I do alot of "playing" with my image editing software and like to upload the end result to such sites as pix.com or kodak for prints. My question is this: How can I determine what quality a picture is so that I know what size print will look good? I have tons of pictures in my computer and they all look fine onscreen; but I don't know how they'll look when they are printed. Is there a way to determine this? And, what is the best resolution to scan at to simply have 4X6 prints made? Resolution totally throws me for a loop!!

-- Gina Hook (ginah70@aol.com), January 14, 2000

Answers

It's going to depend a lot on personal preference. A general rule of thumb though, is that 200 pixels per inch looks good on a continuous- tone print: You might see the pixels, but they shouldn't be too glaring. You may be able to get away with 150 ppi, but are more likely to see pixels.

So... 1280x960 (a common "1.3 megapixel" size) pixel image should produce good-looking prints up to about 6.4 x 4.8 inches...

If you're scanning rather than taking files from a digicam, I'd go a bit higher, to 240 or 300 ppi.

Hope this helps!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), January 16, 2000.