Dwight, resolution, as you're discovering, isn't a straightforward issue. 300 dpi should work well for most photos although I have, on occasion, had to kick it up much higher to get rid of moire patterns, then reduce in Photoshop.
The 'adjust image' menu option (found both in Pshop and Pdeluxe) will help in understanding rez as it shows both pixel and physical dimensions as you change parameters. Notice, for example, when you adjust an image from 72 ppi to 144, the physical dimensions double in the dialog box. But changing the physical dimension itself without changing the ppi will degrade your picture. Sounds like you've got it figured out, though.
The next issue, for those putting stuff on the web, is color depth and gif/jpg conversion. A lot of material I see on the web is much bigger (in terms of file size) than it needs to be, making for excessive download times. A lot of gif conversion software defaults to 8 bit (256 color) indexing, but in many cases one can go down to 5, 4, or even 3 bit color without seriously impacting the image quality (if it's done right). You can take a 100k file and squeeze it down to 15k yet they will look nearly identical. Anybody is welcome to email me if they would like some help with this.
-MrB |
