| Digital photography printing has opened new | | | | photos electronically via email, but are not |
| avenues for amateur and professional | | | | ideal for printing photos. Most camera |
| photographers alike. For most photographers, | | | | phones, PC camcorders, and PC cameras have a |
| the backup of digital photography printing | | | | resolution in the 1 to 2 megapixel range. |
| offers unprecedented freedom to get the best | | | | |
| shots. No more worrying about wasting that | | | | 3 to 4 Megapixels Cameras with this |
| precious piece of film running out, in | | | | resolution range are good for printing and |
| addition to not knowing for sure that | | | | retouching the standard 4x6 inch images. |
| anything worthwhile is on it! | | | | |
| | | | 5 to 6 Megapixels Cameras with this |
| However, when it comes to getting the | | | | resolution range produce professional results |
| printing done, there are a few things one | | | | when enlarging photos up to an 8x10 inch |
| should keep in mind to prevent wasting too | | | | format. |
| much of quality photo paper, and the costly | | | | |
| printing ink. In this article, we'll review a | | | | 7+ Megapixels Cameras with a resolution |
| few basic terms related to digital | | | | range of at least 7 megapixels promise |
| photography and offer a few tips on getting | | | | superior quality and detail when printing or |
| the best prints. | | | | enlarging photos beyond the 11x14 inch |
| | | | format. |
| Resolution Resolution refers to the | | | | |
| 'image-sharpness' of a document, and is | | | | By simply looking at the file size, you will |
| usually measured in dots (or pixels) per inch | | | | quickly learn to be an expert judge on |
| (DPI). It also refers to the image-sharpness | | | | quality. A picture of 100kb (kilobytes) or |
| that printers and monitors are capable of | | | | less is most probably too low-resolution for |
| reproducing. Depending on your particular | | | | good quality digital printing. Once you get |
| needs, documents can be scanned at various | | | | to a minimum size of 400kb, you are working |
| resolutions. The higher the resolution of a | | | | with a more useful resolution for an 8x10 |
| document, greater the image-sharpness, and | | | | inch print. |
| larger the file size will be. | | | | |
| | | | Printing Paper If you're proud of your |
| With digital photography printing in mind, | | | | photographic effort, or if you want those |
| the first thing you need to ensure is that | | | | family shots to be available for the next |
| you download the pictures at their full | | | | generation, you will definitely want your |
| resolution. If in the end, you have 72dpi | | | | prints to be done on decent paper. Needless |
| (dots per inch) pictures, your print quality | | | | to say, in the end, your prints will be only |
| will be useless. A 72dpi resolution is good | | | | as good as the paper you use. |
| for viewing on your computer screen, but an | | | | |
| image with 200 to 300dpi will give a good | | | | There are many new coated papers available on |
| quality 8x10 inch print. | | | | the market specifically for this purpose, and |
| | | | you should consider what is recommended for |
| Pixel Pixel is short for 'Picture Element.' | | | | the printer you are using. |
| It is the smallest part of a digital image, | | | | |
| and each image is comprised of thousands or | | | | Archival paper, popular in the world of |
| millions of pixels. This basic unit, from | | | | inkjet printing, is the longest-lasting paper |
| which a video or computer picture is made, is | | | | and it is acid-free. These printing papers |
| essentially a dot with a given colour and | | | | don't come cheap, so plan carefully. Print |
| brightness value. The more pixels an image | | | | only after final cropping, or on completion |
| has, the higher the resolution of that image | | | | of other changes, such as after the addition |
| will be. One Megapixel is equal to one | | | | of a border with your imaging software. |
| million pixels. | | | | |
| | | | Regular colour inkjet and laser printers are |
| JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group | | | | good for text and charts, but not always best |
| (JPEG) is a standards committee that designed | | | | for digital photography printing. |
| this image compression format. The | | | | PictBridge-enabled printers allow you to |
| compression format they designed is known as | | | | print your digital photographs directly from |
| a 'lossy' compression, as it deletes | | | | the camera. Portable printers, such as the HP |
| information from an image that it considers | | | | Photosmart 320 series, allow you to take a |
| unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small | | | | picture and print 4x6 inch sized pictures |
| amounts of lossless compression to large | | | | anywhere on the move. |
| amounts of lossy compression. This is a | | | | |
| common standard on the World Wide Web, but | | | | Incidentally, for smaller 4x6 inch prints, |
| the data loss generated in its compression | | | | dye-sublimation printers give outstanding |
| makes it undesirable for printing purposes. | | | | quality prints, and they are generally |
| | | | waterproof. However, the materials for such |
| When dealing with digital photography | | | | printing do not come cheap! If you cannot |
| printing, you will mostly work with the JPEG | | | | get satisfactory results with your own |
| file format. Remember that every time you | | | | digital photography printing, especially if |
| open and save a JPEG file, you lose some of | | | | you're printing larger than 8x10 inch sized |
| the image information. Therefore, it is | | | | images, you could try one of the |
| advisable to do all the changes in one | | | | brick-and-mortar, or even online photo labs |
| sitting, and then save them only once. | | | | that make use of dedicated photo printers |
| | | | with excellent results. |
| Resolution Guide to Quality Prints The | | | | |
| higher number of megapixels a camera has, the | | | | Photo labs can easily handle digital files |
| more detail an image will retain when | | | | directly from your memory card. Take your |
| enlarged and/or printed. | | | | digital camera, a homemade CD, or your |
| | | | camera's memory card along for professional |
| 1 to 2 Megapixels Cameras with this | | | | quality digital photography printing. |
| resolution range are sufficient for sending | | | | |