OK, you're right. I meant the printing process must be at the higher resolution, then the desired image resolution - and your explanation was closer to this statement than mine ;)

72ppi for a print is a total didaster.. ;) For big prints a minimum is a 100-150ppi. For smaller ones it should be 200-300ppi. All that applies for professional prints though - for home inkjets resolutions must be much higher.

Yeah, I don't know, what are the costs in US, though. But what is the good side of photolab: in some of them one can make a 90x60cm copy :) (that's something about 35.5"x23.5"!) Such a size is expensive, but you know... ;) Cheers, Peter.

What do you mean by 'purchased properly'? Here, in Poland, the best photo paper, Epson film paper, costs something about 3$ per A4 sheet(!)... and the ink isn't cheap neither :/ Besides, are you able to make a print at 45x30cm (it's about 18x12") at your home? I'm not. And this size costs me only something about < 4$. And the print 30x20cm (about 12x8" - similar to A4) costs me less then 2$. The other pro of this method is better realized printout. The inkjet most of its resolution capabilities spend on producing shades of colors, not on producing details. Printing with thermotransfer printer (like in photolab) gives you really much better quality. This way when I want to print this 45x30cm size, I give them source file made at 200ppi - the effect is superb, and the lab staff asks me: "oh... where did you take this beautiful shot?"... ;) By the way, you can check my gallery ;)

My method for achieving very high quality prints is to put the image on a memory card and go to the digital photolab :) It gives me fantastic prints, but beware of poor labs! Choose official points from Agfa or Kodak. This method is way cheaper than using your home inkjet, and lets you get quite large prints (I usually tend to print at 45x30 cm - something about 2xA4).

The printing resolution strongly depends on size... for example for a small print, like A6 or A5, it should be IMHO 300dpi, for larger prints it can be lower, down to 100dpi at largest ones. So for your A4 it should be something about 2340x1654 (it gives 200dpi). Just take your print size (in inches) and multiply it by your printing resolution (in dpi). FYI: DPI stands for 'dots per inch'.