1) First, take the pictures
Shoot the original camera images at the highest quality setting on the camera that you have, in JPEG mode. TIFF capture mode is gilding the lily, no need for that unless you've got gigs of storage, a high-powered computer and ultimate quality in mind. In that case, you'll want to shoot in RAW or NEF mode and you won't need to read the rest of these steps because you're way more technically adept than most.
2) Cropping in closely and consistently
Open your first photo in PhotoShop and use the cropping tool on the Tools palette to crop in tightly so people's heads are the size of a quarter or so. Or in the case of a family or group, as large as possible. In photo directories you're looking for the face, the rest of the body is irrelevant. If you're using the digest-size format that we did with four photos to a page, crop the photo to a proportion that will end up 2 inches tall by 2 3/8 inches wide. You’ll get the hang of it, it may take several tries to get an image in that proportion but don’t worry, you can. And it doesn’t have to be perfect, you just need some extra photo area so you don’t have too small a photo, yet not so large and sloppy that you’re wasting space.
3) Set the image dimensions and resolution
Once cropped, then in the Image pull-down menu choose Image Size and set those dimensions. Also be sure to set the resolution at 250 pixels/inch. Many people recommend 300 and that’s fine but you can get by just fine at 250 and the file sizes are somewhat smaller.
4) Set the mode to CMYK
Then under Image, choose the Mode option and set it to CMYK. This is for printers. RGB is for looking at things on a computer screen but printers need CMYK.
5) Sharpen the photo just once
Then under Filter, choose Sharpen just once. More than that and it starts to look grainy and weird. Remember, your photo is already sharp because you used a tripod. If you want a more flattering look for older people, don't sharpen at all.
6) Color correct the image
Then under Image pick the Variations option and you can compare which variations look good—not too blue, not too yellow, etc. You want your photos to all look comparable in the directory, and sometimes individual pictures need to be a little lighter or darker to match the rest of them. You can choose lighter or darker on the right side of the window. And you can pick the best color balance when you see everything side by side in this window. The top two images show you the original photo and the current variation. Cool.
7) "Save As" a TIFF with a good name
Now that you’ve got your photo just like you want it, do a File Save As with the Format option chosen as TIFF and call the photo by a different name. That way you’ve left your original camera photo intact in case you have goofed something up or want to crop or re-use the photo in a different way (believe me you will—these photos are so great to have for future Web use, church announcements and awards, funeral pictures for the newspaper, etc.). Give the cropped and color-corrected photo a name that means something, like JohnSmith7-17-05. Save it in a separate folder named PhotoDirectoryTIFFs or something. The key here is to be very organized right from the start. Have all your original camera images in one folder, all your TIFFs in another. It’s so much easier to keep track of things that way.
Well, that’s “all you need to do” for getting your raw camera images ready to place in your page layout program. Once you’ve done a few, you can do these seven steps in about two or three minutes per photo. I did our entire directory in a half day of uninterrupted time. You get the hang of it and into a routine, and it’s kind of fun actually.
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