Making a PDF Presentation in PSCS offers many benefits for photo editing and promotion. By prepping files to optimize quality and size, your PDF will be easier to view and make a better impression to your audience. You can find the menu item here from Photoshop's main menu: (File/Automate/PDF Presentation). You can also run the PDF Presentation program from inside Photoshop's File Browser under "Automate". The advantage of this is that RAW files can be selected and turned directly into a PDF Presentation.

Here are a few recommendations with regard to settings:
First, I recommend all files be in the Colormatch RGB or sRGB working space for best color viewing by most people's PDF viewers. Or you can convert each one as they open:

As PDF Presentation runs, PSCS will open files and prompt you to keep the embedded profile, convert, etc, if the embedded profile does not match your working space. This is if you have "Ask When Opening for Profile Mismatches" set up in your Color Settings dialog. Most photographers use US Prepress Defaults, which uses the "Ask When Opening for Profile Mismatches" setting as a default.

After choosing File/Automate/PDF Presentation, browse to a folder with images. I recommend putting the files you want to have in the PDF Presentation in one folder ahead of time, then Browse and select all the files with Shift, or Cmd/Cntrl Clicking to skip any. You can also open all the files you want to have in the PDF in Photoshop and select "Add Open Files".

Then choose Multi-Page Document or Presentation (it depends on whether you want your client to control the transition between images (Multi-Page) or if you want your client to have a slide show (Presentation). I prefer Multi-page and just clicking from page to page using the forward button in Acrobat reader, instead of scrolling top to bottom.

Then select 'Save" and name the PDF. I then recommend JPEG of 5 to 9 as the choice at the top and choose "Image Interpolation" if your files are larger than about 800 pixels on the longest dimension. This will result in very good quality images, and the smallest total presentation size. If your files are smaller than 700 pixels on the longest dimension, or if you choose a very low JPEG level, you probably won't be happy with the quality if viewed full-screen.

Downgrade color profile had no effect on my tests. From Adobe's site below, it describes version 2 and version 4 profiles, which I'm not familiar with. You can keep it checked to be safe.

"PDF Security" offers a number of options you can explore.

Click "Save" and you're done.

I also recommend you ask your client to select "Single Page View" or "View/Full Screen" for best viewing in Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Acrobat (Full version).

I write this because in Acrobat Reader, the files will show at the dimensions they were saved. The program will show a 2"x2" file at 400PPI as a small image, and a 6"x8" file at 72PPI as a large image. The 2"x2" file will only look right when viewed in Presentation mode, in Full Screen mode, or in Single Page View mode. There are also 'Fit' options, but that has not always worked right for me.

If they are viewing in a browser, files should default to "Fit Page" automatically and view sharp and clear as long as they were at least 800 pixels on the longest side when selected to be in the PDF Presentation. I tested a PDF Presentation file in Safari on OSX and it viewed beautifully.

When you are done, you can drop a small PDF (most people can accept attachments under 2MB) as an attachment in an e-mail, but FTP is safest.

Most PDF files will travel fine and a double click by your client should launch their Acrobat viewer.

Have fun!

The more I experiment with PDF Presentation, the more I see how it is can be a good tool for showing clients images for selection, mainly because even large files can be saved and zoomed in on to check critical details very quickly. Notes can also be added pretty easily in Adobe Acrobat's full version. Adobe's Web Gallery, which requires only a browser and internet connection, and iView Multimedia's free viewer are my preferred methods for many clients, but this is another great option for those used to Acrobat.

All the best,

Andrew Darlow
Editorial Director, Digital Imaging Techniques

Andrew Darlow Images Intl. & candidcanine.com(TM)
AD@andrewdarlow.com
718 Union Ave-#293
Middlesex, NJ 08846
1-877-A-Darlow (1-877-232-7569)