dpi problem!! HELP

[Uselessdreamer1]

recentally i have been accepted to display art in 2 local coffee shops, that being said i need to get my pictures to print right... I have an HP Photosmart 7450, which prints up to a maximum of black render dpi: 1200 and a color render dpi:1200. Color output at 4800 x 1200 optomised dpi. ive tryed many different settings and all of them have been pixelated. I dont know what could be going wrong... Please help photo gods!

 

[aggiezach]

Honestly you would find the General Photography Forum a better place for this post. I'm gonna move it there FYI!

Zach

 

[mpdc]

could it possibly be the paper your using?
also York photo does AMAZING work with real kodak paper for a rather cheap price. Also they store alot of your photos for ya. MIGHT be an option.

 

[Rogue Monk]

Paper wouldn't account for pixelation. I would recommend having them digitally printed at a photolab though. It might cost a little more, but its worth it.

Are you adding extra bits? I thought you were shooting film UD1 (any luck with the night shooting issue?). If you're just making prints with out touch-up or added effects, I would go from the original film.

You won't need to print them to 1200dpi. Pick up any magazine...the images in there are printed to 300dpi (and usually less). So the first step is to make the resolution 300dpi.

Your pixelled look is probably because you're trying to resample to such a high res. Most consumer-grade printers (and scanners) claim to go to 1200dpi or more. What they usually fail to tell you is that you'll only get that by using their software (not just the drivers, but the whole package), which usually isn't that good even when the planets are in alignment. Also, the amount of ink you're laying down isn't usually optimal--instead of only using what's needed to represent the image, you're using a dumptruck. It will also result in a loss of fine detail because ink spreads (something a photolab can avoid).

Try going to a maximum of 300dpi for colour and 600dpi for B/W (but only after you've tried colour). If you still get pixelation, then you have to go back to the capture process. Look at the setting on you camera if digital or the dialog if scanning and make sure you have enough pixels to begin with. Resolution is inversely proportionate to dimension. That means that if your image is 30" by 20" at 100dpi you can make it 15"*10" at 200dpi. The res increases while the size decreases. Check this thread for a slightly more thorough example of resizing (http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16524).

 

[Big Mike]

What are the specs of the file you are trying to print?

You can probably get good prints on you printer once you figure it out and work out the kinks...but until you do...I would also suggest getting them professionally printed, it's well worth the money.