDF file and looking at the properties, I see:

     

     

    As you can see from the properties, it was created by something called ilovepdf and the file is definitely not a PDF/X-4 file. This particular file looks like something that someone created by some hokey on-line converter from your original exported-from-InDesign PDF/X-4 file. Did your “offset printing company” produce this PDF file from what you produced?

     

    Although this PDF file's image is certainly sharp enough and the image in the middle of the page has 400 dpi resolution, I'd love to see the original file exported from InDesign, i.e. the real PDF/X-4 file.

     

    Furthermore, looking at the cellphone photo of the proof is not clear or clean enough to determine anything. If you scanned it with a real flatbed scanner at 600dpi, maybe we would better analyze what you are or are not seeing.

     

    By the way, using the Press Quality settings wouldn't provide any improvement over PDF/X-4. PDF/X-4 is the current international standard for the highest quality printing.

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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