For the record, Steven is right, the only setting that matters is how many pixels the width and height of the render are. FORGET THE DPI SETTING It's only there for -- oh heck, it's hard to explain and not important anymore-- though it once was sorta important-- now folks resample dpi with zero loss in Photoshop in less than a second with a click of a button. So, just forget the dpi setting and use pixels.

So, say you wanted to print full size at 13 x 19 as Paula has stated above. She said she renders the width at 2400 pixels wide-- which means the 2400 pixels need to stretch to fit 19 inches thus the end result dpi-wise would be:

2400 / 19 which would equal around 126 dpi, which is what she is currently printing her images at (assuming full bleed, i.e. the picture goes all the way to the edge of the 19")

So, if Paula wanted to print out the same image at a full 300 dpi (assuming her printer can print out at 300 dpi, which most can) then she would need the width of the image to be:

19 * 300  = 5700 pixels wide.

Some printers want this resolution, but my tests and experience tell me typically 150 dpi is fine for most print work. If you really need higher resolution, then you can use a 3rd party product like PhotoZoom Pro to 'upsample' it using s-spline technology. This takes only a few seconds and does a great job.

So, in Paula's case, printing out full bleed on a 19" wide print would require a width setting of:

19 * 150 = 2850 pixels wide.

Of course, higher resolution is always preferable, but the render cost is significant with respect to the barely perceived higher print quality. I'm currently staring at 7 different framed renders in my office, which have a print dpi of between 150 and 300 and I seriously can't tell the difference. And I use a very nice Epson archival print quality printer...