Image Not Exact Dimensions on Monitor

TH
Posted By
Tom_Huxley
Jan 25, 2009
Views
656
Replies
4
Status
Closed
Originally noticed individuals faces were just slightly elongated on the monitor screen.

Used printer profile template and did not zoom to where you had to scroll up or down, etc. Although smaller than actual size, the entire image fit on the screen. Measured width and height and then calculated to see how far off the image ratio actually was. It was indeed slightly elongated.

Did this on two 17" monitors with different dimensions (Length & Width)and different monitor resolutions. Did this with both Windows XP and Mac Book Pro using the same image in Photoshop CS2 (Win) and CS3 (Mac). The Windows image is slightly more elongated than the Mac. The Mac screen resolution is slightly greater than the Windows. The image on the Mac is less elongated than that of the Windows but nonetheless elongated.

Never noticed until the recent purchase of the Mac.

The XP system prints exactly to scale. Have not yet printed with the Mac.

Any comments, suggestions?
Related Tags
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RL
roger_leale
Jan 25, 2009
Are both monitors at their native resolutions Tom? I know that this can happen to images if they are not.

Roger
BL
Bob Levine
Jan 25, 2009
and different monitor resolutions.

If you’re using an LCD you MUST stick to native resolution. This is even more important with widescreen monitors.

Bob
CC
Conrad_Chavez
Jan 26, 2009
Elongation on a monitor is only caused by a resolution setting that isn’t appropriate for the screen proportions, or by an incorrect pixel aspect ratio setting in Photoshop. As the others say, an LCD monitor is best set to its native resolution.

If you’re trying to get an image to display at exactly the same size it will print, that has nothing to do whether you’re using a Mac or a PC. Both platforms let you change the display resolution setting for any monitor, and that changes how large an image appears on screen when you view it at, say, 100%.

If you want an image to display at the same size it will print, first you need to enter the pixels per inch of your monitor into the Screen Resolution option in the Units and Rulers preference in Photoshop. For example, if your monitor is 14 inches wide and you set it to display 1440 pixels wide, then that’s about 103 pixels per inch. Once you enter that ppi value into Screen Resolution, you can choose View > Print Size in Photoshop and the image will display at the same size it will print. Entering the correct Screen Resolution will also cause the rulers in Photoshop to match up with a real ruler that you hold up to the screen.
TH
Tom_Huxley
Jan 26, 2009
Thank you all for your comments. The solution recommended was to set the monitor to the ‘native’ resolution. When I did that on the monitor with the Windows OS, the vertical view was no longer elongated as it was previously.

The elongation was originally magnified when I placed the laptop next too the desktop. Prior to that I was not even aware of the incorrect ratio.

Thank you for your suggestions and comments.

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