Best Practice Thread on Resizing

[hankejp]

Just want to know if I'm doing this correctly or if there's another way that's better. Using my D40 the largest size the image goes to is 3008x2000. Is this correct?

Well if I want to print an 8x10 image at 300 PPI in photoshop I have to go into photoshop and resize the image to 3000x2400.

Is this just they way it is with a D40, or have I been doing something wrong for the past 6 months. It sort of sucks that I have to stretch out the image. Doesn't make it look very natural.

What is the max size of an image on a D90?


Thanks


I didn't want to jump on the other thread on resizing that was just posted.

 

[tirediron]

You're correct on the sizes, BUT, don't get too caught up with the 300 DPI printing "rule"; with today's modern inkjet printers, you can get near photo-quality printing at as low as 220 DPI. Maximum D90 image size is 4,288 x 2,848.

 

[hankejp]

You're correct on the sizes, BUT, don't get too caught up with the 300 DPI printing "rule"; with today's modern inkjet printers, you can get near photo-quality printing at as low as 220 DPI. Maximum D90 image size is 4,288 x 2,848.

Thanks TiredIron. I usually take my photos to get printed at Walmart or some other Kiosk.

 

[kiddmaff5646]

2400x3000 sounds right for a 8x10.. I thinks its usually the size in inches multiplied by the resolution gives you the pixel size needed. Say a 4''x6'' print... multiply 4''x300 =1200 and 6''x300=1800 giving you pixel sizes of 1200x1800 for a clear print.

 

[cosmoepic]

so if i shoot at maximum size in my D40 what size print can that make with resize?

i dont want things to look elongated or weird

 

[Sim]

Assuming you'd be printing at 300 dpi, here's a chart that shows you maximum print sizes for various megapixels: Design215 megapixels comparison and maximum print size charts

Of course if you're willing to decrease dpi, you'll end up with larger prints. As tirediron said, it's not always necessary to print at 300 dpi to get great results.

 

[tirediron]

Resize at a lower resolution with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Gimp, Paintshop Pro or another "real" photo editing image; that will embed the information in the image header and you won't have to upsample.

 

[cosmoepic]

can someone go over DPI?

 

[Sim]

can someone go over DPI?

Taken from wisegeek.com:

"DPI (dots per inch) is a measurement of printer resolution... the higher the DPI, the more refined the text or image will appear."

Basically, the higher the DPI, the more detailed the print will look upon close inspection. The key point (in my opinion) is if viewers are looking at a print from a normal distance, you can safely use fewer dpi than 300 and people won't notice the difference.

 

[Josh66]

It sort of sucks that I have to stretch out the image. Doesn't make it look very natural.

Instead of stretching the short side, you should be cropping the long side. Without resizing (just cropping), the largest image you could get with the same aspect ratio as an 8x10 would be 2500x2000, which would be 8x10 at 250 ppi.

 

[tsaraleksi]

Just to make it a little more clear: what you need to be doing is cropping to 8x10, not resizing the image. If you crop, you'll avoid the issue of having the picture stretched out oddly.

 

[TheUndisputed]

Taken from wisegeek.com:

"DPI (dots per inch) is a measurement of printer resolution... the higher the DPI, the more refined the text or image will appear."

Basically, the higher the DPI, the more detailed the print will look upon close inspection. The key point (in my opinion) is if viewers are looking at a print from a normal distance, you can safely use fewer dpi than 300 and people won't notice the difference.

On a scale between 220dpi versus 300dpi, yes, that is generally correct. At about 2 feet away, there won't be much visual difference. However, once you start breaking that 220dpi barrier, the difference starts to become substantially noticed. I try not to print anything under 300dpi. This ensures they are all crisp. I know my 10.2MP will print at 12.8" x 9.6" at 300dpi, which gives quite enough region for safe cropping.

Just to make it a little more clear: what you need to be doing is cropping to 8x10, not resizing the image. If you crop, you'll avoid the issue of having the picture stretched out oddly.

I agree, Crop the image to size, you don't want a skewed image because you are trying to match pixel size.

 

[hankejp]

Thanks for all the responses. It's good to know that printing at 220 DPI won't really have an effect and that cropping is the way to go. I will have to give it a whirl. Now I need to see what Target (Kodak) and walmart print at, I'm thinking they're 300 DPI printers. Does anyone know if they can downscale their printers to 220 DPI?