Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I like the graphic. The problem I have with this article is that they are focused on 300 DPI as a standard and viewing distance and dpi are related. 300 dpi is for a graphic at normal hand held reading distance. About 1-2’. Are you going to look at a 36” print that close? Yes there are a few who will want to get that close. But most people (95%) will not want to get that close because “you can’t see the Forrest for the trees” that close. When you hang a big print, you have to account for sufficient viewing distance. From that normal viewing distance, the dpi requirement goes down.

It it actually a matter of angle, not dpi. Our eyes can only resolve two points as separate points, beyond a finite limit. That is what the “Retina” display is about, at normal viewing distance your eyes cannot resolve the individual pixels.

Let’s think about TVs for a minute. HD TV is 1920 x 1080 resolution. Given a 56” screen, at normal viewing distance of about 6’ or 8’ HD looks great. You can’t see the pixels. The DPI is about 40 ppi. If you move really the close you can see the pixels but then you can’t see the whole screen. Who watches HDTV that way?

Same for big prints. There is no reason for a 36” x 47” to be printed at 300 dpi. Because if you are so close that you need 300 dpi, you won’t be able to see the entire print.