Photo Printing

[ayjay80]

Apologies as I know this subject has been raised multiple times but i'm still a little confused so any advise in plain english would be really appreciated...

I'm what i'd call a hobbyist photographer and i've been asked by a friend whether it would be ok for her to be able to have a few of my images printed for her son. I have no issues at all in handing over the images but I want to make sure that when she prints the images, they're excellent quality.

I use a D90 and am aware that at 300dpi the maximum high quality image size is 14.3" x 9.5" and at 240 dpi its 17.9" x 11.9". (I don't think see wants to print them any bigger than 14.3" x 9.5")

So, should I just amend the dpi via Photoshop of each image to 300dpi whilst keeping the resolution the same,do whatever PP'ing & sharpening is required and then save and hand them over so she can print at whatever size she likes?

 

[StewartR]

The DPI setting in the actual image file is meaningless. Printers will ignore it. So all you need to worry about is the number of pixels.

Most print software will take care of resizing automatically. For example if you want a 10" print and the specific printer prints 290 PPI (a number I just made up for illustration) then it will automatically resize the image to 2900 pixels as part of the process.

So if you're giving her the files, the best tactic is probably to give her full-size files and let the printer handle the resizing.

But ... Browse these forums and you'll find people making a hash of printing all the time. So if you want to ensure she gets good results, why not print them for her? Ask her what size(s) she wants, and then you can resize the images to suit the exact pixel requirements of the printer, sharpen the final image to taste, and be reasonably certain that the print will match it exactly.