Want to create your own invitation or customized postcards?
As I mentioned on my page about the best ways to print customized postcards and invitations you’ll need a high quality printer and the right blanc paper cards. But before you’ll get to the printing part you’ll have to do some homework first.
To create postcards and invitations that look like store-bought use the proper layout settings. On this page I will discuss issues like which resolution, size, file format and fonts to use. But let’s start with the camera settings first.
Camera settings: start big
For a high quality print sized 5”x 7” you’ll need at least a 3 megapixel camera set to the highest quality. For a 8”x 10”print you’ll need a 7 megapixel camera.
Best shoot in the highest quality possible. You can always make a smaller copy of an original picture, but there's no way to inject extra pixels or sharpness afterwards if you start with a small image.
With sharpness and colour saturation it’s the other way around. Best be modest with their camerasettings. You can always rise them later in your DTP software.
Image resolution: 300 dpi is best
When uploading you image from your camera into your DTP software always set its resolution to 300 dpi.
This is the most common value in the printing business. Lower settings then 300 dpi often results in losing quality when printing.
As explained on my page about printing it’s not necessary to save an image in a higher resolution then 300 dpi, because it won’t result in better prints. It is even possible to get weird artifacts and jagged edges in your prints when your resolution is set too high.
Size
Best save your original image in the biggest size. Then make a copy for printing which you give the same dimensions as your blanc paper card. This means in most occasions that there’s some cropping and cutting to do. While most camera’s have an aspect ratio of 2:3 or 3:4 and most blanc cards are sized 4”x 6” or 5”x 7”.
File format
With file formats it’s the same as with resolution: best keep your original image in the highest quality possible. This means that RAW format is best, then TIFF (or TIF) and last comes JPG (or JPEG). When saving an image in JPG that was originally shot in RAW you’ll always lose quality.
When you create your own invitation or postcard in Photoshop the best format after RAW to save your images in is PSD. The PSD-format offers besides good image quality the possibility to save your layer information.
Sharpness and saturation
If you want to create postcards that look crisp and clear be modest with your camera settings. Best set your camera to zero or +1 for both Sharpness and Saturation (if possible). Afterwards you can adjust them in your DTP software. Be careful for overkill; the default adjustments will do fine for most occasions.
Fonts
Create your own invitation or postcard with the right fonts. They work great to emphasise the tone of voice of your customized postcards and invitations. You can Google for thousands of free fonts on the net. Bet that perfect wedding invitation font is out there waiting for you!
They mostly come in ZIP folders. After you’ve unzipped them place them in your Windows Fonts folder and they’re ready to use.
Here some free examples I found on the net:
