Hi, I am interested in selling my pictures on this site. I would really appreciate if someone could tell me how the pictures need to be processed for printing. How much ppi should be set? Also, I am used to uploading pictures on the web, and on those limited size pictures it's easy to sharpen. But it's hard to know how much the image needs to be sharpened at 100% (2560*1920) dimensions. I am really confused how pictures need to be processed and would appreciate any info you can give me. Thanks.
The basic idea is minimum 150 ppi/maximum 300 ppi at final print size, save as highest-quality JPEG.
You have to upload a small version to your portfolio (if it's not a Challenge entry), and then from there you can upload the high-res printable file. The printable file DOES NOT have to be an exact match; you can edit a challenge entry, add a border, etc. Images for public sale will show the prospective buyer a new thumbnail generated automatically from the printable file.
You can order prints of any photo at any size for yourself, but photos for public sale have to be approved for quality control.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer. I am getting different opinions from different people about sharpening of images for printing....some say it's not necessary while others say they should be sharpened. I would be grateful if someone could tell me if they do sharpen their pictures and how. Thanks.
I generally sharpen my photos once before I begin the resizing process and then after I have finished. I have no formula for sharpening them, I just do it based on looks.
The best thing you can do is to prepare your print the way you'd like it to look and leave resampling and resolution issues up to the printer. The process and algorithms they use will very likely be better than what you'd do on your own.
The printable file DOES NOT have to be an exact match; you can edit a challenge entry, add a border, etc. Images for public sale will show the prospective buyer a new thumbnail generated automatically from the printable file.
Wow you just made me feel kinda dumb. I have all these challenge pics I didn't save at a step in editing before resizing and I wasn't looking forward to trying to reproduce EXACTLY for DPCPrints. Now I'm gonna put a bunch of stuff up! (oh yeah I got my DSL to now which was another reason I haven't...)
The best thing you can do is to prepare your print the way you'd like it to look and leave resampling and resolution issues up to the printer. The process and algorithms they use will very likely be better than what you'd do on your own.
Drew
Drew, does this mean we don't need to increase DPI? If we simply save our original (after editing of course) to the proper dimensions (EG 8x10 aspect) that the site will do this for us? This is one thing that I found kind of confusing. My one print I put up at 300 dpi but was told I didn't need to imcrease it that far. But this sites tutorial said that you should...
If you're resampling, you should only resample up to 150 DPI. Our printers will take care of the rest. I believe our site says that we "recommend" 200 DPI, but that's actually not the case -- we need to update that. Remember, though, that you can't just resample any picture up to 150 DPI at any size -- pay very close attention to your image quality. For more on the issue of resampling too much, read here.
