etaoin Loc: Wichita, KS

Those "facts from the internet nonsense" are largely accurate for newspaper reproduction. Newspapers that care about print quality will "fingerprint" their presses to create an ICC Profile which is used in Photoshop to render color pictures as accurately to the original as possible depending on the CMYK inks they use, size of halftone dots they apply to the photos, etc. When applying halftone screens to photos -- let's say the paper uses 100-lpi screening -- more than 200 dpi resolution in the original JPEG file is wasted data. More is not better. Consideration in those profiles are highlight/shadow limits on dot sizes in those areas to prevent highlight detail from blowing out and shadow detail from filling-in.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

To demonstrate: I have a 24 mp image (4000 x 6000 pixels) from any of several general purpose DSLRs. How may 'dots' are in this image? For that matter, now many 'lines' do I have in this image file? For that matter, how many 'inches'?

etaoin Loc: Wichita, KS

There are no "dots" in your image. The dots are rendered when the Raster Image Processor (RIP) generates the full-page bitmap files used to generate either film negatives or printing plates. The RIP will have the ICC profile data and highlight/shadow limits set-up there to render the output. When that happens, all your excessive high resolution data goes down the drain. It's inefficient to provide such large files.

khorinek

Agreed. As a photojournalist I try to provide the best quality product as possible, but after a photo has been "rendered" through the printing process, the quality is pretty much gone. However, on the digital side of things, everything is different. Providing high quality photos for web sites is paramount. The future is digital, newspapers will all be on the "web". I've seen a 50% drop in printed newspapers just in the last 2 years.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

We probably all can agree that no newspaper is going to print the example 24mp image to 20x13-inches @ 300 ppi - pixels per inch. Lowering the long-size resolution, as suggested by multiple replies, will still likely provide a file with a 300ppi that exceeds the physical print size, in inches, for the intended use in the newspaper, particularly given the physical document is not printed to the 300 ppi gold standard of photographic printing.

BTW - we know nothing from what was meant third- (or forth-) party statement, "the photos are too large for their software to handle". I went to a few newspaper sites looking for posted specifications / requirements (Chicago Sun-Times, Hartford Courant, and Island Packet). Only for the placement of advertisements in Hartford could I find a reference pixel dimensions. Most referenced acceptable file formats, one said, "cell phone photos are usually acceptable for printing, provided they are taken with a late-model smartphone and transmitted to us in a way that keeps the image from being compressed." And with no reference to the specifics, "if image resolution is too low, images may not be publishable."

etaoin Loc: Wichita, KS

Often, newspaper reproduction specs can be difficult for people outside the industry to grasp. You can't print a picture without halftone dots. That process takes its toll, but that can be mitigated by best practices. The newspaper I worked for participated in international color quality contests from time to time. If you correctly calibrate every process in the workflow, you can produce a newspaper-printed product that looks almost exactly as good as the provided original photos. It takes work and a dedication to the end product -- something that sadly is going missing more and more.

etaoin Loc: Wichita, KS

As far as the statement "the photos are too large for their software to handle", we ran into this all the time -- usually from outside ad agencies. Huge JPEG photos at upwards of 1200 dpi that had to be brought into Photoshop and downsized and replaced into the document or the RIPs (mentioned above) might choke and abort the job.

mkting1 Loc: Phoenix, Az

Have him call the nsp for their specs...Ad Agencies and PR firms do that to cut back the problems. Call 'em...it shows the nsp his professionalism...and besides they are friendly and lonely these days...a dying breed...

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

Perhaps the editor means that the picture would increase the available space on the page too much (take up too many column-inches)? Just guessing, like everyone else.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

He can reduce the file size by reducing the size of the image. The newspaper should give him full specifications for images to be published.