72 vs. 300 downloads

[sal4gal]

OK, I know that you are going to roll your eyeballs and say "Oh, another newbie going crazy on the free downloads" and I am guilty as charged, LOL.

I am learning PS7 for work (I am a school secretary, not a graphics designer, hehe) and home. I have only worked in simple graphics programs before. I am NOT artistic but I love this program because it makes my coworkers and friends think that I am (ohhhh, ahhhh)! My questions will be "elementary"! I have been reading posts for a month and I am hesitant to ask, but I am impressed with the respect that is shown on this forum. I have purchased Gary B.'s book and it is awesome. I have also checked out 9 (nine!!!) PS7 books from the local library (ok to roll your eyes again!).

I do most of my stuff for print. How do I know if the downloads are for web or print? I love the downloads on Adobe Exchange, but few specify low or high resolution.

I know that you all want to tell me to learn the program instead of learning the cheats, but this beginner just wants to have fun <g>. I will never be a creative artist, just a thief (steal and copy everyone else's ideas) Just kidding . . . sort of.

Anyway, I did have a question buried somewhere in the above dribble . . . how do I know if I downloaded high or low res. stuff?

Sal

 

[namvet]

firstly, welcome sal4gal .. now to your question ... first off all the images you get off the net are at 72dpi 'cos that's what your monitor understands (and it's web friendly - quicker uploads/downloads) .. secondly, there are different image formats (bmp - lots of image info, jpg - less image info, gif - much less image info ... and others) - the less info, as in dpi, gif etc the fuzzier the print image will be ..... now some examples and a 'work around' to fix the problem ...
example 1: ... put your cursor on the PSG image at the top of the page, right click and on the new menu go down to image properties and left click on it ... on the new menu there is some important (interesting) info, which I will now explain ... firstly, it's a 'gif' with not much info on it - only 8 bits per pixel and the file size when compared to the size of the image is quite small (only 14kb) which is excellent for it's intended purpose (quick loading) but not so good for printing as a sharp image ..... how are you going so far? .. [confused] ? .... that's ok, the second part of my explanation will/should make all this stuff make sense ... but first I need to make a coffee

 

[namvet]

.. ok, am back, with coffee
.. in the second part of the explanation I'm going to take you 'off site" to a photo site ... so right click on the address below (note I said right click, so you get a menu, on the menu go to 'open link address' if using IE or 'open in background' if using Opera .... this will open a new window so that you can work between my info here and the 'new site') ... now right click on ... http://www.sxc.hu/ ... when the page has loaded go to 'catagories' and click on that tab ... when that page has loaded go to portraits (righthand column under 'people' and click on portraits .. wait for the new page to load it should be alot of 'thumbnails' .... now click on the top righthand pic .... it should be the same as image below .....

 

[sal4gal]

Thanks namvet, I'm laughing while you are brewing.

Let me explain some more while you are sipping. Some (very few) of the downloads (effects, styles, etc.) say that they are made for 72 or 225 or 300, what ever the case may be. In my case, I want at least 225 to print and higher if possible, am I right? So is there some magic way to tell. I know, I know, I am getting ahead of your explaination. I will be a patient little puppy . . .

Sallie

 

[sal4gal]

Posted at the same time, hang on, I am on my way . . .

 

[sal4gal]

Way cool! I'm there.

 

[kiwi]

Welcome sal4gal



I will leave you in Ians {namvet} very capable hands...



Stu.

 

[sal4gal]

Thanks Stu, This is such a friendly site!

Sallie

 

[namvet]

... ok so far?? ... now click on th pic of the girl and wait for page to load ... you now have a bigger pic of the girl - but if you right click on the pic and go to 'image properties' you will see that it's 24bits per pixel ... but it's only 15kb .... and for a 345 x 258 pixel image that would not be good for printing (remember it's at 72dpi and we need better than that) ... so left click on the image and wait for the pic to come up on the screen ... don't panic when you see how big it is ... big is what we need ... when the pic has finished loading on your screen save it to a place on your hard drive where you can find it again ... now comes the good part ... open the pic of the girl in Photoshop .. now go to 'image' (top menu bar) and then click on 'image size' ... refer pic below

 

[namvet]

... just caught up with the 'new posts' ... ok, 'patient little puppy' ... in the 'document size' area of the pic above we have dimensions, which are way too big (17"x13") and resolution (72dpi) which is way too small .... this is easily fixed ... notice the small box at the bottom (resample image) ... untick it .. now change the document size to 6"x4" .. and, like magic, we have a resolution of 213 :} :} .... good enough for normal computer printing ..... sorry about delay but had to check on a lambs mother in the house paddock ...
hope this has helped ...
... what you need to find on the net is sites that have images suitable for printing .. images that you can 'resize' using the above method ...
more helpful printing info is available from a heap of members here ... so keep asking if you need more help

 

[wbiss]

Ian (namvet), your explanation couldn't have been better! I'm impressed and delighted that you got here first 'cause you did a waaaaaaay better job than I could have (would have) done! :} :}

Welcome sal4gal!

You've asked a question that puzzles a lot of people who are 'grabbing' or even creating pictures for print purposes. The thing to keep in mind, is that file size is 'relative' to output (print) resolution. The bigger the picture appears (pixel dimensions) at 72 ppi on your screen, the better! And, as namvet has shown you, by unchecking the 'resample box', you will be packing all that pixel information into a smaller print size, thereby raising the print quality/resolution.

 

[sal4gal]

namvet, thanks for taking the time to create this lesson. It answered tons of questions that I had. This board is just like having a personal tutor!

This board rocks!
Sallie

 

[Erik]

Ian: No one could have done this any better.

 

[namvet]

sal4galam pleased the info helped you
... thanks Wendy (wbiss) and Erik ... 'twas only what I have learnt from you and the other members of this board
... and sal4gal .. yes, this is a great board ...

 

[Bubble]

An excellent response Ian - very well (and clearly) said!

 

[namvet]

Bubble wrote:

very well (and clearly) said!

.. ;\ thanks, ... I guess I should have left out the bits about coffee and the lamb

 

[Bubble]

But those were the most entertaining tid-bits !!