Weird dimensions?

#1

So and friend and I have made our own pieces in photoshop and we both have to print them. I decided to make my image 16x20 inches while my friend had made his 8.5x11 inches standard printer paper.

I have a question that really bugged me for awhile because i’m worried about how it will print.

I will be printing my piece at CostCo in the poster format of 16x20. My friend had already printed his on photopaper. (Standard home style photo printer.)

We decided to share each other’s work through uploading on Imageshack. I immediantly noticed something weird. His image was bigger than mine! While mine was smaller than his.

I measured them both and compared them in pixels and his came out to be 1200x1553 while mines came out to be 1552x1440.

:curious:

I never resized mines but he “resized” his. I don’t know how he “resized” his from something that should be smaller (8.5x11 to 16x20).

Here’s my main fear, since this is going into a contest, I’m worried that when it does print, the actual digital image would be smaller than 16x20 even though it measures to be in PS. Which would then make it have to enlarge when printing.

Any help would be great! Thanks.

Also, just a shot in the dark but, is this a known problem in PS? Weird dimensions, or do people know about it and take pre cautions before making something?

#2

What’s probably happened is you have different resolutions in your images. In Photoshop, if you go to the Image > Image Size menu you’ll get a dialog with Pixel Dimensions and Document Size dimensions. The Resolution box is how many pixels per inch you’re using.

Whilst your image has larger physical dimensions (16"x20"), you probably have a lower resolution than he does, which results in a lower pixel dimension. Resolution is measured in pixels per inch - or DPI

eg
16"x20" @ 72dpi = 1152x1440 pixels
8.5"x11" @ 142dpi = 1207x1562 pixels

So you can see how an image with a smaller physical size can still have larger pixel dimensions, depending on the resolution you have. If both of your images were using the same resolution, your larger piece should have larger pixel dimensions.

For what resolution to use, if you are working for screen only (eg web) then 72dpi is what you normally use, because its the same resolution as most screens. Low end printing you should use 150dpi, and high end printing should normally be 300dpi.

I’m sure someone else will explain it better than I have, but you get the idea :slight_smile:

#3

Right, so I get what you’re saying. :thumbsup:

So I guess I probably screwed myself over then from the start? :banghead:

If I were to change it or wanted to change it, it would then look all “bad” wouldn’t? I’m as to clueless on how to fix it. :blush: I don’t know if I should or not or just leave it. I’m not an expert on this though. :banghead: So I don’t really know what my choices are. But the way you explained it made much more sense to me so thanks! :thumbsup:

What would you suggest someone in my situtation do?

#4

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