Making jpg on Paint Shop Pro and getting it printed

[AdamSmith]

I have a jpg, made in Paint Shop Pro and I want to get it printed off at Snappy Snaps from a CD. How do I make sure it will print off well as a 6x4 inch picture? The dimensions are 240x360 pixels. The print size says 3.3333 x 5 inches with a Resolution of 72 pixels per inch. Would making the canvas size big enough for print size of 4x6 inche and 72 resolution work?

 

[darich]

I'm not familiar with paint shop pro but even so, the procedure will be the same or similar.

To print it well at 6x4 you'd need to have the image at 300dpi. in other words, 1800 x 1200 on your screen. That's fairly easy to do by increasing the image size and increasing the number of dots per inch. The big problem is that your original is very small. Increasing it to such a size will probably mean a large loss of quality. However since it's only a 6x4 adn should only cost a few pence or cents there probably isn't anything to lose.

I'd suggest a couple of things though.....
increase your image in a series of small steps rather than one single increase. The program you use can work out more accurately the extra pixels required if it has to insert less when increasing. So a few smaller steps should get you a better quality final image than one big step.

Also what about using your program to give a frame or border round the image to help frame it. It would also lessen the amount if increase from the small original and might look ok. I know it's small at 6x4 but if it's sentimental why not put some text in the border like the subject's name or some other personal detail?

I think you might be struggling to get a nice final image but like i said I'm not familiar with paint shop pro. I think Photoshop would struggle though.

 

[AdamSmith]

1800x1200 pixels ?

And is dpi the same as Resolution? I can choose 300 pixels/inch

I'll try that, thanks...

 

[markc]

I'd read this first: http://www.rideau-info.com/genealogy/digital/dpi.html

There are some printers that need 300dpi to print correctly. If your lab requires 300dpi, then they may be using one. Check with them first. If they don't require 300dpi, don't change your pixel size or the DPI. Uncheck "resample" and set the image size in inches. The DPI will change automatically. You're all set.

If they do require 300dpi, then you leave "resample" checked, enter 300dpi and your size in inches. The pixel size will be set automatically. You may have to set DPI first then inches; I forget.