RESOLUTION

Digital Vs. Analog

In the traditional analog world negatives and prints are continuous tone.
We make an enlargement from the negative or transparency to the size
needed.

Human Vision
Our vision is incapable of discriminating detail below a certain level. This
varies from individual to individual, but more or less this point is at about 200
dots per inch. When an image is composed of dots smaller than this they
appear to the eye as continuous tone. Every photograph and every image that
you see in every book, magazine, calendar and art reproduction is comprised
of dots of ink, at resolutions typically ranging from 70 to 300+ dots per inch.
Standard screen resolution is 72 dpi and 300 dpi for print.
Digital images, whether derived directly from a digital camera or from a film
scanner, obey the same laws. If the resolution used to make a print is too
low we will see the dots, just as you sometimes do in a photograph
reproduced on low quality newsprint.

What you end up seeing are the pixels. These are the discrete elements used
to capture the image created by the camera or scanner lens system on the
device's imaging chip. They are in effect the equivalent of the grain found in
silver-based films or the dye clouds found in colour negative and transparency
films. The problem comes when trying to understand the relationship between
what is captured and what ends up on a print.

The Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (picture element) is the smallest item of
information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a 2-
dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots or squares.
Each pixel is a sample of an original image, where more samples
typically provide more-accurate representations of the original.

Below is an illustration of how the same image might appear at different

pixel resolutions.
The Megapixel

A megapixel (MP) is 1 million pixels, and is a term used not only for the
number of pixels in an image, but also to express the number of image
sensor elements of digital cameras or the number of display elements of
digital displays.
For example, the canon 5D Mark II with an array of 3744 x 5616 sensor
elements is commonly said to have "21.1 megapixels" (3744 x 5616 =
= 21,026,304)

This box above shows the Image Size dialog box in Photoshop. An image
from the canon 5D Mark II will produce a 60.2 MB file at 8-bit.

Input and Output Resolution

The above image was photographed with a Nikon digital SLR, the D70 (6
megapixel camera). The information at the top of the box tells us that the
camera took an image that is 3,008 pixels wide by 2,000 pixels high. The size
of the image is 17.2 Megabytes. The document size is for an image that is
25.47 cm wide by 16.93 cm high and that the resolution of this image will be
300 pixels per inch.
If you were to now change any one of the values for Width, Height or
Resolution you would simultaneously change the other two. For example lets
say you wanted a 60 cm wide print, the height would become 39.89 cm and
the resolution would become 127 ppi as seen below.

This is because a digital image has no absolute size or resolution (not to be

confused with file size). All it has are a certain number of pixels in each
dimension. Obviously the resolution changes as the image size changes
because the number of pixels that make up the image are being spread over
a greater or lesser area. Therefore the resolution changes accordingly.

2 Rez Up or Not 2 Rez Up?

It is possible to create extra resolution when needed - but within certain limits.
The Photoshop dialog has a selection box at the bottom called Resample
Image. If you check this box it decouples the locked relationship between
Width and Height and Resolution and allows you to set them separately.
If you turn this box on by checking it you can make the image any size at any
resolution you like. The problem with the previous example when I changed
the width of my image to 60 cm, was that the resolution shifted from 300 (the
standard for printing) 127 ppi. We already know that this will be detectible by
the human eye when printed.
So in this example I still have the 60cm print but now have 300 ppi Note that
the file size has increased to 95.5 MB. Where did that resolution and all those
bits come from? They were invented by Photoshop via a process called
interpolation.
Definition of interpolation: To estimate values between two known
values. In regard to graphics software, interpolation is a process where
the software adds new pixels to an image based on the color values of
the surrounding pixels.
There are different algorithms that Photoshop uses for interpolation as seen
below.

Bicubic interpolation uses the original pixel and 16 of the surrounding pixels
to determine what color the new pixels will become.
Nearest Neighbor interpolation simply takes the original pixel and multiplies it
by however much you are increasing the image size
Bilinear interpolation only uses four of its neighboring pixels.
Avoid re-sampling if you can unless you want a pixilated look. Alternatively
you could shoot on film and have it scanned in or just make smaller prints.
If you must upscale an image then it is important to TEST what it looks like at
different dpis at the final print size.
Finally, you would also use this to res-down an image. If you're preparing a
photograph for use on the web you want to have it at 72 ppi. You would turn
on Resample Image, set the value to 72 ppi, and then set the Width and
Height to whatever you needed. Photoshop will then throw away the
unneeded pixels and create an appropriately sized file.

What Resolution Do I Need?

Screen - Images on-screen typically need a maximum of 72 ppi. If a file has
higher resolution than that it simply looks no different on screen. The only real
difference will be that the file will be bigger and will therefore be slower to
download.
Lambda or Lightjet Prints - High-end lab printers will typically use 300 dpi.
Inkjets Epson inkjet printers are listed as 1440 dpi printers. This means that
they are capable of laying down that many dots per inch. But, to create a
colour image they need to use 6 different inks, so any particular pixel
reproduced on a print will be composed of some dithered composite of
coloured dots using some or all of these inks. That's why you need more dots
from your printer than you have pixels in your image.
If you divide 1440 by 6 you end up with 240. This is the true minimum
resolution needed to get a high quality photo-realistic prints from a 1440 dpi
Epson printer. However depending on the image, paper stock, output size you
could use anywhere between 160 to 360 ppi. Don't bother scaling up a file to
more than 240 ppi when making large prints.