A VIEW INTO THE ART DEPARTMENT: Resolutions
Posted January 20th, 2011 @ 10:01am
Trish - Highlight Printing - Art DepartmentWhen Lisa asked to me to contribute to her blog I was a little nervous. First of all, let me begin by saying I'm not a writer. I'm not really much of a talker either, unless you know me, then you may wish I would just be quiet! So bare with me as I dive, blindly, into the blogging world.
How do I describe my job and help you with yours in a blog? One step at a time! I had someone, who knew nothing about my job, say to me once, "It's just pointing and clicking!". I wasn't sure if I should be offended or just ignore the comment all together. I chose to just smile, laugh it off and get back to my pointing and clicking.
The very first thing you should know is that anything is possible! Secondly, there is never just one way of doing things.
Print vs Web Images:
Resolution: 300dpi (print) vs 72dpi (web)
What file types will work for your printing project?
One of the most common mistakes that come across my desk are images or logos that were either designed for a client's web page or they found it on someone else's web page and want to use it on their printed pieces. The resolution for the web is 72dpi (dpi stands for dots per inch). The resolution for print is 300dpi.
It's almost a dead giveaway when you download an image from the web and the file format is either a GIF or jpeg. These two file types are most commonly used for web. With one exception, your digital camera.
If you are using pictures from your digital camera, they will work just fine if they are jpgs; the quality of jpg images from digital cameras seems to be much better than jpgs that are used on the web. You must do the math to make sure that it is high enough in pixel resolution though. For instance, if your camera puts out a typical image of 1280 x 960 pixels at 72dpi you get about 17" x 13" of photograph (at 72dpi); this is the same amount of detail as an image which is 4" x 3" at 300dpi so it's safe to reduce or enlarge that image up to about 4" x 3" in dimension.
I found a wonderful video, explaining in detail,  to help show you the difference. Click HERE for the link.
If you have a question or suggestion you would like discussed just EMAIL me.
Highlight Printing is a well-respected Minneapolis printer that focuses on the complete needs of the client from creative to offset printing and digital printing, 3M Post-It notes, bindery, warehousing, fulfillment, mailing, and distribution. Please contact us @ 612.522.7600, sales@highlightprinting.com or www.highlightprinting.com