Photoshop Elements /

Resolution / 2 - Examples

telephone_pole.jpg

Let's say we have a file called telephone_pole.jpg.

telephone_pole.jpg has the pixel dimensions of 3008 x 2000.

The file doesn't have a size, yet.

It won't have a size until a resolution value is chosen.

Let's "tell" the pixels in telephone_pole.jpg how big to be.

We'll give it a resolution of 200 pixels per inch.

White dots are used below to represent the size, or concentration, of the pixels.

. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .

200 ppi

The Pixels Are Larger - Less Concentrated

The 200-ppi version of telephone_pole.jpg is large because we told the pixels to be larger.

Now let's change the size of telephone_pole.jpg.

Let's change the resolution from 200 ppi to 300 ppi.

............

............

300 ppi

The Pixels Are Smaller - More Concentrated

The 300-ppi version of telephone_pole.jpg is smaller because we told the pixels to be smaller.

Again

telephone_pole.jpg at 300 ppi resolution . . .

300 ppi

. . . is smaller because the pixels are being squeezed into a smaller space—300 pixels per inch.

The 200-ppi version of telephone_pole.jpg is larger . . .

200 ppi

. . . because the pixels are being spread further apart—only 200 pixels per inch.

Calculators

You can play with resolution by using the Pixels, PPI, & Print Size Calculators.

Enter the pixel dimensions of your photographs, such as 2000 x 3000.

Then, enter different resolutions to see how the print size changes.

Back

2