On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 08:16:43 -0500, Scruff wrote:
In that case, you looking at the wrong things. Resolution has nothing to do with color management. Your camera decides how much resolution you’ve got, so use it at its best settings and you will normally have enough resolution.
SO is it the megapixels of the cam the that determines the file size of a pic that determines the quality?
Thus a 1 megapixel cam pic is such a small file vs. a 8 megapixel cam that has more pixels in the same sized picture?
There are three dimensions of color image quality:
Resolution — the ability to capture detail.
Tone — the ability to resolve shades of gray.
Color — the ability to capture perceivable colors as separate entities.
Pixel depth sets a theoretical maximum resolution. A camera cannot resolve details, such as black lines against a white background, that are smaller than a pixel width. They may not be able to resolve details larger than a pixel either; light from the detail can bleed into adjacent pixels, causing a gradation where in fact there is a sudden transition. You have to test to find your actual maximum resolution; but it *can’t* be smaller than a pixel.
In professional sales, resolution is important *only* until you make the detail needed for the print run; after that, additional detail is thrown away. For instance, a 3" x 4" print at 300 dots per inch is going to resolve about 1 megapixel of information, while a double page full bleed is going to chew through more than 14 megapixels of information.
Once you’ve supplied enough resolution, color and tone become important. This is frequently seen as a non-problem, as both digital sensors and film chemistry blow away CMYK lithographs in this department. But it’s still something you can screw up to loose a sale. And other printing devices — good laserjets, dye transfer chemistry (used by billboards and artists, last I heard) — will need the extra tone and color info.
—
Jim Hargan
Freelance Photographer and Writer
www.harganonline.com