Ok I'm pretty dumb when it comes to this kind of thing... See here's my question or well part of it... When I shoot in jpg all my images come out at 72dpi... that's fine but when I change that to 300dpi and make sure to uncheck the resample image the document size drops down to 11.68X7.787 SO does that mean that's the biggest I can print that image? And the other part to the question is do all .jpg(s) come out of the camera at a mere 72dpi? SIGH :unsure:

I can try and help out some, from my exp all my camera's shoot jpg at 72dpi/ppi. When you change the image to 300/350 or what ever dpi/ppi and it drops the document size, you can then resize the image to the size you need to print.

DPI only comes into play when you want to print them. The DPI assigned by the camera is just a number. It has nothing to do with the resolution your camera shoots in. It would give you the exact same image if set it to 10 or 1000 DPI.

If you absolutely want/need to print your photo at 300DPI, then yes, 11x7 inch is all you get (that's about letter/A4 size right? I'm in the metric system). You can pretty much print at 200DPI with really noticing. 150 DPI will usually do fine. Remember that when you make a big print you're usually not going to look at it very close up. Check out some posters around town close up and you'll see they're not quite that sharp and you can count the dots.

In the end it all comes down on viewing distance. The closer people are going to be when viewing your picture, the higher your DPI is going to be. Noone is going to view a photo blown up to 9 square feet from 3 feet away.... usually.

These two links explain DPI very well. They may be of use to you

[

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/printshop.html](http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/printshop.html)

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/changedpi.html

Pat

i use a canon 20d & when i shoot jpeg which comes out at 72dpi, i nomally check the resample box when i increase dpi to 300. the largest i have printed my images at the moment is 30" by 20", and its really sharp when u get close to it, its not even pixelated.

if u live in the UK try Loxely Roes, the quality is fantastic & cheap. U just upload ur images online.

I saw that short_ribs specified his procedure as including this step,

make sure to uncheck the resample image

That made me want to find out what the 'resample image' option does in
Photoshop ... Is that something that I should use or should not use? 

Inquiring minds want to know.  LOL

--
Martin

Unclicking Resample Image will cause Width, Height and Resolution to remain proportionally the same. So a 72 dpi image that is 15.667 inches wide will be 5.64 inches wide if you change the Resolution to 200. Basically, it is not changing your file size in the slightest, only the output size. Click on Resample Image when you actually want to downsize the file, ie. for the web.

DPI is related to printing as mentioned. 600DPI is considered professional and 300DPI is standard.

72DPI is okay from printing up to A4. As Akpe says you can still print as big as you like really in 300DPI which is a better and higher quality print but if you're going to print A1 size prints you will notice the quality loss on 72 or 300 DPI.

Don't worry Kai. I also print on 300DPI bigger than A4 and as Akpe says the quality loss is not noticable...

This is something I'm also struggling to get my head around. For example...
I only have a 3mp camera, so if I want to print at say A4 size and I change DPI to 300. Will this alone give me a better print or should I resample the image too to give me more pixels?
Sorry if I appear a bit thick on this. 

If you plan on printing really large, upsizing software or plug-ins may be a good idea. I have Genuine Fractals 4, and I hear Alien Skin's BlowUp is pretty good too. http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2 http://alienskin.com/blowup/index.htm EDIT, Astro, it depends on how you will be printing it. For most home printers, I would unclick Resample image and just change the output size to what you want. If you want slightly more quality then yes, keep Resample Imaged checked and up your Resolution to 240 or 300. Be sure to choose the Bicubic Smoother option.

Thanks for that, I've been experimenting with it and I think I understand it a little better now... I need a better camera!!!  :biggrin:

• Andy

I see that astro66 shared his thoughts and said,

[now] I need a better camera!!!

Don't we all?  LOL

--
Martin

I second that emotion Martin and Astro. ;']

LOL yeah the new camera thing is pretty good I can't say I need a new one cause I've just got it but hey bigger ones out there still so... yeah.... ok I just downloaded the demo version of Alien Skin blowup and I gotta say I'm amazed by it. Think I'll do this to most my images when I get them printed cause I want big prints... LOL... Oh and btw the demo version is fully functional for 30 days doesn't leave any watermarks or anything... worth playing with I think and thanks for all the help guys...

Good to know Kai. One could upsize a LOT of photos in 30 days. ;']

B low Up is pricy for what it does but...I have it.  I like it and it does a fine job of resizing up. I find it better than going through PhotoShop and resizing 10% at a time..whlich does work pretty well. Fractals is also a way to go...everyone says it does a good job of up sizing.

I have my image software set to 300dpi so that is the "save" version, I assume.  The stuff from the camera all depends on the capacity of the camera and agreed, all already said, what you shoot and what the camera is able to record is what you get.   It all comes down to how you save the files for print.  I save at 300dpi and have excellent prints to A4(foreign stuff to me but not too unlike 10 x8 here?) and larger when needed.   I do have larger images to start with but believe me, resizing properly will often take a smaller file an do a credible job in a larger print.

'nuff said. all has been said already by those in the know.  Thanks for this thread, btw.      TomDart.