Wedding Photographer gave all images at 72ppi?

[stephanie_w]

<p>Hey all,<br>

I do photography mainly for fun with a few paid jobs here and there, so excuse my ignorance on the subject -- When I make CD's for clients, friends or family, I save all images at 240-300ppi so they can print them. My mother was recently married and had a wedding photographer that does no image editing - just photos straight out of camera, on CD. I received the original copies of the CDs today in the mail, wanting to make some nice enlargements for my mom & her new husband for Christmas. However, they are all saved at 72ppi. Is this normal? Can I re-save the ones I want to print at 300ppi with desirable results?</p>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>I do low-res CDs and the purpose of them is not printing. They're for Facebook, digital frames, iPods, etc. <br>

I think you need to speak with them because I'm guessing there is no copyright release form, either. I would 1) edit them, 2) get in touch and straighten out what seems to be a misunderstanding. They will either not be allowed to be printed (a reputable place would question it), but even if they would, that is super low-res and won't look good. Sometimes a photographer can be hired to do just the editing if the original photographer won't. (Can't imagine that, but it happens)</p>

[RobertChura]

<p>What are the pixel dimensions? If they are 4368 pixels by 2912 pixels at 72 dpi, then you would get a great 11x14 print. Jpeg's are normally 72dpi</p>

[stephanie_w]

<p>Robert, the dimensions are along those lines. When I convert my own files from raw to jpg, I always set the dpi from 72 to 300. I know 72 is the default but if photos are given on a CD for the purpose of printing, why wouldn't they be at 300? Does it not matter?</p>

[irusan]

<p>Stephanie, DPI doesn't really matter - it's the pixel count that is important.<br>

For example, this image is 72 DPI: <img src="http://www.domaschuk.com/MiscImages/1.jpg" alt="" width="72" height="72" /> and this image is 14,000 DPI: <img src="http://www.domaschuk.com/MiscImages/2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>But, both are 72 pixels by 72 pixels, appear about 1"x1" on screen, and both are only 13kb in size.<br>

DPI is a printing concern, telling the device how many pixels to force into one inch of space. So the first note I showed would print at a size of 1"x1" since it is 72 pixels and set to 72 DPI. The second note would print at 0.005" because there are still only 72 pixels but there are 14,000 pixels in one inch.<br>

So, will the images your mother receive produce a quality print? Depends on the number of pixels and the size you want to print. If the image is, in fact, 4368 pixels by 2912 pixels, you can get great prints made at 14.5" x 9.7" by printing at 300 DPI.</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>The DPI value is <em>just</em> the default when you start a print dialogue, and you're free to change it.</p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>+1 to what Rob has said. DPI/PPI isn't relevant. <em>Resolution</em> is a fixed value at the time of capture such as 4288x2848 (appox. 12MP). DPI/PPI are just instructions outlining how many pixels or dots to put in one inch. And for the most part, most print drivers will ignore your DPI/PPI setting anyway in favor of their own RIP program. What a printer <em>will</em> be concerned with is the <em>resolution: </em>that fixed value.</p>

[markonestudios]

Great show and tell, Rob :)

[frank_skomial]

<p>DPI is a placeholder location for perhaps all picture file formats, that can hold any value, including zero or up to 32767, and is meaningless. It would only matter if the picture was scanned in a scanner, and it could possibly hold real information value, telling the scan resolution density used at the time of scanning.</p>

<p>The value 72 is usually placed there, as most likely resolution of some older computer display technology, but this value lost original use or meaning, since all video drivers scale any picture to current computer video driver settings and monitor capability.</p>

<p>The DPi could possibly be used by some printers, but modern printer drivers know better how to print, from your entries in a print dialog, so this value becomes obsolete even for printing, unless you insist to print at a very specific print resolution, and your printer provides direct DPI printing method, and you ignore other printing clues or means.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Rob Domaschuk - great explanation!</p>

[art_tatum]

<p>As they say on Family Feud... 'good answer' (although often they are not) but Rob you nailed it.</p>

[StuartMoxham]

<p>Page layout programs will often use the image size dimension (inches/cm) when you drag and drop images to the page.</p>

<p>So while two images 8x12 inches @ 300ppi and 4x6 inches @ 600ppi may be exacly the same and you can order and 8x12 inch print from photo lab and get identical images if they are dropped into a page layout program many will import them using the size dimensions.</p>

<p>The 8x12 inch file will appear 8x12 inches on the page and the 6x4 inch will appear 6x4 inches on the page. Of course you can scale the image in the page layout software if you want but it can become harder if you are working with lowres images for layout and then plan to use high res images for printing. Its much easier if your Hi res image is for example 3x5 inches @300ppi and your Low res is 3x5 inches at 72ppi. That way they have the same dimensions at least in inches.</p>

<p>Also if I resize an image in photoshop to 6x9 inches @ 300ppi or 200 ppi and I then print it on my injet I get a 6x9 inch print on a piece of A4 paper. I can also scale the image in the printer driver or choose fit on paper to make an A4 image but I prefer to make the image the correct printing dimensions.<br>

Most of the above won't make any difference to most people but for someone make catalogs or brochures with programs such as freehand, indesign or pagemaker it could.</p>

[rebecca_bolte]

<p>ppi means pixels per inch.<br>

When you take a file off a digital camera there are no inches associated it. Your graphics program just uses it's default value which is usually 72.</p>