The art of digital photo printing...

72dpi means it's crap.

different cameras snap at different dpi.

try to rescale the image in Photoshop (or whatever you use) to the proper dpi for the printer (whatever it prints at 200 or 300 or whatnot).

doody.

 

I don''t know much, but I do know this:

The Frys job applications has two questions on it:
What is your name?_________________________
Can you velcro your own shoes?______________

 

a bit more data for you.

my canon shoots its highest quality JPG files at

2592 x 1944 @ 180 dpi

my fuji shoots its highest quality JPG files at

2400 x 1800 @ 72 dpi

photoshop calls the canon pictures 14.4" by 10.8" and it calls the fuji pictures 33.3" x 25". of course "calls" is largely arbitrary - i don't know (nor care) how it arrives at these numbers.

so if i you want to print the canon image at 8.5 x 11 you'd end up doing so at something like 190 dpi or whatnot - though that's not a particularly dense pixel setup.

if your printer prints at 300 dpi then the canon image would need to be "compressed" from 180 dpi to 300 dpi, meaning that the size would be smaller.

example: you have a 2000 x 1000 image at 100 dpi that is 20" by 10". if you want to print it at 200 dpi the image will still be 2000 x 1000 but now the pixels will be closer on the printed version so it'll only be 10" by 5" (unless you have the software "invent" some (in this case 100%) extra pixels).

apps like photoshop interpolate the data so you can take the image and tell it to reconfigure it to be 8.5 x 11.0 and 250 dpi and it'll "guess" at how to fill in all the empty dots. this will create artifacts that you may or may not be able to notice.

printers tend to be stupid - they'll do whatever they're told to do and won't think too hard about it . you want to manipulate in photoshop and then feed the printer whatever it does best (RTFM).

fwiw,
doody.

 

Rob.

What software are you using to resize??

If you shoot, for the sake of argument 20" x 30" @72 DPI, and you reduce it by half, you have to double the DPI to retain the same resolution. So, at 10 x 15 you'd need approx 150 DPI to replicate the original quality

200-300 DPI is about as good as any regular inkjet printer is going to do for you. So, set the camera at the highest resolution you have when you want nice large prints.

That setting doesn't change the DPI, it changes the image size and stays at 72 dpi, so that when you reduce the image size to what you want to print, the image compresses the pixels and gives you higher resolution.

Ok, now that I've thoroughly confused you, here's a chart.

image size for highest resolution may be 30 x 40 @ 72 DPI @ 8x10=250 dpi
image size for lowest resolution may be 10 x 15 @ 72 dpi @ 5 x 7=150 dpi

some will product a 640 x 480 72 DPI image, which is all you need for a monitor for a picture here or on ebay.

BUT YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE TO SET THE DPI WHEN YOU REDUCE THE IMAGE SIZE to what you wnat for a final product, depending on what software you use.

Finally, when we run poster size prints, we do 150 dpi on the big ink jet printers. The proof of the FerrariChat poster I sent you some time ago in 20 x 30 was at 150dpi, which is plent high enough for a print that big. The smaller the print, the higher the dpi you want to make it viewable and clear.

If I've completely confused you, PM me and I'll walk you through it over the phone.

 

Oh, and remember to set the printer for the right media and right resolution for that media.

You may have to change the feeder setting to get it to feed large, photo paper weight sheets.

I'm not familiar with that particular printer, but many have paper settings that change with sheet size or paper thickness.

DM.

 

it's a photoshop function. go to image->resize image and you can play with numbers.

your camera is essentially "fixed". the fact that you're getting an X inches by Y inches number is really meaningless - the only thing that matters is dots per inch (eg: 180) and how many dots there are (eg: 2592x1944).

the latter gives you your "5 megapixel" number (go ahead, multiply them). the dpi that comes out of the camera (in my case 72 or 180) is largely arbitrary.

dpi is a function of the OUTPUT device, really. i mean, if the CCD in my canon camera that's capturing the image is 2" x 2" big (it isn't that big) then at 2,592 pixels wide its dpi is actually 1,296 dpi.

dpi matters for the output and you want to set it to whatever the most appropriate setting is.

when i pull images off my canon that i'm going to use for posting online or on a web site, i have to downconvert them from 180 (its "native" dpi - who knows why) to 72 dpi - what computer monitors generally use.

when i want to print them, i have to upconvert them from 180 dpi to, say 300 dpi. but as i nearly double the "density" of the pixels i'm also going to affect (adversely) how big i can blow the image up. there are only 2,592 pixels to play with - at 100 dpi that's a lot of inches, but at 600 dpi it's only 4" across.

doody.

 

Images ----


My camera is runnig at high jpg 10.026 in x 6.667 inches at 300 dpi

when I shoot in RAW i can get 20.46 X 13.671 at 300 dpi


It does not matter in a Digital format what the image size is.. a 20 inch image at 72 dpi is going to be bad. the Dots Per Inch are how clear it is going to be. Set your photoshop defaults to a higher DPI so you get a more manageable printable image.

if you have 6inch image with at least 150 dpi then a final print is going to be Much Much better

 

this is what I mean

the first image is at 300 dpi the second is as well..

the first one is a tight crop of the second. If you have the original coming out as 72 dpi you just can't do this kind of stuff
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Kind of the minimum really

 

rob - read your manual - it'll tell you what the printer works best at.

don't make me go photoshop up a RTFM Kitty Cat for you

doody.