DPI question...

[Luna]

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[Big Mike]

DPI is dots per inch...and it's a printer function. It's often mistaken with PPI, pixels per inch.

Either way, it's not all that relevant.

The important factor is how many pixels the image has. If you want to print it at 8x10 inches...then 200 PPI would mean that you need an image that is 1600x2000 pixels.

The typical standard for photo prints is 300 PPI...so you would need 300 pixels for every inch of print size.

Ask them what size of image (or what size of print) they need (are going to make). Then you can check the size of your image to see if you have enough.

Either way, it's probably best to send the image in the size that it came out of the camera with.

 

[PaulBennett]

Requesting 200 dpi is a bit strange for my world. Printers are commonly in multiples of 300 dpi, such as 300-600-1200 dpi and even a submultiples at 150 dpi.

When a conversion is done to keep constant image size, the image may suffer. Starting with a 200 dpi image, to be printed on a 300 dpi machine, a conversion must take place wherein every other dot is doubled. Image may suffer. If the image were originally at 150 dpi, each dot would be doubled and the image integrity maintained. If the image were originally scanned or digitized at 300 dpi, no such image loss would occur. So the print dpi is important.

That said, if he wants 200 dpi, send him 200 dpi. Don't argue with a man with money in his hands...but do inquire where that number comes from. He may have a magazine which is printed at 200 dpi. Curious minds need to know.