Resolution is responsible for much confusion to beginners in Photoshop. I am providing this guide in hopes to clearing the smoke and answer any questions you may have.
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Before we can get into the 2 most common resolution-related questions, ("How come my images come out smaller when I print them?" and "How come my images come out pixelated when I print them?"), we need to get a grasp of what SCREEN RESOLUTION is.
Your monitor is displaying a certain resolution that you may have commonly heard. Popular ones include "640x480", "1024x768" and "1280x1024". Let's take the latter; this means your monitor is showing 1280 pixels worth of information WIDE by 1024 pixels worth of information HIGH.
IMAGE RESOLUTION
Most web-based images are created with an IMAGE RESOLUTION of 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch). In order to determine the DIMENSION of an image, you merely take it's size and multiply it's resolution. Let's take a 4" x 6" image in Photoshop. To determine it's DIMENSIONS, we do the following:
4" x 72 pixels per inch (ppi) = (4x72) = 288 pixels wide
6" x 72 pixels per inch (ppi) = (6x72) = 432 pixels high
Your 4"x6" @ 72ppi image has a DIMENSION of 288x432 pixels.
UNDERSTANDING CORRELATION BETWEEN OUTPUT AND IMAGE RESOLUTION.
Place that 288x432 px (pixel) image on your monitor screen, which has an OUTPUT RESOLUTION of 1280x1024. The image takes up 288 of the 1280 pixels wide and 432 of the 1024 pixels high. If you change your monitor's OUTPUT RESOLUTION to 640x480, that SAME IMAGE now takes up 288/640 pixels wide and 432 of 480 pixels high. This makes the image LOOK bigger, however it has not changed size or dimensions at all. You've merely changed the amount of information per inch that you are viewing on screen.
ENSURING PROPER VIEWING OF IMAGES
When using Photoshop, make sure your VIEW RATIO is at 1:1 (100% ZOOM FACTOR) A common misbelief is that when you zoom in or out of an image, you are changing it's size/dimension/resolution. This is not true. Understand that you are merely changing how closely you are examining the same image.
WHY DO MY PRINTS COME OUT SMALL?
It's simple math. Your 4"x6" @ 72ppi image is being printed on a printer that outputs at 300 or 600dpi (dots per inch) [side note: Dictate onscreen images as ppi when you refer to their resolution and dictate printed images as dpi when you refer to their resolution]. If we do some math, you'll see why your images come out so small.
4" x 72ppi = 288 pixels wide
6" x 72ppi = 432 pixels high
Print this in a printer that uses 300dpi and we get an image that is:
288 pixels wide / 300 dots per inch* = 0.96" wide
432 pixels wide / 300 dots per inch* = 1.44" high
*Dots/Pixels are interchangable, ie, 1 dpi = 1 ppi.
So that same image you thought would print at 4" x 6", printed at 0.96" x 1.44".
WHY DO MY PRINTS COME OUT PIXELATED/DISTORTED?
For the same reasons it comes out small. The only difference is, that the computer scaled the image to the dimension of the original. (Tried to scale your 0.96" x 1.44" image to the dimension of 4" x 6") This is like trying to get a gallon of water out of a shot glass. The end result of this scaling is a pixelated/distorted image.
SO HOW DO WE FIX IT?
Merely known what the end dimension you want the image to be, and the OUTPUT RESOLUTION of the printer you're using.
1. I know I want an image to be 8.5" x 11"
2. I know my printer prints at 600dpi.
Do the math:
I need a document that is:
8.5 x 600 = 5100 pixels
11 x 600 = 6600 pixels
5100x6600 pixels in Photoshop.
This image will print at your desired dimension on that printer without distortion/pixelation or being shrunk.
I am trying to have an image of mine printed professionally. However the print house I have sent my image to has asked that my image be submited at 300 DPI. My image is already 7200 x 4055 pixles with a resolution of 300. My question is what is the major difference between resolution and DPI and how can I go about correcting the dimensions of my image?
With the Adobe CC upon us, I'm am questioning staying with Adobe proprietary DNG (proprietary in the fact it has edits embedded that only Adobe products understand) and PSD files long term.  I have never used Lightroom. But am a heavy Photoshop/ACR user. I have many ACR edited DNG files and multi-layered Photoshop files.I want access to my files in the future (including edits) without having to always have the monthly CC subscription (in the future).  Question: Can Lightroom (not a CC product currrently and hopefully not in the future) open & understand the edits (cropping, color balance, lens correction, ...) I've already done to my many DNG files in Adobe Camera Raw?  Even if I use the CC in the near future and eventually not subscribe, I want future access to my DNG and PSD format files, including all the edits).if Adobe guaranteed a free PSD & DNG viewer (understand the layers, edits, ...) and give the ability (for all time) to export to a flattened image with edits applied to TIFF!
I have happily migrated to Xara Designer Pro 7 for our company web design. But I am coming from a program that handled background images and object properties differently,URL...
In Net objects, to do this, you set a background colour in the sitestyle menu, set the background tile using the body tag in the text styles or CSS menus, and place the decorative paragraph graphics as backgrounds in individual text boxes or layout regions.
I think layered designs like this would probably be achieved by a combination of features and tweaks, but cannot work out how. I can get a background colour on the pasteboard as well as a design - using a Tweak. But doing it this way means that the design does not align properly - at least not so far as I have been able to achieve.
Would love to know the views of the experts here, particular those who also use Net objects Fusion.
how the check in/check out process works, and how that's related to the information in the project files (if it is)? I'm thiking of basic questions, such as how does Inventor know when a file is checked out, and where is that information recorded.
For reference, I'm using Inventor 2010 in a non-vault environment, with single-user projects, on a small corporate network. I've been using 3D CAD since late in the last millenium, but I've only been using Inventor for one year. My previous CAD experience was with Solid Designer, Solid Edge, and SolidWorks.
If I use 250ppi and 2000x2500 but then change that to be able to print a larger image (300ppi 3000x4200 - 10x14x print, for example), what exactly happens to the image when I increases pixels and ppi? Does it improve/degrade the quality?
I realize the nature of my question maybe asking the impossible, but I have a low res image I downloaded from the internet, placed in an InDesign page, blew it up and printed it out. I was going for the distressed look that it has, it looks ok when I print it out considering it's low res and I blew it up fairly large. However, it's a little too pixelated to look professional when printed. Are they any tricks or things I can do to make it look higher res for print. I've attached the image as well as a screenshot of the InDesign file so you can see it in context.
I am a Photoshop newbie and I have a series of graphics (all 72dpi from a website) that I would like to print in 300dpi. Is it possible to take a 72dpi .jpeg or .gif file and easily convert it to a higher resolution printable graphic? If Photoshop can't do it, is there any type of program that can?
I am having some problems getting the hang of applying the drawing scale to my assignment. I understand the scale factor that is applicable to the printing only and that AutoCAD doesn't care about the units used...but something is not clicking here and I'm sure it is pretty simple. My assignment requires me to draw 3 simple structures at 1/8" scale on 11X17 paper. Each house is 20' long with 10' walls and each is done in absolute, relative, and polar. I actually completed the work with all 3 formats without specifying the scale or paper size, just to get familiar with the commands. But now that I am trying to set the dimensions correctly, I cannot replicate my work because I'm getting lost in the way things are defined. I am using AutoCAD 2005, also have a 2002 version to which I can defer.
I've been able to find very little documentation (mostly just user requests) about having multiple guide sets in Photoshop. I really think this would be a useful tool.
OS: Win 7Â Ps. Cs6 Â When using View > New Guide ... can i get the Guide to place itself up against a Shape in the center of the Canvas (or where ever the shape is located), without knowing the Position to set the Guide at? Â i thought that maybe Selecting the Shape would work but as you probably already know ... it didn't.
I am on a PC - Windows 7 - CS5.5 Extended. Is there a way to have several guide colors all at once? Â I am working on a template and have several borders I am working with bad want to differentiate the "layout" using various guides but making the "groups" different colors. Â E.g. : I have one "square" 1 inch in from all sides. Guide color is default. I have another "square 1.5 inches in from all sides and want those four guides to all be one color, different from the default color.
I just installed CS on my PC and for whatever reason my guides don't function correctly. For every file I have opened, the guides appear behind the image, rendering them pretty much useless. This does not even seem to be an option, so I have no idea how to correct it. Does any one have any idea how to fix this?
How can i put a 3 column guide in PS like I am building a website? This way I can use each section on its own and know where my boundries are. I guess I could just draw a line, but I want something that I can adjust quickly.
I'm trying to create a high resolution version of a low resolution texture used in a game. I've found a pattern that I think is acceptable, from a real image.Now the question is this: how can I colorize the large image to that it is as resemblant as possible to the original one? I've tryed a simple colorize, but the result is not so good...
Why my Crop Guide Overlay dropdown is missing? Adobe Photoshop CS4.  There used to be a day when you could click on help and it would bring up help topics on the product you purchased. Now, I get a website with CS5, CS6 and whatever else.Â
I'm making a DIY Sex And the City guide for a friend. As you can see I've got image and text. quite pleased with the image. but can anyone recommend a way to display the text? colour/size/font/style ?
Greatfull for any tips Still learning photoshop Quite new to it..
Also, how can I get a nice cut-out of the ring? I've tried the Polygonal-lasso-tool,- but not very good... maybe I just don't have enough experience using it...? any other ways?
1) Is there any way in Photoshop to know the exact location of an existing guide like you can easily do in Illustrator and Indesign by watching the info box? Â 2) Besides that, can i move a previous guide to an exact parameter like i do in Illustrator and Indesign? those are very useful tips to the workflow. Â Maybe there is a plugin to do it more efficiently. Nowdays, i have to always Create New Guide. If i like the New Guide 20 px from another guide and have to always remember the previous location or do the math...it too much time consuming. It would be great to have a box where i could put the value and move guides around like Illustrator.
Just wondered if anyone has this book, or has seen or used it ? It worth getting ? Or can much of the information be found here ? Book title is: Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
I am making it for my clan for UT2004. Whats a eneral rule of thumb for quailty vs size of file? Not all of us have 100kbs+ connections, so I have to set a limit I guess for you 56ker. So... please take a look at what the site involves.
I currently have the quailty set to MAX. (Note: that im not done editing the interface... gotta edit the WELCOME and MENU lables so they match the big banner on top.) Also.... I just can't figure this out... take a look really closly at the bottom banner and the image under the iframes text and under the navagation.
It doesnt look right does it? The color isnt 100% gray... it seems to trail off to a darker grey or black... yet when I open it in Photoshop it shows that its all gray. Why does it do that and how can I fix it? Also: I dont have the photoshop file for the the MENU and WELCOME image... So how can I recreate the rounded off rectangle? So it has that shadow like appearace?
This is worse than trying to deal with the government bureaucrats....I am simply asking how I can print out a complete pdf file of the user guide for PSE 10...I had one for version 9 but cannot get anything for version 10? The address shown in the getting started manual doe snot go through?
Ive had this happen before but after restarting the program it usually came back. the circle that outlines the size of the brush has disappeared, so all i have is the little + sign.
i tried cntr+alt+shft at start to reset it, but its still the same.
OK time to do something about deleting the annoying pop up that pops up about every fifth start up of x5. I'm now using my travel computer with x5 installed. I also use this computer for internet. I'm registered with Corel. So how do I stop this pop up from reoccurring?
