Learning the basics of print media

Dear Knowledgable Humans,

I’m working on a piece that I’m going to want to present as a high-quality poster or print, maybe for entering into a show or something. I know very little about print media tech and conventions. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to get up-to-speed on the basics I’d need to produce a few quality prints.

Also, if anyone has experience with this sort of thing and knows the sort of costs associated with getting a few one-off prints like this done, I’d appreciate that too.

With utmost gratitude,

Mister Munkily Man

I’m in the US. I had many high quality prints made at Kinkos. They’re a little expensive (I paid around $35 for 36x24 a few years ago), but if you don’t like your print, you don’t have to pay for it.

Generally, I’ve used around 300dpi for the print. I was saving in EPS, but it isn’t necessary. Any lossless format should do fine. Kinkos always has Photoshop to print out of, and the printer drivers will handle the RGB->CMYK conversion.

Hope this helps.

Hmmm.

Mostly, I guess what I’m interested in would be info on doing the CMYK conversion and other print preparation myself.