Pseudolus
12-14-2002, 12:11 PM
I'm trying to get some of my digital image files into the proper format to be taken to a professional digital photo lab for printing. I'm using Paint Shop Pro, but I think things are done similarly in Photoshop and other programs.
The lab told me that they want JPG files, 300dpi, so an 8x10 image would be 8*300*10*300 = 7.2 Mpixels. I have more than enough pixels in my image, but when I look at the "image information" of my file, there's a "pixels per inch" property that's set at 1200, which I think is the resolution I had my scanner set on when I scanned the original slide. Naturally, I don't want a print the same size as a 35mm slide. (Hard to find a frame that small.) This number being so high makes the listed physical image size teeny tiny (as listed in "image information"), although I can make it appear on my monitor any size I want.
My questions:
1) Is it important for me to change what the ppi setting of the file is, or is having the required # of pixels good enough for the lab to print it the size I want?
2) If answer to 1 is "yes", how do I go about doing it?
3) The help files to PSP recommend a ppi of 80-100ppi for a file to be printed at 300dpi. (Ppi is screen, and dpi is paper, right?) Any idea why this is? Should I have 8*100*10*100 = 0.8 Mpixels in my image for printing? That seems awfully low.
4) Are these the dumbest questions, or what? (feel free to skip this one)
Any help much appreciated!
The lab told me that they want JPG files, 300dpi, so an 8x10 image would be 8*300*10*300 = 7.2 Mpixels. I have more than enough pixels in my image, but when I look at the "image information" of my file, there's a "pixels per inch" property that's set at 1200, which I think is the resolution I had my scanner set on when I scanned the original slide. Naturally, I don't want a print the same size as a 35mm slide. (Hard to find a frame that small.) This number being so high makes the listed physical image size teeny tiny (as listed in "image information"), although I can make it appear on my monitor any size I want.
My questions:
1) Is it important for me to change what the ppi setting of the file is, or is having the required # of pixels good enough for the lab to print it the size I want?
2) If answer to 1 is "yes", how do I go about doing it?
3) The help files to PSP recommend a ppi of 80-100ppi for a file to be printed at 300dpi. (Ppi is screen, and dpi is paper, right?) Any idea why this is? Should I have 8*100*10*100 = 0.8 Mpixels in my image for printing? That seems awfully low.
4) Are these the dumbest questions, or what? (feel free to skip this one)
Any help much appreciated!