If you search google or if you ask someone about how much resolution you should use in your images, almost every answer will be 300 DPI. However, is 300 DPI the right number? Shouldn’t it depend on the type of your image, if it has a lot of details, a lot of colors, among other factors?
Before we can say that 300 DPI is the right picture resolution or the wrong one, it is important that you understand what DPI is.
Simple way to convert inches to pixels.
Simply put, DPI is short for Dots Per Inch. DPI refers to the number of dots that are printed per inch. So, as you can easily see, the higher the DPI value that you have, the higher the resolution of the picture, and the less pixelated it will be.
Then, you need to think about the picture that you are printing. In case you are doing a logo, for example, you need to ensure that you have a minimum DPI so that you can have a good printed logo.
Another factor that you need to take into consideration is the colors. After all, colors are a very important part of any picture. In order to help you get the best pictures independently of the resolution be 300 DPI or any other, you want to make sure that you use CMYK and not RGB for your pictures.
Learn everything you need to know about pixel density.
But is a 300 DPI resolution the right one?
The truth is that as you already know, the higher the DPI the increased details you will get. So, by knowing this, you shouldn’t have any more problems. However, this is where you got it all wrong. Just take a look at a very common situation that continues to occur every day.
Let’s say that you have your client asked you for a photo with 300 DPI and they want to have it print out at 5” x 7”. So, you edited the beautiful image for your client and your digital image is showing very well at the 2018 X 1536 size. You send it back to your client and you consider that your job is done and that your client will be extremely happy with the result.
DPI vs PPI – hat is the difference?
Well, the client is really happy as soon as he opens the digital image. However, as soon as he opens it, he notices that the DPI is set at 72 and not at 300 DPI. So, since he loved your work, he just changes the DPI number from 72 to 300. While it doesn’t seem he is doing something wrong, the truth is that your client is enlarging your image more than 4 times. So, as a result, he will end up with an image with 8533 X 6400 size. So, as soon as he asks for the image to be printed out, they will tell him that this image will be completely blurry. So, he ends up with a blurry image. However, the worst thing is that he already had the perfect image to be printed out even if it was with a 72 DPI resolution and not with a 300 DPI resolution. The main point is that you have a good DPI set for the print size image that you want and it really doesn’t need to be 300 DPI.