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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Why so much pixelation when printing a picture?
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Showing posts 1 - 13 of 13, (reverse)
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 01/07/2003 06:58:14 PM · #1
My dad has a Canon s900 printer and I must admit it is an awesome printer, but the problem i'm having is that a lot of the photos that print out have pixelation in them that isn't evident at all when looking at the photo on the computer. is there a setting that corrects this problem?
 01/07/2003 07:12:34 PM · #2
1. What's the original DPI (dots per inch) of the image?
- Should be 200 dpi to 300 dpi. If your DPI is 72, forget about it.(dont increase the dpi in your photo editor, re take the photo at a higher res. Check your camera mannual.)

2. Are you streching the photo or increasing the Width and height at all in your software? if you are, don't. Print the photo at 100% its size. Cropping is fine.

I hear that is a good printer.

Message edited by author 2003-01-07 19:16:00.
 01/07/2003 08:01:11 PM · #3
Check this out. Sould answer all questions.

Printing tutorial
 01/07/2003 08:19:45 PM · #4
yeah i had checked out the printing tutorial, and made the resolution 300 with the fixed dimensions i needed, got rid of bicubic resampling, and it looked the same
 01/07/2003 08:34:47 PM · #5
what was the original size of the image (pixels x pixels) and what size are you trying to print? resampling an image to 300 dpi at 8x10 isn't going to help you if your source image is only 640x480. more details are needed if you want us to help you. the only thing you can do now is document all your steps very carefully and submit them, from the size of the image, in-camera settigns etc. all the way to the type of printer paper used. something will pop up.
 01/07/2003 08:38:05 PM · #6
Originally posted by Fibre Optix:
1. What's the original DPI (dots per inch) of the image?
- Should be 200 dpi to 300 dpi. If your DPI is 72, forget about it.(dont increase the dpi in your photo editor, re take the photo at a higher res. Check your camera mannual.)

2. Are you streching the photo or increasing the Width and height at all in your software? if you are, don't. Print the photo at 100% its size. Cropping is fine.

I hear that is a good printer.


my pictures are showing a dpi of 72 in ps, is there nothing i can do about it? i have photos set at fine quality, and i also am using the largest size setting for a 4mp camera 2272x1704

i could set the photo at the highest setting which would be HI, i just don't because it takes up massive space. i am usingkodak premium high gloss picture paper, canon s900 printer

Message edited by author 2003-01-07 20:41:10.
 01/07/2003 08:42:38 PM · #7
try changing the dpi w/out resampling ... the size of your photo should be reduced (in inches) but the quality should be ok.
 01/07/2003 09:14:04 PM · #8
yeah, all your images will come off of the camera at 72dpi. the number of dots per inch is irrelevant when considering your image on-screen if your end goal is printing a quality image. what matters is that the pixels are there! what we're interested in when we're printing is an increased pixel density, or sqashing all those pixels onto a bit of paper that's 8 inches by 10 inches. this is what that tutorial explains how to do - get 300 dpi on the paper, not on-screen. you can vary the density of pixels when printing, but you can't vary the density of pixels on a monitor to the same extent.
 01/07/2003 11:41:46 PM · #9
When you say pixilation do you mean square blocks about 1/16 by 1/16 inch or do you mean very small dots? If it's the dots then I think I can help. I have the Canon S820 printer, which is just about the same as the S900, and I had problems with the Kodak paper too. My problem was visible dots that mostly showed up on skin tones. I was able to correct the problem by changing the printer setup and using a ICC profile. I'm at work and I can't remember the exact setting that I am using but I can post them tomorrow. I downloaded the ICC profile from Herefor Kodak Premium Glossy and it works great, almost as good as the Canon Photo Paper Pro at only about $.25 a sheet.
Good Luck,
Roger
01/08/2003 12:39:42 PM · #10
As promised here is the profile that I'm using on my Canon S820 with Kodak Premium Picture Paper High Gloss:

Media Type High Gloss Photo Film
Print Quality Custom
Quality 1 High
Halftoning Auto(Fine)
Color Adjust Manual
Cyan 0
Magenta 0
Yellow 0
Black 0
Intensity 0
Enable ICM OFF
Print Type Photo
Brightness Normal
Everything else is set to OFF

Then when printing in PS under Print Space/Profile select the ICC that you downloaded from WandB.com

I have spent a lot of time and paper trying to get the best possible quality on Kodak paper because I can get it so cheap at Sam's Club. These setting have worked the best for me.
Good Luck,
Roger
01/08/2003 02:06:17 PM · #11
Originally posted by achiral:
Originally posted by Fibre Optix:
1. What's the original DPI (dots per inch) of the image?
- Should be 200 dpi to 300 dpi. If your DPI is 72, forget about it.(dont increase the dpi in your photo editor, re take the photo at a higher res. Check your camera mannual.)

2. Are you streching the photo or increasing the Width and height at all in your software? if you are, don't. Print the photo at 100% its size. Cropping is fine.

I hear that is a good printer.


my pictures are showing a dpi of 72 in ps, is there nothing i can do about it? i have photos set at fine quality, and i also am using the largest size setting for a 4mp camera 2272x1704

i could set the photo at the highest setting which would be HI, i just don't because it takes up massive space. i am usingkodak premium high gloss picture paper, canon s900 printer


Yes take the image at the highest setting. I use Illustrator or Quark to layout my photo. There you can resize the image to a smaller dimension so it fits on a page. I guarantee you that the quality will improve. I'm not familiar with your camera so the problem might be that. But I don't think so. To test out your printer if you have a scanner or access to one, try the following;

1. scan an image (just make sure the image fits on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet) at 300 dpi and print it.
2. then scan the same image at 72 dpi and print it.

You will see a difference. A big one.

To a certain point it's true that it does'nt matter if your image 72 dpi. But let's say your image is 72 dpi at 4 inches by 4 inches. It will look fine, but pixelated to a degree. But the same image at 72 dpi at 10 inches by 10 inches and scaled down in quark ,illustrator or any other page layout program to 4 x 4 inches the quality will be 10x better.

I was trained as a Graphic Designer, but that was 5 years ago and I have dove into the low res world of web design. Mabey I'm missing something, but I don't think so.
 01/08/2003 04:37:15 PM · #12
Originally posted by Fibre Optix:
To a certain point it's true that it does'nt matter if your image 72 dpi. But let's say your image is 72 dpi at 4 inches by 4 inches. It will look fine, but pixelated to a degree. But the same image at 72 dpi at 10 inches by 10 inches and scaled down in quark ,illustrator or any other page layout program to 4 x 4 inches the quality will be 10x better.

I was trained as a Graphic Designer, but that was 5 years ago and I have dove into the low res world of web design. Mabey I'm missing something, but I don't think so.

What's critical is the number of pixels-per-inch AT THE FINAL OUTPUT SIZE. If you reduce the physical dimensions in a layout program you are essentially doing the same as changing resolution (but not resampling) in Photoshop.

If you want to output a high quality photo 4" wide you need 1200 pixels to do it -- it wouldn't matter if the original was 20" across @ 60ppi or 1" across @ 1200ppi, it should print the same.
 01/08/2003 04:39:11 PM · #13
i was having a similar problem with my new olympus p-400 printer, and the steps in the tutorial posting were completely helpful! thanks for the info!

Message edited by author 2003-01-08 16:39:33.
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