Resolution and Image Quality

Quantity IS Quality

If you want the best possible print, you need to upload the best quality digital file.  Sometimes photos might look just fine when you look at them on your computer screen, and you might wonder what’s up with us when we say we can’t print them. Photos that don’t have sufficient resolution will look all blurry and pixilated (blocky with jagged edges) when printed. 

Case in point: These horses look just fine at this small size. The image was shot at the camera’s lowest resolution setting and measures 368x256px. It would print out best at 3½x5.  

Now take a look at what happens when we try to print this photo at a larger size.

This is why AdoramaPix has guidelines for the minimum resolution that is required for a good quality print, and we just won’t print images that don’t measure up.

All the print sizes that are available for your images will be shown on the “Enter Quantities” page. If you are placing an order and don’t see the print size you want, it may be that your images don’t have sufficient resolution to support a larger print size. Switching to “Advanced Mode” will let you see exactly which of your images can be printed at what sizes.

Resolution: It’s not just for New Year’s anymore

Resolution isn’t just something you think about on New Year’s Eve and then forget about the rest of the year. Photographically speaking, it is the amount of digital information stored in your image in individual pixels, or dots of color (or shades of black and white, if your image is, well, black and white). The more unique pixels or dots of information stored in your image, the more detailed the image and the better quality the print will be. Lower resolution means less detail, and unfortunately, a lower quality print of the image will result (the blockiness and general blurriness we mentioned above).

Resolution is measured in megapixels (that’s a million pixels!) for your digital camera, and in individual pixels for images. Your camera might be a 6 megapixel model, but if you set it at a low resolution setting, your images might only measure 500x500 pixels.

This handy table shows the standard image resolution in pixels that average megapixel cameras will create. Remember: always use the highest resolution setting in your camera for images that you will want to print.

Camera megapixels                   Approximate standard image resolution in pixels

2 megapixels                                     1600 x 1200

3 megapixels                                     2048 x 1536

4 megapixels                                     2274 x 1704

5 megapixels                                     2560 x 1920

6 megapixels                                     2816 x 2112

7 megapixels                                     3072 x 2304

8 megapixels                                     3450 x 2300

10 megapixels                                   3650 x 2736

12 megapixels                                   4288 x 2850

16 megapixels                                   4600 x 3450

18 megapixels                                   5185 x 3450

20 megapixels                                   5475 x 3650

24 megapixels                                   6000 x 4000

This table shows the optimal and minimum image resolution for printing at AdoramaPix’s print sizes. We recommend image resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch (it’s abbreviated dpi for Dots Per Inch) for the best possible image quality, but we will print photos for images of at least 100 pixels per inch. Anything below that? You guessed it, the blocky blurriness.

Print size      Optimal Resolution              Minimum Resolution

                        For good print quality            less optimal image quality

                        300px per inch                      100px per inch

3.5x5               1500 x 1050                          500 x 350

4x5                  1500 x 1200                          500 x 400

4x6                  1800 x 1200                          600 x 400

4x12                3600 x 1200                          1200 x 400

5x5                  1500 x 1500                          500 x 500

5x7                  2100 x 1500                          700 x 500

6x9                  2700 x 1800                          900 x 600

8x8                  2400 x 2400                          800 x 800

8x10                3000 x 2400                         1000 x 800

8.5x11            3300 x 2550                          1100 x 850

8x12                3600 x 2400                          1200 x 800

9x12                3600 x 2700                          1200 x 900

10x10             3000 x 3000                          1000 x 1000

11x14             4200 x 3300                          1400 x 1100

12x12             3600 x 3600                          1200 x 1200

12x18             5400 x 3600                          1800 x 1200

16x20              6000 x 4800                          2000 x1600   

20x30              9000 x 6000                          3000 x 2000

24x36              10800 x 7200                        3600 x 2400