resample or print at lower resolution?

EM
Posted By
Eric Matthes
Sep 12, 2003
Views
251
Replies
5
Status
Closed
I print most of my images at 240 dpi. I can print 8×12’s and 11×17’s at this resolution with no problems. I want to print some 13×19’s, but this brings my resolution down to 200 dpi. I know they will print fairly well at that resolution, but I am curious to know whether printing at 200 dpi will create a better print than resampling to 240 dpi and then printing.
I also have a few smaller files that will be 150 dpi at 8×12, and 120 dpi at 11×14. I am assuming I will have to resample these images, at least at the 11×14 size?

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

NS
Nancy S
Sep 12, 2003
Eric,

I think printing anything at less than 200ppi is an iffy thing, but it depends on what is ‘good enough’ for the individual. The nature of the image and level of printer will affect outcome. I would try selecting just a small portion of an image and running two tests, printing at a lowish resolution and resampling to 240 and compare the two. This way you’d have a side by side comparison without wasting a lot of paper and ink.

edit: this is just my 2 cents worth, of course
PD
Peter Duniho
Sep 12, 2003
"Eric Matthes" wrote in message
[…] I am curious to know whether printing at 200 dpi will create a better print than resampling to 240 dpi and then printing.

As Nancy says, the best bet is to just try the different combinations you’re considering and compare.

As for whether to do the resampling in Elements or let the printer do it, again, that just depends. The latest Epson drivers have an "Advanced" option to "Smooth Edges", which is supposed to do some anti-aliasing on the input image. But Elements will do something similar. Which does a better job? I don’t know. Best thing is to try both and see. 🙂

Pete
P
Phosphor
Sep 12, 2003
Eric, there was a thread a while back about upsampling. I think it’s Leen that does this quite a bit when going after some of those large photos of his. The concept was to upsample in 10% increments, with bicubic checked in the Image>Resize box. Maybe either Leen or Chuck will come on and give more detail.

Wouldn’t the amount of detail in any given image also have an effect on how successfully it could be upsampled?
LK
Leen Koper
Sep 12, 2003
It was me.
There is very little to add. Upsampling in increments of about 10% always does the job for me. Probably a lot of detail like extremely detailed tree branches in a winter landscape might cause some problems, although I never had any problem.
Once I read in a rather specialised Dutch magazine for digital photographers that bicubic upsampling like in Photoshop won’t cause any problems up to 4x the original size. I tried with some portraits and they appeared to be right.
With my 6 Mp camera that automatically upsamples to 12 MP (Fuji S2Pro) I often print my images at 20×30 inches (50×75 cm) at 254 ppi and I cannot notice any degrading of the image.

Most of my portrait and wedding images are sold varying in sizes between 12×16 and 16×20 inches and printed at 254 dpi.
Why 254 dpi? Because 5000×7500 ppi is exactly 50×75 cm. And I’m used to working in cm. 😉

Hope this helps.

Leen
EM
Eric Matthes
Sep 12, 2003
Leen,
I follow all this, and I’ll try it this weekend. There are two ways I am thinking of to do the upsampling:

1. Set the dimensions to the print size I want, then upsample the resolution in 10% increments.
2. Set the resolution to the desired setting, ie 240 dpi, then upsample the dimensions in 10% increments.

Does it matter which order I use?

Must-have mockup pack for every graphic designer 🔥🔥🔥

Easy-to-use drag-n-drop Photoshop scene creator with more than 2800 items.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections