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How to Resize Image for Printing?

Before printing, we need to discuss the requirements for typical small prints that most people get done of their digital images in the common print sizes.

In what means pixels and what means DPI and PPI, we mentioned that a print should be around 300 PPI at which you get pretty good quality and having more PPI does not equate to seeing more detail in the print. On the other hand, having less than 300 PPI soon leads to an image that will start to lose some details. The limiting factor on this choice is how our eyes work and what we actually see.

With our eyes as the limiting factor, and the fact that much smaller prints are viewed from quite close, 300 PPI provides the best quality. You can probably get away with having between 240 and 300 PPI and still get good quality, 180-240 PPI will result in ok quality and with less than 180 PPI the quality very quickly drops off.

Here are some pixels you need for various print sizes:

1. 6x4 inch Prints (standard photo's) - 300 PPI = 1800 x 1200 Pixels

2. 6x4 inch Prints (standard photo's) - 240 PPI = 1440 x 960 Pixels

3. 6x4 inch Prints (standard photo's) - 180 PPI = 1080 x 720 Pixels

print the resized image

In how to Resize Image for the Web, we recommended having 600px as the longest side since 600px in a 6" print only allows for 100 PPI in the print and a print at 100 PPI will be pretty dreadful! So, a web-sized image at 600px is still pretty good for viewing on a computer but not good enough to print.

5x7 inch Prints - 300 PPI = 2100 x 1500 Pixels
5x7 inch Prints - 240 PPI = 1680 x 1200 Pixels
5x7 inch Prints - 180 PPI = 1260 x 900 Pixels

As you can see from these 2 examples, once you know what size prints you want to make, it is simple mathematics to work out how big you can actually print them and have an idea as to the quality of the finished photo. After getting understanding of suitable printing size, you can use image resize tool to help you resize your photos now!

Tips: get to know more about pixels and DPI & PPI here.

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