Pictures that look sharp and pristine on a screen may not necessarily print out that way. This page will help you understand how to get the best prints from your digital images. The quality of a print is directly related to your digital image's resolution.

Understanding Resolution

Resolution is a lot like grain in a traditional photograph. Photos appear more "grainy" when enlarged. The grain in digital images is in the form of pixels. Digital images appear increasingly "pixelated" or "blocky" as they are enlarged. This distortion is called aliasing and it's not charming like a traditional photograph's grain. It is important to take your digital photos at the highest resolution possible.

Resolution is measured as DPI or dots per inch. The dots in the case of digital images are pixels which are translated to dots of pigment when printed. The image size of a digital image determines its print resolution at varying sizes. Image size is measured in pixels as the total number of pixels wide to the total number of pixels tall. For instance an image that is 800px x 600px is 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall.

Determining the Best Resolution

File size and resolution are related. It can be a little tricky to find the best image size and DPI for your print. You will have a wider selection of print dimensions based on your image's size . We allow a minimum of 150 DPI which will allow for a decent print in most cases. Below is a chart that will help you determine the best print size for your digital image.

Megapixels	Image Pixel Dimensions	High Definition	Fine	Standard
3	2048px - 1536px	~ 7" x 5"	~ 10" x 8"	~ 14" x 11"
4	2464px - 1632px	~ 7" x 5"	~ 12" x 8"	~ 12" x 16"
6	3008px - 2000px	~ 10" x 8"	~ 14" x 11"	~ 20" x 10"
8	3264px - 2448px	~ 10" x 8"	~ 16" x 12"	~ 20" x 16"
10	3872px - 2592px	~ 12" x 8"	~ 20" x 10"	~ 24" x 18"
12	4290px - 2800px	~ 14" x 11"	~ 20" x 16"	~ 24" x 18"
16	4920px - 3264px	~ 14" x 11"	~ 24" x 18"	~ 28" x 22"

Color

Our printing experts at Frameable are able to reproduce high detail, richly colored prints with excellent stability. The technicians edit and proof your prints in an optimum viewing environment on industry standard high gamut color calibrated monitors.

Your finished print may vary slightly to how it presents on your own computer monitor. Both your monitor itself, and the environment in which you view your monitor, can greatly affect perception of color. Short of color calibrating your monitor, you can enhance your color perception by viewing your images in a dimly lit room with minimal reflections on the monitor.