Equipment & Techniques > Beginner's Questions
Resolution and Online Printing Services
ahbnyc:
I understand (more or less) that when printing with an inkjet printer it is desirable to resize an image so that it matches the printer's native resolution. What is the best way to size photos to be printed using online services like Shutterfly, which I don't think use inkjet printers? Do you just leave the resolution as is, or are there situations where it would be better to upres?
Bart_van_der_Wolf:
--- Quote from: ahbnyc on December 14, 2014, 01:10:03 am ---I understand (more or less) that when printing with an inkjet printer it is desirable to resize an image so that it matches the printer's native resolution.
--- End quote ---
Hi,
That's basically correct, although not limited to inkjet printing. The reasons that it is preferred are that you can use better quality resampling, and you can do output sharpening at the final output size.
--- Quote ---What is the best way to size photos to be printed using online services like Shutterfly, which I don't think use inkjet printers? Do you just leave the resolution as is, or are there situations where it would be better to upres?
--- End quote ---
I have no idea what equipment they use for printing, but it's that equipment (and the print settings they use) that would dictate the best output size to deliver to them. So I would ask (or search on their website) for the the required output equipment specifications that you'd like to match. Their website doesn't help much, since they state:
--- Quote from: Shutterfly ---What about DPI (Dots Per Inch), etc?
Shutterfly bases a good "resolution" recommendation on the final resolution output of an image and therefore can't give a good recommendation on PPI (Pixels per Inch), LPI (Lines per Inch), or DPI (Dots per Inch). Please look at the final output resolution after the image is created to determine if it will print well on Shutterfly based on the above recommended resolutions.
--- End quote ---
Those recommendations for file size in megapixels suggest pretty low (100-200 PPI) resolution input, but that's probably to keep a reasonable upload bandwidth performance. There's a pretty good chance that they use equipment with a 300 PPI native resolution, but it could be different/higher for the larger sized output.
Cheers,
Bart
ahbnyc:
Thank you Bart. I had looked at the shutterfly website and agree that it isn't very informative -- have tried looking at mpix and bayphoto as well and don't see much info on their sites either.
Slobodan Blagojevic:
What is the size you want to print to and what is the size of the file you want to print from? Also, on what material you want it printed (paper, canvas, etc.)?
bjanes:
--- Quote from: BartvanderWolf on December 14, 2014, 04:15:28 am ---Hi,
That's basically correct, although not limited to inkjet printing. The reasons that it is preferred are that you can use better quality resampling, and you can do output sharpening at the final output size.
Those recommendations for file size in megapixels suggest pretty low (100-200 PPI) resolution input, but that's probably to keep a reasonable upload bandwidth performance. There's a pretty good chance that they use equipment with a 300 PPI native resolution, but it could be different/higher for the larger sized output.
Cheers,
Bart
--- End quote ---
The relatively low resolution you quote is suboptimal. I assume that Shutterfly uses a contone printer outputting to chromogenic photo paper (e.g. Fuji Crystal Archive) for smaller prints. The commonly used printers in this category include the Fuji Frontiers and Noritusus whose resolutions are about 300 ppi. For the larger prints they likely use Epson or HP inkjets which output at 360/720 ppi and 300/600 ppi respectively. Jeff Schewe is a noted photographer and author who often uses Epson printers and he states that he can see a difference between 360 and 720 ppi. Roger Clark is another noted photographer and scientist who uses HP and states he can see a difference between 300 and 600 ppi.
Photographers seeking maximal print quality should probably look elsewhere than Shutterfly. As to colorspace for their printers, they are vague:
--- Quote ---Image Color Space
Published 09/20/2005 09:20 AM | Updated 03/17/2014 01:29 PM
What colorspace does Shutterfly accept for my images?
Shutterfly currently only accepts images in the RGB colorspace or mode saved as JPEG/JPG files. We do not accepts images in the CMYK colorspace or mode at this time.
--- End quote ---
I assume that they expect the images to be in sRGB. Serious photographers usually use ProPhotoRGB. Would Shutterfly read the colorspace tag of uploaded files and convert this space to the native profile of their printers?
Regards,
Bill
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