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Kim-Bee BearsI need to submit pics :photo: for the face book and I have NO IDEA what dpi is!!! HELP! :doh: :doh:
Kim it stands for Dots Per Inch. It referes to the quality of the photo. In your photo editing software you should be able to see the DPI of your picutre. DPI 300 I think is recommended for magazines as it is a high quality print size.
fribbles, ltd.*LOL* Kim, DPI is a name I play online RPGs under---in my case it stands for,"DepthPerceptionImpaired,"---but in your case, like everyone has said, it stands for Dots Per Inch. You can usually set in your photo editor in the Resize/Scale Image settings.
If you need help, I'd be glad to fix your photo for you. =)
Amelia
Back Road BearsKim,
Those "DOTS" are also called "PIXELS" which is what your photo editing program might call them. I use Paint Shop Pro and it says "pixels/inch".
Confussed yet?????
The higher the number of dots or pixels per inch of your printed photo, the higher the quality or clarity (also called resolution). That's why the mag wants a high resolution photo a.k.a. 300 dpi. ... so it'll print nice and clear. For websites and any online posting of pictures a photo with such high resolution would take forever to load because there is so much 'information' contained in the picture. That's why you'll read to use a low resolution photo or a photo with 72 dpi. On screen you don't loose much clarity at only 72 dots per inch but if you were to print it, it would be fuzzy.
ToadBriarWhat everyone else said!
I go in Photoshop under Image > Image Size to see the dimensions (width & height - in inches,
centimeters, or pixels) & resolution (dots/pixels per inch). Your screen can only display 72dpi, so if you
upload a 300dpi image to the web, it will translate the level of detail by showing the picture to be GIANT
(& making my dial up modem cry, lol)
It is worth noting!!! you can reduce resolution - convert a 300dpi image to 72dpi, for the web -
BUT you can't go the other way & turn a low-res image back into a high-res one! It will get blown up,
sure, but your formerly crisp details will be fuzzy & blocky - just as if you were looking at your smaller
image under a magnifying glass. So ALWAYS save your high res photos on your hard drive - or better
yet backed up on a CD! - even if you make resized versions for the web. 300 dpi is the minimum for
printing, so it's really valuable to save those nice images!
Kim-Bee BearsOk... I am back to this topic.... I have pics taken of past bears (which I, of course, no longer have) and I would like to change them to high resolution... is that possible??? Sorry, I am a bit confused by all this schtuff!
fribbles, ltd....oh... 
No, Kim, you can always downsize but if you try to upgrade it doesn't work. Sorry, sweetie.
How much of a resolution change are we talking about here? How big are the photos originally?
Amelia
Kim-Bee BearsCRUD! They are like 90 and I need to go to 300...
Kim-Bee BearsI dunno what to do now... 
I only have one of my felted bears that I can retake pics in high resolution
Sunshine Coast, QLDThere is a way to cheat - i'm a graphic designer and I have to do this all the time at work for people who just wont listen to me when I tell them I can't use an image.
The only thing is that your image will have to be quite large at 90dpi to start with. If you reduce it to 30% and make the dpi 300, it should work. Only thing is though that the picture gets quite small, so if it's not large to begin with there's no point.
Kim-Bee BearsThe images are 96 dpi currently.
How big is it, Kim? If it's, like, 20 inches x 20 inches I think what Mickey is saying is that you can reduce the image from that 20x20 size and then change the resolution to 300dpi with a pretty good result.
If you start with a 96dpi image that's only 4x6, however, you'll end up with something so small it's not usable.
Maybe you can send this to someone who can help? I'd be happy to look at your image or since Mickey does this professionally maybe she (Erin?) would prefer to help. Don't want to bogart her offer to assist, here!
Find me if I can help in any way.
Kim-Bee BearsThe pics are like 3X5... I guess I am out of luck, luckily I do have a couple of my bears here so I do have a few to retake pics for So now, how do I take high resolution pics? Is it through my camera's size option? currently I take pics at 640X480 or 0.3M but it goes up to 2592X1944 or 5m... Is the smaller version ok or should I use a higher one? Sorry for so many questions, I didn't realize that a pic that is good for the internet is no good for print LOL... I guess I learn as I go!
Kim-Bee BearsOk, ok, I took new pics but now what size, dpi and schtuff do magazines want???? I have three mags waiting on pics from me and I don't want to ask them and sound like a dope! Is there any norm for what they are looking for??? HELP!!!!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)It has been my experience that they will accept any size in width & ht, AS LONG AS IT IS IN THE MINIMUM OF 300 DPI or RES(olution)
Perhaps you can tell us what editing program you use, and the version, so that ppl with the same software can tell you exactly what your choices on the screen will look like. It doesn't do us much good to tell you how to do it in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop if you don't use that software.
Kim-Bee BearsI use Photofiltre to edit my photos
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I've also found it most helpful for the photo editors if I've burned my images onto a CD or DVD and sent them that rather than clogging their email Inboxes with huge images.
I do save all images at 300 res/dpi and Save As <BearnameA300.jpg> then open the Image Size option again - and changing nothing (size in inches, cropping, etc..) and now change the resolutuion to 72 and click Save As <BearnameA300.jpg>.
Then I've got print and online images ready - and drag them into a dedicated Folder which I burn onto a CD or DVD when I accumulate several photo sessions' worth.
Yes, it will show up as 96 dpi/res when you start the editing session but you'll note that the pixels will be in the thousands and the image probably 20"+ wide/long. Before doing anythng else, change the dpi/res to 300, THEN change your image width or crop. Resolution is always set FIRST!
Just mind what Kim says and save your 300 res pix first! You can have the same image size in Ht & width in 72 but it has to come from a larger pixelated image, not smaller.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)OK out there - who's got Photofilter and can take screen captures to show Kim exactly what the choices in the option windows will look like???
Kim-Bee BearsWell, I did go into the "image size" window and it has "width" and "height" in pixels and "resolution" in pixels/inch.... I just want to make sure I am editing the right thing because I sent the bear off to her new home and can't retake photos EEP!
Here is the one that I think I edited correctly...
LMAO ok, apparently I did it right becuase I can't upload it LOL
By the way, the pic is 960 X 1280 (width X height) in pixels and I changed the resolution to 300 pixels per inch... I think I did it right.... I am afraid I am not quite the photo-editing pro LOL... and it is 3.52 Mb
Shel, Shel, where are you? yooo-hoo??? he he he
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Sounds right to me! The mag editors will change that to whatever actual size & width they want, as long as there are enough pixels (dots of info per sq inch) in the image.
SouthHey Bobbie,
Wow!! Would you come live at my house for a while and teach me all the stuff that is imprinted in your head!!!! LOL:) Your like my husband, the Encyclopedia of Britannica!!!!! Fondly, Debbie
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I screwed up in 2 places last night (unsuccessfully multitasking):
It sounded blunt to say
"It doesn't do us much good to tell you how"
should've read:
It doesn't do you much good to tell you how..."
And when Saving the pix - Photoshop has 'Save' and 'Save As', which is why I inquired about your software so that you're not needlessly looking for an option called that, if you won't find your Save option called that:
I do save all images at 300 res/dpi and Save As <BearnameA300.jpg> then open the Image Size option again - and changing nothing (size in inches, cropping, etc..) and now change the resolutuion to 72 and click Save As <BearnameA300.jpg>.
that second image should obviously be called
<BearnameA72.jpg>
LLLLL, Debbie, a lot of good that 'useful trivia' does me when I'm trying to locate where the heck I put my new phone, after asking DH Don how to use it last Wed!!
I just Googled Photofiltre and saw that it's a free download by tucows (they used to have the cutests moving graphics!!!); unfortunately it supports only a PC platform and I'm Mac. I was going to rework an image here through it to tell you the exact steps. Perhaps someone else can do this?
It does sound like you're on the right track though:
By the way, the pic is 960 X 1280 (width X height) in pixels and I changed the resolution to 300 pixels per inch... I think I did it right.... I am afraid I am not quite the photo-editing pro LOL... and it is 3.52 Mb
The editors won't care how many MB it is, as long as each square inch has more 'dots' (DPI- 'dots' per inch) of detail in each section/sq inch.
Another way to get your head around DPI is to picture a 12" square knitted swatch, or piece of needlpoint canvas the same size. If you knit or needled a design with 4 sts per inch (making that 48 sts to knit or stitch across the piece) and then using another finer yarn and thinner needles/finer mesh NP canvas and worked the same design at 12 sts per inch (working out to 144 sts), when you finished the design - which 12" piece is going to have more detail in it?
Which is why, when you have something knitted or stitched at 72 dpi - the computer standard for online use, and raise it up to 300, those 48 sts stretched to 24 inches are going to look squared off/blocky like a knitting of needlepoint graph.
But if you already have saved 300 dots in each and every inch of your first edit, compressing them (e.g., the 144 sts) down to 72 dots per inch is really intensifying the detail, actually improving the quality.
