Resolution on developed photos ..

[Shawnda]

Yesterday, I had Wolf Camera develop some photos for me. After I got the photos back, I had noticed that one or two of the photos looked a tad bit pixelated. I am assuming due to the resolution of the photo.

My question is how is it that I can go about ensuring that this doesn't happen again in the photos when I go to have them printed.

Now in the two photos that I had developed that came out pixelated (or maybe it was one photo), there was no post processing done to it.

 

[KmH]

Resolution is the pixel dimensions of the photograpah that will be printed.

If you have your D40 set to Large (the default) it makes photos that are 3008 pixels by 2000 pixels (Note that 3008 px times 2000 px = 6 MP in round numbers). If a photo is cropped, fewer pixels remain after the crop.

When a print is made the size of the print is determined by how many pixels-per-inch (ppi) is specified. Many labs use their software to handle that for you.

The fewer pixels-per-inch that are specified makes the print larger, but can become so small a number that the pixels start to become visible. However, a lot of times when people think they are seeing pixels they are really seeing a JPEG artifact known as a MCU (minimum coded unit) which is a 64 pixel square.

Ok, back to ppi (pixels-per-inch).

So you upload an uncropped photo for printing. The photo is 3008 px by 2000 px.
If it is printed at 100 ppi the photo will be 30.08 inches by 20.00 inches (3008 divided by 100 = 30.08 and 2000 divided by 100 = 20.00).

But you don't want it printed that big you want it printed 6 inches by 9 inches. So 3008 px divided by 9 inches = 334 pixels-per-inch (ppi) to print the same photo at a smaller size.

 

[Shawnda]

So, depending on the shooting mode you are in will determine this? So for example, you run into this more so when in JPEG format vs. RAW format?

I think I may be a little confused.

 

[Josh66]

Image size, in pixels - that's what you need to look at. Bigger is better.

JPG or RAW should be the same dimensions.

Also, if they were high ISO, that might be why they don't look as good.

Check to see what ISO the ones that looked bad were taken at.

 

[KmH]

So, depending on the shooting mode you are in will determine this? So for example, you run into this more so when in JPEG format vs. RAW format?

I think I may be a little confused.

Raw can't be printed. Raw has to be converted to TIFF or JPEG.

Most print labs want you to upload a JPEG because JPEG files are smaller than TIFF files.