Absolute Beginner's Guide to Digital Photography

■ 400%.Image scanned at 1200 samples and

printed at 300 ppi

■ 800%.Image scanned at 1200 samples and

printed at 150 ppi

If you scan a 4''×6'' image at 300 samples and then

print at 300 ppi on your printer, the image should

print at 100%. If you scan the image at 600 sam-

ples and print at 300 ppi, the print will be doubled

at 8''×12''. If you scan at 1200 samples and print at

300 ppi, the print will be four times the size.

Keep in mind that most prints cannot be scanned

very well beyond 600 samples per inch—there just

isn’t enough information in the print. For this rea-

son, the effective maximum enlargement is around

4 ×. To do this, you would scan at 600 samples and

print at 150 ppi.

284 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

The effective maximum

you can enlarge a print is

4 ×for most scanners. Scan at 600

samples and print at 150 ppi. Film

(negatives and slides) can be

scanned at much higher resolu-

tions using film scanners.

The Absolute Minimum

High-resolution color printers are available for under $100, and advanced color

printing papers are available for much less. Experiment with printing to see what

quality you can produce. The goal should be to print an image that a friend or rela-

tive won’t recognize as a computer printout. Keep these tips in mind as well:

■ Inkjet printers print dots of color that fool the eye into seeing continuous col-

ors, just as a magazine uses dots of color.

■ Ink is extremely expensive per gallon, but not per cartridge. To avoid the

insane costs of ink, buy a printer with the largest inkjet cartridges you can

justify for printing photos. The larger the cartridge, the less expensive the ink.

■ Inkjet cartridges now have “intelligent” chips that shut off the cartridge

before ink runs out. Unfortunately, they shut off the cartridge when there is

still usable ink in it. This waste of resources adds up when you must return

again and again for new ink cartridges.

■ The most vivid photographic “paper” for printing images is called film—it is

pure plastic.

■ If you plan to print a considerable number of prints, look into a bulk ink

delivery system. Search the Internet for the phrase “bulk ink.”