Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hello,

I am looking for some advice from those who print their own photos.

I've read on the internet that 240 pixels per inch is a rule of thumb for getting good quality prints.

I'm looking at just under 200 pixels per inch for some photos I want to print.

Can anyone confirm whether 200 pixels/inch is still high quality?

Thanks.

Tom.

At issue is the viewing distance, and what is the purpose. For instance a billboard is typically 15-30dpi.

Back when I shot 2mp I regularly printed at 150dpi (to produce an 8x10 print), and no one ever commented that it was poor quality (maybe if you used a loupe).

Just try and print out an image, and see if YOU are happy with it!

This has greatly to do with print size/viewing distance and the specific image you are trying to render. The best advice if its a large image & you think the PPI is on the low end is to cut a portion of it onto lets say an A4 (then print the A4 test print) and see how the detail is to you.

print it and you won't even see the difference

For example:

I have this photo:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anabolic_frolic/4757618608/" title="Cape Spear 09 by anabolic.frolic, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4757618608_ca86ee7f82.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Cape Spear 09"></a>

It is 2592 x 3888.

I went to Ikea and saw some frames I liked. The biggest I'd consider putting on my wall is 19 3/4 by 27 1/2. So, to fit this frame, I would be printing at approximately 140 PPI. Based on the little I read last night, I'm not sure how that will turn out. The next size down in terms of frame was 15 3/4 by 19 3/4. So, for that frame I get approximately 195 PPI. Based on what I read, that should be just fine. I just wanted confirmation (which I think I got haha)

Edit, I just recalculated for the other dimension (since the aspect ratio is different on the photograph than on the frame), so it's closer to 160 PPI (2592 / 15.75 = 164.5)

I want to put some of my photos up in my apartment as the walls are all quite bare at the moment.

So, input on the matter is appreciated as I was expecting that to print a photo a 19 3/4 by 27 1/2 may be a pricey proposition.

Thanks for the replies!

myxamop: I really like your suggestion, thanks!

The type of printer is also important as certain types of printers such as chromira and lamda do a better job of printing large with lower dpi as the individual dots blend together. Besides using a special resizing program another trick is to incremental up size 3%, 5%, 4% ... until you reach 240 dpi. Doing this gives you smoother prints. Make sure there are no colour banding in the skies as they will show up at a distance if you print large.

i would put my money that on an inkjet print that image with 4K would look just fine at those sizes. (especially something on a barita surface).

(i only say barita and inkjet because thats what i use and it works well)