Best Digital Prints: Things to Remember

So, you have captured that wonderful moment, a beautiful image in your digital camera!

Now, you are preparing to take a print to make a gift to your dear and near one or for your personal collection!

Now here is the crux!

In the majority of such cases, as our experience tells us, people are not sure what the maximum size can be for a digital print, without that image distorting! Many people think that they can make the image as big as they want, then print without knowing about the "image stitching technique"! And when there is distortion, they blame the printer for low visual quality.

One must remember that what looks the worst from a close distance may look the best if the distance between the image and the viewer is increased (10 to 15 feet or more) in case of larger digital prints.

While taking digital prints, the photographer should consider critically how the image will be displayed for a better, if not the best viewing experience.

There are some digital printers too, who do not know the limit or only who only concentrate on money rather than the quality of the output offered. Sometimes they forget that what is merely a digital photo to them, may be a precious moment to the photographer, which may never be repeated!

The maximum size that a printout of a digital photo can be, depends on various aspects. But the common aspect can be the following if you are thinking of having your photo printed for yourself:

If you are using a commercial 1.2 mega pixel camera, the best digital prints may come as around an 8x10' photo, whereas an 11x14' is almost the limit.

If you are using a commercial 3 mega pixel camera, the best digital prints may come as around an 11x14' photo, whereas a 16x20' is almost the limit.

If you are using a commercial 4 mega pixel camera, the best digital prints may come as around a 20x24' photo, whereas a 30x40' is almost the limit.

Another way of estimating the best possible result before taking digital prints, is calculating PPI (final print resolution). If you divide the width (pixel) by your desired print size (inches) you get PPI. As a general rule, if your final print PPI is around 200 to 400, you get an overall good digital photo.

Having a photo printer at home may save you for in some instances. However buying a printer is not a lasting solution for having quality digital photos. The cost is often too high in comparison to the reasonable prices offered by renowned printers for digital prints.

These days you don't need to go out searching for printers from the high street to produce a good quality digital print! You can find better quality and cheaper digital prints sitting back at home over internet.

Hopefully, getting your quality digital prints will not be so hard next time.

Happy imaging.

By: John Oxton