calendar - help!

The national charity I work for is considering producing a calendar of my photos as a fundraiser. The plan is to involve corporate sponsorship and have a print run of about 3000. I'm pleased (!) but don't really have a clue about some of the practical issues that could be involved.

All my work is b+w transparencies. Any hints on how to ensure that the final product is a faithful reproduction of the film trannies? Any hints on what I should look for in printers, method of printing etc?

Any advice greatly received...!

Cheers,
Gavin

It sounds like it will be offset printed. If that is the case see about having your work printed as a duotone using stochastic screens. This will give you a better looking final print. The printer can give you guidance on preparing the file, but you'll need: 1) good scans at a resolution that exceeds the one the printer asks for*; 2) a calibrated monitor and photoshop for image preparation.

You'll also want the graphic designer to talk to the printer. Sadly, in this day and age (where everyone with a bootleg copy of quark or inDesign is calling them self's graphic designers) the printer is often the most knowledgeable link in the chain. At a minimum he needs what he needs to produce good work and it is important that everybody understands.

*Having a higher res scan and nursing it down to the final size generally produces far better images than scanning to size.