Best Resolution for Images that will get Printed
Gustavo Baner
Team ColorCopiesUSA.cominfo@colorcopiesusa.com
1-877-421-0668
Date Published: 2020-03-01// Updated: 2020-07-29
Topic: Technical Knowledge
When you need to print images, you should prepare your artwork at the proper best resolution so that the printed version looks at its best.
Here you can find some tips to get great printing quality, and a table with the suggested resolution, according to which size your image is going to be printed.
What is a good resolution in an image for printing?
The magic number is 300 pixels per inch, which allows a denser grid of printed dots (dpi). If you consider that the images are posted on internet are about 700 pixels wide x 400 pixels tall, you can see that those images will only produce an acceptable quality if their printed size is about 2 inches. That is why it is important that you use images that are natively large. The images have to have been "born" (in the camera when shooting) large enough to allow for a good quality of the print.
We have to look two dimensions to understand why a printed picture looks good or not:
1 - the resolution of the image and
2 - the number of dots that will be physically printed on the substrate
DPI & PPI represent the quality of the image at the time of printing
So, first of all, you should learn about how we measure the resolution in the printing
business:
There is the metric called DPI (Dots per Inch) or PPI (Pixels per
Inch) which indicates the number of dots (the smallest printing unit) present in an
inch. More dots means that the quality will be better.
It is usually the case that files of images that contain more detail are bigger. There is a point at which a larger
image (when talking about the file) does not create a higher quality printed image.
The quality of the printed image can't be better than the image itself. The printing technology introduces
restrictions as well. There is a point at which a better picture won't improve the outcome. There is not a
burnt-in-fire to that one, since different printing presses will behave differently.
Megapixels: Start with a High Quality Imaage
Now it's time to take a look at your digital camera or mobile phone. To get an idea of how detailed your images in those devices are,"the file size measured in Megapixels is the key". So what is a Megapixel? Mega means million and pixel means.... pixel. We said mega means million, but as we are talking about bits (powers of 2) a mega is 1,048,576 pixels. Close enough.
The higher number of pixels in an image, it usually indicates that the image is more detailed.
The fact that an image looks "good" in the screen of a phone does not provide a good source of assesment
Keep in mind that if the lenses are dirty, or if the camera was not stable at the time of taking a picture, the quality could still be bad
TIP: Sharing images that live in a phone for print: We see clients sharing images via text message or other social media apps. To make all of those platforms fast, the images that "travel" through them get compressed and reduced in size, so those images won't look good at all. When the images reside in your phone, you are better off sending them by email instead
Resolution
Resolution is tied to the quality of the image. Higher resolution means sharpness, and detail of the photo. But the resolution for screens is different than the resolution for printing. In a computer screen you typically have 72 dpi, but if you need to get that image printed on paper, you will need at least 300 dpi or more.
| Print Size Desired | Typical Size in Megapixels | Suggested Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| 4" x 6" | 3 megapixels | 1700 x 2200 pixels |
| 5" x 7" | 4 megapixels | 3400 x 2200 pixels |
| 8" x 10" | 5 megapixels | 3400 x 4400 pixels |
| 11" x 14" | 6 megapixels | 4400 x 6800 pixels |
| 16" x 20" | 8 megapixels | 4800 x 7200 pixels |
| 16" x 24" | 12 megapixels | 5400 x 7200 pixels |
| 24" x 36" | 20 megapixels | 7200 x 10800 pixels |