As it is used in desktop publishing, resolution refers to the dots of ink or electronic pixels that make up a picture whether it is printed on paper or displayed on-screen.
Resolution, scanning, and graphics size is a vast and often confusing topic, even for experienced designers. For those new to desktop publishing it can be overwhelming. Before you panic at the thought of what you don't know about resolution, focus on what you do know and some basic, easy to understand facts. Get the resolution basics.
Tutorial takes an indepth look at various measures of resolution. DPI is often used improperly for many resolution measures. Learn the correct terminology.
DPI (dots per inch) is probably the most familiar and most misused measure of resolution. For desktop publishing, it is probably the least important measure as well.
LPI (lines per inch) is an important measurment related to the way printers reproduce photographic images.
PPI (pixels per inch) is how a monitor displays an image. How an image looks on screen is determined by the resolution of the monitor — the number of pixels it can display in a given area.
SPI (samples per inch) is a measurement of image resolution. To reproduce an image the scanner takes a sampling of portions of the image measuring the value at a specific place in a scanned image.
Talk to your printer about the specific LPI you should be using. Use this chart to get an idea of the typical LPI needed based on method of printing and type of paper.
The best resolution to scan your images depends on how it will be used - on screen or in print.
Use this online calculator to determine the resolution you need when scanning images for different types of printing.
Quick tip addresses screen resolution.
Here's an easy way to improve the appearance of low resolution images.
LPI, a type of resolution, is important when producing halftones.
Forgo small file size in favor of getting as much detail and information as you can. "Digital images can always be scaled down and compressed for other purposes later," says Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain.
When you didn't capture enough resolution during scanning or with your digital camera, learn ways to bump up the resolution with these steps from Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain.
Often associated with scanners, software does interpolation too. Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain explains the interpolation-resolution connection.
Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain explains resampling and its connection to resolution.
