Regarding digital pictures, what resolution do I need for sharp printing?
If you are at the photo studio getting pictures done, tell the photographer to save them at a minimum of 300 dpi and at a size of 5″ x 7″ or larger. Commercial printers need a minimum of 300 dpi (dots per inch) at regular 100% size to print clearly. This means that if your brochure has a 2″ x 3″ photo of you, this photograph will need to be at 300 dpi at 2″ x 3″ size. A photograph can be reduced without losing any quality or sharpness. However, if a 300 dpi image needs to be enlarged to twice the size, this process actually cuts the resolution in half – resulting in a 150 dpi image. Therefore, it is important to make sure your 300 dpi images are at the size they will be used in the marketing products. An image of 10″ x 16″ at 72 dpi is the same as an image of 2.5″ x 4″ at 300 dpi. Whenever you scale an image size (enlarge or reduce), the resolution is adjusted accordingly. If you make an image smaller, the resolution increases. If you make an image larger, the resolution decreases.
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