Digital Photography Resolution Tutorial

Resolution

Your photography resolution is the amount of pixels per a unit of measurement. In printing, the resolution is measured as dots per inch. In all practicality, the quality of resolution applies only to print photography. Your computer screen will display the same image regardless of the resolution quality. To make adjustments to digital photos, photographers and graphic designers use Photoshop. Other software is available, including Microsoft Photo or Adobe Photo Deluxe, but Photoshop is the standard for photography professionals.

Pixels

Pixels are the most important aspect of a digital photograph. Printing your photograph in good quality requires a good look at the number of pixels in the image. Forget about resolution for the moment, and focus on pixels. If your dots per inch are below 100 dpi, but your pixels are in the thousands, then you still have a good photograph. Pixels show up in Photoshop under the Image Size menu. To shrink the print size without losing the quality of the photograph, a digital photographer will open Photoshop, click on the Image Size menu, and deselect the Resample Image option checkbox. The photographer will then increase the resolution to the standard printing shop size, a value of 300. Lastly, the photographer optimizes the file size of the image. The resolution can be lowered to reduce file size as needed. The pixels won't change when the resolution is reduced (as long as Resample Image is deselected in Photoshop).

Testing Photograph-quality Prints

The only way to be sure that your digital photography is good for printing is to test it. Digital photography resolution can't be entirely accurate on a computer screen. Digital photos have to be printed to test the quality of the resolution. By raising the resolution a bit, the pixels spread out on the page. The result is going to be a smaller printed picture. This is good if you already have a large image (measured in inches). Lowering the resolution of the digital photograph will increase the size of the printed photograph. The only problem with larger pictures is that the outcome is not visually pleasing. The idea is to get a good quality print by adjusting the resolution within reasonable amounts. This is why digital photographers will test print. The best way to test print is to use a minimum amount of ink. When you go to print, click on the Properties button. Clicking on the Advanced button brings up the paper and quality options. Select Economy to run a test print of your digital photograph. Even though the quality of the photograph is lower in economy mode, you will save ink on test printing. Also, you can see the effects of raising or lowering the resolution in Photoshop. When you're satisfied with the photograph, select Photo from the paper and quality options in your printer program.