Help printing photo: My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens.

Papa j Loc: Cary NC

My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens. Walgreens said the resolution was low for an 8x10 . What should we have done differently. Thanks as always

Joe

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Papa j wrote:

My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens. Walgreens said the resolution was low for an 8x10 . What should we have done differently. Thanks as always

Joe

To suggest another approach you need to provide some specifics about what you were given and what you did - what was the resolution, in pixels wide by pixels tall, of the image?

For acceptable sharpness, you'll need 1448 x 1810 pixels. An 8x10 will look fine with a resolution of 181 ppi.
http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/resolution/1_which_resolution_print_size_viewing_distance.htm

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Papa j wrote:

My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens. Walgreens said the resolution was low for an 8x10 . What should we have done differently. Thanks as always

Joe

What was the size of the photo she sent you? The photo may have been downsized when she sent it. Did you check the size of the photo before doing the PP?

Papa j Loc: Cary NC

Gene thanks for thrquick respose I sent it back to her 100% quality and 360 dpi. I don’t know anything about the origin of the photo.

This
Joe

Papa j Loc: Cary NC

No I don’t know anything about the original

J

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Do you still have the image on your computer? Can you get into it and see what the resolution is? Actually, I think if you simply hover the mouse over it, a pop-up will tell you the resolution. It's quite likely that the one you received via e-mail wasn't large enough.

pappleg

Papa j wrote:

My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens. Walgreens said the resolution was low for an 8x10 . What should we have done differently. Thanks as always

Joe

Using email to send and receive images is not always wise; ISPs notoriously compress files over their networks servers to save space.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Papa j wrote:

My daughter asked me to pp a photo that she wanted printed in an 8x10 she emailed me the photo I did the pp and returned it to her she sent it to Walgreens. Walgreens said the resolution was low for an 8x10 . What should we have done differently. Thanks as always

Joe

The only thing photo labs print is pixels. Most need to spread 240 or more pixels per inch over each linear surface dimension. Be sure you have a file that is at least 2000 by 2500 ORIGINAL, from-the-camera pixels in size. That will make a quality 8x10. Having more ORIGINAL, from-the-camera pixels is nice, but usually makes no difference unless you need to print finely detailed subjects at much larger sizes.

JPEG file size is irrelevant. JPEG quality should be high. JPEG compression should be low.

At 5x7 and smaller, you need 300 PPI or more.

Ask your daughter to send you the original, ACTUAL SIZE image. If she's emailing it from an iPhone or a Mac, the Mail app offers a choice of small, medium, large, and actual size resolutions. For prints, ALWAYS send Actual Size.

BebuLamar

burkphoto wrote:

The only thing photo labs print is pixels. Most ne... (show quote)

I would think the lab would make the print if I send them an image that is good for 120ppi. It's not optimal but I think they would print it.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

BebuLamar wrote:

I would think the lab would make the print if I send them an image that is good for 120ppi. It's not optimal but I think they would print it.

Some labs would print anything you sent them, good or not. Others would inform customers if they thought the file was too small for good quality, and let them decide whether to print it.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

BebuLamar wrote:

I would think the lab would make the print if I send them an image that is good for 120ppi. It's not optimal but I think they would print it.

It depends on the lab and how proud they are of their work. It also depends on the size. 120 PPI looks soft at 8x10, just okay for many subjects at 16x20, and really nice at 30x40.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

JohnSwanda wrote:

Some labs would print anything you sent them, good or not. Others would inform customers if they thought the file was too small for good quality, and let them decide whether to print it.

And some labs’ remote order entry systems automatically reject files below a certain PPI resolution for a given print size.

That’s PPI calculated as pixel width of the file divided by print width in inches X pixel height of the file divided by print height in inches, NOT THE EXIF FIELD LISTING dpi!

Cameras and scanners both *generate* pixels. Scanners *record* cells called dots, and save them as pixels. Printers use dots to represent pixels. Dots always have dimensions. Pixels are numbers that can be sized to any dimension via dots...

Many folks outside the photography world (i.e.; IN the graphic arts world), get confused by this. The only things that matter in photography when preparing files to print are the WxH pixel dimensions, the required PPI, and the size print in inches.