Photoshop: Changing Print Size without Resampling Image

Before we begin on how to resize print size by using Photoshop. I would like to explain about what most people are misunderstanding about digital image resolution (especially people around me)

dpi (dot per inch) vs pixel dimension

When talk about image resolution or image size most of people may refer its as dpi. Most people believe that digital image with 300 dpi have better quality than 72 dpi. He may be right but not always. You can not tell that digital image with 72 dpi is smaller than 300 dpi.

DPI can only tell you that one image with 300 dpi resolution have better quality than other image with 72 dpi just when it be print out. Image with 500 x 500 pixel can have dpi value from 1 to any number you can think of. If you use your image only in digital format (for example web graphic) you can discard dpi value, it’s useless. So when refer to size of digital image file I alway to prefer to talk about it in pixel dimension or in worse case you can compare it using file size (in byte). In uncompressed file format (with same file format) the larger resolution image file alway take larger disk space. In general, DPI use to determine resolution of image in printing media only. If you still want to use dpi to determine digital image resolution please refer to its print size. if you’re confuse please take a look at table below.

image with 1000 x 1000 pixel size 2.86MB at 72 dpi Can print image 13 x 13 inches

image with 1000 x 1000 pixel size 2.86MB at 300 dpi Can print image 3 x 3 inches

if you want to print 13 x 13 inches at 300 dpi you need this image

image with 4167 x 4167 pixel size 49.7MB at 300 dpi Can print image 13 x 13 inches

In Photoshop you can change print-out size with resampling image (that will loosing your image quality). You can do this by changing dpi instead changing pixel dimension. By uncheck Resample Image check box.

Now you can freely enter you print size with out loosing your image quality. This is useful when you need quick print out image without making additional copy of your image file. You may notice that you can now print out at any size. But please keep in mind that if you have low resolution image and want make a large print, you may have to resample image to get better result.

Related Article: Photoshop Image Size

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