| Digital photography printing has opened new avenues | | | | Cameras with this resolution range are sufficient for |
| for amateur and professional photographers alike. For | | | | sending photos electronically via email, but are not ideal |
| most photographers, the backup of digital photography | | | | for printing photos. Most camera phones, PC |
| printing offers unprecedented freedom to get the best | | | | camcorders, and PC cameras have a resolution in the |
| shots. No more worrying about wasting that precious | | | | 1 to 2 megapixel range. |
| piece of film running out, in addition to not knowing for | | | | 3 to 4 Megapixels |
| sure that anything worthwhile is on it! | | | | Cameras with this resolution range are good for |
| However, when it comes to getting the printing done, | | | | printing and retouching the standard 4x6 inch images. |
| there are a few things one should keep in mind to | | | | 5 to 6 Megapixels |
| prevent wasting too much of quality photo paper, and | | | | Cameras with this resolution range produce |
| the costly printing ink. In this article, we'll review a few | | | | professional results when enlarging photos up to an |
| basic terms related to digital photography and offer a | | | | 8x10 inch format. |
| few tips on getting the best prints. | | | | 7+ Megapixels |
| Resolution | | | | Cameras with a resolution range of at least 7 |
| Resolution refers to the 'image-sharpness' of a | | | | megapixels promise superior quality and detail when |
| document, and is usually measured in dots (or pixels) | | | | printing or enlarging photos beyond the 11x14 inch |
| per inch (DPI). It also refers to the image-sharpness | | | | format. |
| that printers and monitors are capable of reproducing. | | | | By simply looking at the file size, you will quickly learn to |
| Depending on your particular needs, documents can be | | | | be an expert judge on quality. A picture of 100kb |
| scanned at various resolutions. The higher the | | | | (kilobytes) or less is most probably too low-resolution |
| resolution of a document, greater the image-sharpness, | | | | for good quality digital printing. Once you get to a |
| and larger the file size will be. | | | | minimum size of 400kb, you are working with a more |
| With digital photography printing in mind, the first thing | | | | useful resolution for an 8x10 inch print. |
| you need to ensure is that you download the pictures | | | | Printing Paper |
| at their full resolution. If in the end, you have 72dpi (dots | | | | If you're proud of your photographic effort, or if you |
| per inch) pictures, your print quality will be useless. A | | | | want those family shots to be available for the next |
| 72dpi resolution is good for viewing on your computer | | | | generation, you will definitely want your prints to be |
| screen, but an image with 200 to 300dpi will give a | | | | done on decent paper. Needless to say, in the end, |
| good quality 8x10 inch print. | | | | your prints will be only as good as the paper you use. |
| Pixel | | | | There are many new coated papers available on the |
| Pixel is short for 'Picture Element.' It is the smallest part | | | | market specifically for this purpose, and you should |
| of a digital image, and each image is comprised of | | | | consider what is recommended for the printer you are |
| thousands or millions of pixels. This basic unit, from | | | | using. |
| which a video or computer picture is made, is | | | | Archival paper, popular in the world of inkjet printing, is |
| essentially a dot with a given colour and brightness | | | | the longest-lasting paper and it is acid-free. These |
| value. The more pixels an image has, the higher the | | | | printing papers don't come cheap, so plan carefully. |
| resolution of that image will be. One Megapixel is equal | | | | Print only after final cropping, or on completion of other |
| to one million pixels. | | | | changes, such as after the addition of a border with |
| JPEG | | | | your imaging software. |
| Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is a | | | | Regular colour inkjet and laser printers are good for |
| standards committee that designed this image | | | | text and charts, but not always best for digital |
| compression format. The compression format they | | | | photography printing. PictBridge-enabled printers allow |
| designed is known as a 'lossy' compression, as it | | | | you to print your digital photographs directly from the |
| deletes information from an image that it considers | | | | camera. Portable printers, such as the HP Photosmart |
| unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small | | | | 320 series, allow you to take a picture and print 4x6 |
| amounts of lossless compression to large amounts of | | | | inch sized pictures anywhere on the move. |
| lossy compression. This is a common standard on the | | | | Incidentally, for smaller 4x6 inch prints, dye-sublimation |
| World Wide Web, but the data loss generated in its | | | | printers give outstanding quality prints, and they are |
| compression makes it undesirable for printing purposes. | | | | generally waterproof. However, the materials for such |
| When dealing with digital photography printing, you will | | | | printing do not come cheap! |
| mostly work with the JPEG file format. Remember | | | | If you cannot get satisfactory results with your own |
| that every time you open and save a JPEG file, you | | | | digital photography printing, especially if you're printing |
| lose some of the image information. Therefore, it is | | | | larger than 8x10 inch sized images, you could try one |
| advisable to do all the changes in one sitting, and then | | | | of the brick-and-mortar, or even online photo labs that |
| save them only once. | | | | make use of dedicated photo printers with excellent |
| Resolution Guide to Quality Prints | | | | results. |
| The higher number of megapixels a camera has, the | | | | Photo labs can easily handle digital files directly from |
| more detail an image will retain when enlarged and/or | | | | your memory card. Take your digital camera, a |
| printed. | | | | homemade CD, or your camera's memory card along |
| 1 to 2 Megapixels | | | | for professional quality digital photography printing. |