How to take a photo for making business card: I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be...

csingh00

I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be used for business cards. Shold the background be a screen, setting adjustments on the camera to simplify or just shoot in P mode, upper body ?
Then do you just send it aa card maker? ...kind of need an outline of process/ settings to follow. thnks
C J

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The card maker should be able to tell you what size/resolution/format they need. As for settings, that will depend on what type of lighting you are going to use.

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

csingh00 wrote:

I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be used for business cards. Shold the background be a screen, setting adjustments on the camera to simplify or just shoot in P mode, upper body ?
Then do you just send it aa card maker? ...kind of need an outline of process/ settings to follow. thnks
C J

You can use any well lit and sharp photo on your business card. Just ask your chosen printer what size and type of image they require. A jpg is usually OK. Obviously it won't need to be very big but it will need to be 300 dpi for printing. Make sure that your photo is of a fairly simple subject because it's going to appear very small on your business card.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Vistaprint makes it easy.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Unless you have supersized business cards your image is going to be around 1" high. 300dpi is a reasonable resolution for a reasonably priced printer so your image has to be at least 300 pixels high. Any camera will give you an image larger than that and the printer can most likely reduce it to fit.

You are probably better off using Photoshop to make an image of your card. If you don't do it, your printer will probably charge for the layout and you will have to go back and forth to see what they come up with and get it down to your liking. Business cards are (mostly) 2" x 3.5" (in the US anyway) although some people produce strange sizes. I generally start Photoshop with a 2000 x 3500 pixel canvas so I have the right aspect ratio and lay everything out on it. Photoshop will allow you to cut out your image so you can control the background.

Last time I had business cards printed I just made an image of the card, reduced it to the right dimensions, and put 12 of them onto an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet and gave the printer a PDF file. They copied the page and did the cutting.

cascoly Loc: seattle

I've used Vistaprint for my business cards - you can upload and crop your photo on their site, they provide templates with many font choices, etc - no need to do all the work in PS

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

csingh00 wrote:

I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be used for business cards. Shold the background be a screen, setting adjustments on the camera to simplify or just shoot in P mode, upper body ?
Then do you just send it aa card maker? ...kind of need an outline of process/ settings to follow. thnks
C J

I use Vistaprint. Simple and easy on line template plus I upload my own images for my card. Just a JPEG image. They do the rest.

https://www.vistaprint.com/lpt/bc1-cat-marquee-creation-1.aspx?mk=vistaprint+business+cards&ad=e&crtv=220248323690&device=c&psloc=9021463&pstid=kwd-395405153&psite=mkwid%7coMJI2jJd&pscid=236440579&psagid=17268312739&psint=&psfid=&psnet=g&pspos=1t1&psp1=%249.99&psp2=50%25&psaceid=&gclid=CjwKCAjwycfkBRAFEiwAnLX5IY9LS7adp8l9ZjX7YtLdNqCZlY4stCN5dq2G-0RawnhguopFNV350BoC9I0QAvD_BwE&couponAutoload=1&GP=03%2f20%2f2019+19%3a55%3a30&GPS=5341166375&GNF=0&rd=1

paulevy Loc: Lawrenceville, NJ USA

Even better than vistaprint is moo.com

Silverman Loc: Michigan

Kmgw9v wrote:

Vistaprint makes it easy.

👍👍👍

Larryshuman

I make my own using an Avery template that is on their site. Their phone help is excellent to. I print to my own printer also from the Avery site.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Kmgw9v wrote:

Vistaprint makes it easy.

Good Advice!!

rydabyk Loc: Florida Panhandle

cascoly wrote:

I've used Vistaprint for my business cards - you can upload and crop your photo on their site, they provide templates with many font choices, etc - no need to do all the work in PS

Vistaprint is the way to go, super easy to do and cheap too! That makes it a win-win for me

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Kmgw9v wrote:

Vistaprint makes it easy.

They do a lot of things well. You just load the picture onto their site - no big deal.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

csingh00 wrote:

I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be used for business cards. Shold the background be a screen, setting adjustments on the camera to simplify or just shoot in P mode, upper body ?
Then do you just send it aa card maker? ...kind of need an outline of process/ settings to follow. thnks
C J

If you make your own, you can take any photo, resize it and put it on a card. Here's a card I made Avery has the stock for the cards and any color printer will do.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

csingh00 wrote:

I do real estate photography largely using Nikon D700. But donot have a clue what size/resolution of photo I should create that can be used for business cards. Shold the background be a screen, setting adjustments on the camera to simplify or just shoot in P mode, upper body ?
Then do you just send it aa card maker? ...kind of need an outline of process/ settings to follow. thnks
C J

Use Vista Print, an online printer, very good quality. Create an image size that is set to 240-300 poi, at a size of around 2000 pixels across. This will be more than large enough for any card. It does not matter how you take the image, what matters is how you download the image. You could shoot in small jpeg and probably use that.