FAQ's - Images

Images uploaded or sent to ETP are assumed to be camera-ready artwork. (See Question #2).  We will provide a simple crop of a picture, but if you have an image that needs major retouching or rips repaired or marks removed, we can provide this service for an additional charge to be determined by the amount of work involved.  This charge is in addition to the cost of the print(s).

If you would like to request this service, please contact us before placing your order.

Info@EdibleTastyPrints.com or (877) 493-4277

'Camera-Ready' artwork is a clean, clear image (picture or logo) of what you are looking to have printed. Simply stated, the quality of the artwork directly affects the quality of the print. Poor quality artwork will invariably result in a poor quality print.

Image Formats. These are not the only choices, but they are good and reasonable choices.

JPG or JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - (Pronounced Jay-Peg).  JPG is often used on digital camera memory cards.

TIF or TIFF - Tag Image File Format - (Pronounced TIFF).  TIFF is the standard universal format for archiving important images.

GIF - Graphic Interchange Format - (Pronounced either GIF like gift without the 't, or as the designers named it, JIFF). GIF is an excellent format for solid (versus graduated shade) graphics

Frequently ETP customers upload small images and request that they be printed on an 8.5 X 11 inch sheet or an 8" circle.  Stretching a small image to fill a large area never works well. To see what happens when a small image is stretched, click HERE.

We highly recommend that ETP be provided with an image about the same size as the image you wish printed.

The image resolution should be at least 1024 x 768 for 2.5 inch, 3 inch, and Business Card prints, and 1600 x 1200 for all other prints. The higher the resolution, the better the print quality will be. This also applies to images you may be scanning. Scanned images should be scanned using 300 DPI or greater.   Average image file size to be uploaded should be greater than 1 megabyte but not larger than 5 megabytes.

Quick Lesson on DPI and Image Resolution

• A picture is made up of tiny little dots (DPI or dots per inch) whether printed on paper or displayed on your computer screen.

• Pictures on the web are usually 72 (Mac) or 96 (Windows) DPI because that is the resolution of most computer monitors.

• If you print a 72 DPI picture to a 600 DPI printer, it won't look as good as it does on the computer monitor because the printer doesn't have enough dots of information to create a clear, sharp image.

• The more little dots that are used (up to a point) the clearer the picture.

• The more dots in a picture, the larger the size of the graphic file.

• Resolution is measured by the number of dots in a horizontal or vertical inch.

• Each type of display device (scanner, digital camera, printer, computer monitor) has a maximum number of dots it can process and display no matter how many dots are in the picture.

File Size

• A 600 DPI laser printer can print up to 600 dots of picture information in an inch.
• A computer monitor can typically display only 96 (Windows) or 72 (Mac) dots of picture information in an inch.
• When a picture has more dots than the display device can support, those dots are wasted.
• The dots increase the file size but don't improve the printing or display of the picture.
• The resolution is too high for that device.

How Well Your Image will Print

• A photograph scanned at both 300 DPI and at 600 DPI will look the same printed on a 300 DPI laser printer.
• The extra dots of information are "thrown out" by the printer, but the 600 DPI picture will have a larger file size.
• However, the 300 DPI image printed on a 600 DPI printer won't look as good as a 600 DPI image printed on a 600 DPI printer because the 300 DPI image doesn't have enough DPI.
• When a picture has fewer dots than the display device can support, the picture may not be as clear or sharp.
• If you save a picture from the internet, the dpi will be from 72 to 96 DPI. This is NOT large enough to make an Edible Tasty Print look good!

Sizing of the Image

If you wish to emphasize a subject such as a person, use a headshot image, especially for the 2.5 inch, 3 inch, and Business Card prints. Otherwise the subject will be too small to see clearly. This is especially true when you add text to an image or are printing a logo.

Most issues occur when an image appears much larger and crisper to you on a computer monitor than it will will actually appear when shrunk down to fit within the printing space.

• We suggest you look at our templates by PRINTING the image first.

• Printing them will enable you to see exactly how large your item will be printed. This will help you visualize how small your image will be when scaled down to fit.

Template Samples

If you have not yet taken the photo, take the photo in bright light. If you wish to emphasize something in the photo such as a person, pose the subject somewhere without a complex background and a background that has color lighter than the subject.

If you are selecting an image you already have, select an image that is bright and sharp. Try to find subjects that do not have complex backgrounds behind the subject you wish to show clearly.

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Click HERE to see an example.

Frosting sheets are not like plain paper. The frosting sheet is actual frosting which has some moisture content and other ingredients that prevent colors from being exact. Because the frosting sheets are white, this typically means the color will be lighter such as red may appear a little pink, blue may appear a lighter blue, and black tends to print grey with a bluish tint. This is not usually noticeable unless the single solid color covers a large area.

Also, because the frosting is moist, the colors actually mix with the frosting much like blending two colors very much like mixing white paint with a colored paint. This would be the same result a bakery would get because when you mix a white color with any other color you tend to get a lighter color.

Black is a very difficult color to use on frosting. Large expanses of black and black backgrounds tend to smear or have white streaks or dots in them. It is recommended, wherever possible, to limit the black or dark areas in your photos and backgrounds. While we attempt to produce the best image possible, and even go so far as to hand touchup black areas, ETP can not guarantee that an image with large areas of black will print without some issues.