Photoshop resizing help

[julie_a.]

<p>I'm looking for a formula on resizing image files to print only to a particular size. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I've googled it and while I see plenty on resizing, none specifically to limit prints to a certain size.</p>

 

[mrp-images]

<p>Are you using Photoshop? if so what version? CS6 the print size formatting is in the upper left corner when you are in crop mode there is a drop down menu with all the standard sizes on it.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Hi Julie. Resizing the image to control how it prints is usually the wrong thing to do - generally you decide the print size when you're actually printing. Photoshop does let you think about the image size compared with pixels-per-inch, but this is really only a guideline (and much confusion would have been avoided if this fact were clearer) - you can always override when printing.<br />

<br />

If you want to ensure that your images will look bad if printed larger than a certain size than you can just limit the resolution, though "bad" is a relative term. A figure of 300 pixels per inch in often considered as "high quality" for prints that will be viewed from a relatively short distance, so using Photoshop's resize dialogue in those terms might help, but with the right input you can certainly see pixels at 300ppi, yet many would find 200ppi or smaller acceptable. I'm not sure if this is what you're trying to do; if you want to provide images for the web (say) that aren't the quality of your full prints that you yourself make, I'm afraid all you can do is limit the resolution. There's no way of enforcing that an image can't be printed at any size that the person running the printer wants.<br />

<br />

Could you please clarify what you're trying to achieve?</p>

[phule]

<p>[[none specifically to limit prints to a certain size.]]</p>

<p>Technically speaking, there is no such thing. I could take a small thumbnail icon and print it as big as a house if I wanted to. Yes, the quality would be poor, but there is nothing stopping me from doing this.</p>

<p>If you're trying to discourage clients from printing electronic proofs, I'd recommend a watermark and a reasonably sized image (~700px in the long dimension.)</p>

<p> </p>

[julie_a.]

<p>I'm looking to limit files in a "digital package", honestly, mostly so I can upsell. For instance, package A offers files printable to 8x10, package B (more expensive) allows printing to 11x14, etc. Also, to get me possible extra sales on large wall prints.</p>

 

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Understood, Julie. Unfortunately, there's no way to limit the size at which someone can print something, as others have said (though that's an interesting thought for DRM - I'm sure someone will decide that functionality is necessary in a future file format some day). All you can do is limit the resolution, offering, say, 3000x2400 pixels (about 7MP) for your 8x10 package and 4200x3300 pixels (about 14MP) for your 11x14 package; that would give you 300ppi at each resolution, but there's nothing to stop the end user from deciding that the 7MP image looks fine stretched up, or using something like Perfect Resize to make the enlargement look like it's higher resolution. Bear in mind that if you generate the 14MP image by resizing the image yourself, you'll probably be throwing away some of the potential resolution.<br />

<br />

There's not <i>that</i> much difference between these two sizes, either - if you're really wanting to offer different versions, if I could, I'd try to offer half the linear resolution - from my D800, that's a 9MP file (3680 x 2456) vs the full 36MP (7360x4912), or from a 24MP (6000x4000) I'd offer a 6MP (3000x2000) "low resolution" option. Even that's plenty for reasonably-sized prints, so the sales of the big image may come from people who want to pay the premium for maximum quality regardless of what's needed. If you're starting with a 12MP camera (say 4256x2832) and offer a 3MP "low resolution" option (2128x1416), that's more the scale where people will have a reason to pay for a "print" version rather than a "screen" version.<br />

<br />

I hope that helps. Good luck with your business model!</p>