Laura Balsam
Classes Outlines

Resolution means a lot of different things in different contexts.

In general the more pixels a photo contains the higher resolution is it, meaning it can be printed larger without noticeable blockiness and other artifacts.

Picture Dimensions

For e-mail & the web

Printing - 150 - 300 pixels per inch

More pixels make file sizes larger, but print better.

If photos are for e-mail and web only, you can use very small pictures.
640 x 480 - 600 x 800 - 1000 x 700

Pictures larger than this will either be compressed by the web browser or e-mail program, or the viewer will have to scroll around to see the whole image.

The larger you want to print the photo the more pixels you need for a crisp print.

You can always resize down, resizing up often results in less crisp images. Scaling up also brings out any blurriness or other defect in the photo.

To get an idea of how many pixels you need, multiply 300 by the largest print size you might make.

Example:
To print an 8 1/2" by 11" horizontal print you would want an image that is.

Very Good Quality

Height
8.5 x 300 = 2,550

Width
11 x 300 = 3,300

A digital image is a certain number of pixels wide and a certain number tall.
Learn to think in pixels rather than inches or centimeters.