This week I’m tackling a bit of a techie subject, but it’s one that I keep getting questions on and one that I know a lot of you struggle with. Pixels Per Inch is a term that we use in Photoshop and Lightroom and many other programs. The problem is that a lot of people misuse the term as well as don’t understand when they even need to worry about it (if ever!). So we’ll cover all the main questions and answers around it in this week’s video. Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
I just love your practical and realistic approach to each topic. For those of us who are still learning it makes the process so much more accessible and so much less threatening. So, thank you for sharing your experience. knowledge and philosophy so generously.
Thank you! Great explanation.
Hi, Matt. You didn’t mention one thing: the bigger the print, the further you look at it. We don’t look at a 40 ” print from one foot. So, for big prints we can use less ppi. For example, roadside advertising signs are printed at 35 dpi. How did they print with an 8 Mpx camera for them in the past?
Thanks, Matt. I have learned a lot from this short video on PPI.
I think I will get a lot out of this program..
I do a fair bit of printing on my Epson Stylus Pro 3880. I usually make our own holiday cards from images I’ve made and I print them on some nice card blanks I order online. I used to do more printing when my photography club’s competitions were all print – we still have an annual print exhibition, but our regular club competitions are digital.
Soon after I got my printer, I went to a seminar given by Epson for the 3880. The representative’s recommendation was to print at the optimal resolution for the printer. Once I am happy with my image, I crop to the size I want to print, setting the ppi to 360 (optimal for the 3880) and then print. If I am sending images out to print (calendars, for example), I try to find out the optimal resolution for their printer and set my ppi to that. If I don’t know, I find that 300ppi works well for most labs.
I find having my own printer lets me control the print output so I get what I want, and I don’t have to wait for the lab to get my prints back to me.
Thank you. – thank you! i do use prints in exhibits and needed this info-
So to follow up, could you do a video on how to resize images for contests? Many contests have limitations
Hi Lisa. You’d want to ask the contest administrators. If they have limitations, there’s no way I could know what all of them are. So if they are imposing limitations, they should also be able to explain them to you. Thanks
Great video Matt, I now understand both ppi and dpi much better. Thanks
Thank you Matt
10 minutes well spent getting my head around something that has baffled me for as many years.
DPI only matters if you printing to a dot based media. Magazine, Book, Billboard. These print DPI are set for the dot size.
If your Epson puts pigment dots at 7000 dots per inch, and those spread, you don’t have to worry about that number. Just detail. Print at 600PPI, 300PPI, 240PPI and 120 PPI. When the detail drops so much you notice you know what PPI minimum you want. MPIX and the labs have those minimums for PPI to make quality returns unlikely.
PPI really matters on screens. Back In the day, the best screens were 96 PPI. That meant you could have a good idea of how much screen the image will fill. In Inch/CM etc. So you can build the website to a particular sized grid. The screen turns your image to real size. Now with 600 PPI screens that changes how much screen you picture takes up. In social media they compress you pictures to match their grid. Everything is the same sized there.
Thank you Matt.
Cameras and phones offer gigantic numbers of pixel in the latest versions.
We are even less concerned about the Two to three foot prints.
A devoted phollower of yours, help with elements!
Thank you, Matt. I have a question. I’m a stock photographer, and up until a year ago, I edited my photos in Lightroom at 600 ppi, as I thought this was necessary for a buyer who might want to print a large size, such as a poster size. One of the photo groups I belong to said it’s a waste to export images over 300 ppi. I know I have sold images that were made into very large prints, as one of my photos was used by Wayfair for a framed art. Should I go back and start saving my images at a higher ppi, such at 600? I know the file size is much larger, but I want the versatility of selling to someone who wants larger print capabilities. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Cynthia. Only the person printing the file could tell you if it was a waste because they’re the only ones who know what PPI they can print. Remember PPI is irrelevant. 400 or 600… your photo had pixel dimensions (6000 x 4000 in my example) and that number is all that matters. The bigger the pixel dimensions the bigger the “possible” print.
Let be understood that for photo and art exhibitions, ppi is relevant. Someone sent me a 800×600 px file to be printed on a A3 (15x11inch) photo paper.
Up to 20 inch prints, 300ppi is preferable. For any bigger prints, 240ppi or less is usually enough. Why?
The larger the print, the more distance the viewer must take to examine it. Only photographers, art printers and print shops look very closely.
Big billboards are usually printed at 15 ppi.
Hi. Thanks. I’m pretty sure the second thing I said in the video was PPI only matters for print 🙂
Next, wouldn’t your issue have been solved if your art exhibition admins had told people to send in a minimum of a 4500 pixel photo rather than mess with PPI? Since PPI doesn’t tell the whole story and is mostly irrelevant, I would think the administrators of the exhibition would tell people that your photo will be printed at 15×11 inches which will require a 4500 x 3300 pixel image (15 x 300ppi / 11 x 300ppi). That way you won’t confuse people, and they know exactly what size image to send it, since PPI can be confusing right?
Your videos are most always easy to follow, and I enjoy them immensely. But you missed the mark on this one. I reviewed it twice, but I still am as confused as I’ve always been on PPI. Sorry Matt!
It seems most of the comments disagree, but rather than say something like this (which helps nobody)… why not just ask a question about what you’re still confused about? Seems like a better use of time than this comment.
million thanks Matt. most enlightening
Very useful, thanks for sharing!
Hi Matt: What is the limit on the ppi of an image that I send to a user of my images for publication? For example, if I have a 6000 pixel image on the long edge can I resize it to a 400 ppi image yielding a 15 inch on the long side ? And does that change the resolution of the image for publication purposes? Thanks for your help, Matt.
PPI doesn’t really have a limit that you’d hit. The more important question is whoever you’re printing with… what is the max PPI they can use?
Excellent quick review!
A great explanation! Thanks, Matt. I have seen many photography/art contests/exhibits state that entries must have a specific ppi–without mentioning any print size. Meaningless!
Most interesting, thank you.
Great presentation on pixels!
Thanks!
interesting, I started printing large files professionally in 2005, and at that time we were told 150 ppi will not be enough to have a sharp image. I have thenused the upsizing techniques you all used to teach. Very hung up on the subject. I guess 20 years have brought us great upsizing in ‘Image size’ (yikes, just to type those 12,000 pixels with ‘resample on’ gave me a high!). Thanks.
Good info. I ran a large format service bureau for 17 years. The big issue is the customer who wants that phone image blown up to 24×36. Little Jimmy scoring a goal. They want that poster for gramma.
Jpg phone images do not blow up well. Mom gets a sample print which we always did before final run. We always got, well it looks great on my phone what did you do to it, it looks awful. Then trying to explain the whole resolution issue. The new phones are much better. None the less size and resolution are still an issue. Most people set image resolution low so they have room for 10,000 images on their phone.
Plus many phone images are poor to start with. Focus becomes very visible as you blow up.
We always shuddered a bit when mom came in with phone in hand. We could always count on being told, well they can do this on CSI on tv, how come you can’t. Deep breath time.
Be well.
Thank you. Excellent explanation of the technical issues that I have not thought about enough. I’ll bookmark this. But also mentioning the subjective experience which is equally important, if not more important. How something looks to you, and others, is the key. Not the pixel count.
Phew! Matt you made clear what was a bit murky for me. Thank you for another great teaching moment.
Great explanation of how ppi and pixel dimensions relate to printing.
Excellent description of a commonly asked question. Lots of mis-information out there!
I have bookmarked for members of our Camera Club who ask about this all the time.
OK