Dpi

rashbrook

Quote from: http://www.smugmug.com/help/print-quality

"Wondering about dpi? Don't. It won't matter at all for display on SmugMug or printing."

I was looking through my uploaded photos today, and to my surprise, some of the photos I've posted on my site were uploaded @ 72dpi. I've not printed my photos in volume in the past, but, before someone orders one of these photos as a print, I want to be sure that it will print correctly. I've read that 300dpi is the standard for professional photos, in the past.

But.. then I read the info on the page I've linked above, and found the quote I pasted in. Really? Can I leave my photos 'as is' on my site (the 72dpi shots) and not worry about it?

Thanks -
Robert

colourbox

All that's important is to make sure the dimensions of your images in pixels are sufficient to end up at 300 dpi after scaling to the final print size. If you want to be able to print 8x10 inch prints at 300 dpi, then the math says you need 2400x3000-pixel images (i.e., 8x300 and 10x300). If you have been uploading images to Smugmug that are at least 2400x3000, then when they get printed at 8x10, there are enough pixels to result in 300 dpi at output regardless of what the dpi says in the file.

If you have a 2400x3000-pixel file and it says 72dpi, it means it would be 72dpi at 33.3 inches by 41.6 inches. If you don't throw away any pixels, naturally the density (resolution) will increase as you reduce the size, or decrease as you increase the size.

The way to do it wrong is to upload an image that would be 576 pixels by 720 pixels. That would equal 72 dpi at 8x10 inches.

Given that most cameras are 10 megapixels or higher now (for example, 3700x2800 pixels), you can't go wrong if you simply upload the whole thing. When reduced to 8x10, today's cameras produce a density much higher than 300dpi, unless you cropped or downsampled so severely that you have too few pixels left.

rashbrook

Ok then I'm fine on most.

I do however have a few @ 2896x1936, and a few @ 2048x1536.

Am I reasonably safe with the 2896x1936?
Would I be better off setting the 2048x1536 to be "no print"?

Thanks again for your advice.

-Robert

Angelo

rashbrook wrote: »

Ok then I'm fine on most.

I do however have a few @ 2896x1936, and a few @ 2048x1536.

Am I reasonably safe with the 2896x1936?

probably. I've gotten stellar results even at 150dpi. But I'll move this thread to smug support for more answers.

Andy

rashbrook wrote: »

Am I reasonably safe with the 2896x1936?

Yes.

rashbrook

Great - thanks for your advice, as always ;-)

With the 2048x1536 photos - how can I set them to be 'no print' if they exist in a gallery under either portfolio or gallery pricing?

-Robert

Edit: Actually, I was just reading here again: http://www.smugmug.com/help/print-quality

According to the chart, and the recommended settings section, it seems like 2048x1536 shouldn't be a problem for most prints either.

Can someone confirm that - so I'm sure that I'm understanding correctly?

Andy

rashbrook wrote: »

Great - thanks for your advice, as always ;-)

With the 2048x1536 photos - how can I set them to be 'no print' if they exist in a gallery under either portfolio or gallery pricing?

-Robert

Edit: Actually, I was just reading here again: http://www.smugmug.com/help/print-quality

According to the chart, and the recommended settings section, it seems like 2048x1536 shouldn't be a problem for most prints either.

Can someone confirm that - so I'm sure that I'm understanding correctly?

Those are our MINIMUMS. More (and up to all the original pixels) will always be better.

ergonzalez

If there are enough pixels in the photo to print a large "print", will the SmugMug site provide a warning to the user or just not display the availability of the print size? In other words, if I have an image of 640x480 pixels and the customer wants to purchase an 8x10 print from my smug site (I use Bay Photo for my prints), will the 8x10 option appear on the list of print sizes or will it provide a warning? Not sure if I make sense

jfriend

ergonzalez wrote: »

If there are enough pixels in the photo to print a large "print", will the SmugMug site provide a warning to the user or just not display the availability of the print size? In other words, if I have an image of 640x480 pixels and the customer wants to purchase an 8x10 print from my smug site (I use Bay Photo for my prints), will the 8x10 option appear on the list of print sizes or will it provide a warning? Not sure if I make sense

Smugmug has a minimum pixel size for each print size. If your image does not meet that minimum size for a given size, that size will not even be offered for sale. The minimum pixel sizes for each image size are here: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93359#minprintres. As an example a 640x480 pixel image can only be ordered as a 3.5x5 inch image - no larger.