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Welcome to another Inkjet Online Update 1-10-09
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Fast Find - Fast Find is now up and running
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G&G additions - New G&G compatibles for Canon 35 & 36
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New Products - Epson T049 Value pack
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HP cutting costs - further news
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Printing Tips – Part 2, resolution and detail
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Joke of the Month - Got a good joke? Send it to us and we’ll share it with everyone.
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Items of Interest – The Print Brush
Fast Find - Fast Find is now up and running
I'm please to announce our latest addition to the website, 'Fast Find'. It is the upper most menu on the left side of the screen titled 'FAST FIND'.
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Without leaving the home page (or any page you might be on) you can now navigate to your printers purpose built page. In the first list click on the brand and product type you want. Then in the second list simply scroll through to find your machine and click on it. Then click
the GO button. |
New Products - Epson T049 Value pack
suitable for Epson inkjet printers
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Epson Stylus Photo R210
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Epson Stylus Photo R230
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Epson Stylus Photo R310
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Epson Stylus Photo R350
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Epson Stylus Photo RX510
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Epson Stylus Photo RX630
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Epson Stylus Photo RX650
HP Cutting Costs - Further News
Printing Tips -
The Role of Image Resolution and Printing High Quality Images and Photos
Image resolution is at the heart of image quality. Low resolution results in pixelation and loss of detail. Too higher resolution results in needlessly large files that take an age to print and can even crash your computer. The following articles aim to explain resolution and suggest some appropriate resolution levels to aim for.
Part 2)
In this article we'll look at resolution and its role in the detail of an image.
The more pixels an image has per square inch the more detail it can have. So higher PPI is generally better. There is a limit and too higher dpi will simply cause large files and slow PC performance for little to no gain in quality.
The images below are the same physical size but as you go down the list each one has more pixels (squares) per inch which gives the picture more detail. I have used very low resolutions to make the issues obvious.
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This is the original high resolution image and is what our images below are supposed to look like. Yellow circle in red square. Below I have converted this image to different resolutions, increasing in each one, to show how higher resolution or PPI can show greater detail and quality of an image. |
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Same image as above but converted to the very low resolution of 12 ppi, 12 squares wide, 12 squares high. In technical terms it has 12 x 12 pixels, it is 12 PPI. Total pixels 144.
Notice that this is no longer a circle. The low resolution is not able to reproduce a curve. There isn't enough resolution to define the detail. |
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Image is now at 25 ppi, 25 squares wide, 25 squares high. In technical terms it has 25 x 25 pixels, it is 25 PPI. Total pixels 625.
Getting more like a circle now but still obvious to see individual pixels and curve is still very rough. Not enough pixels to define the curve. |
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Image now at 72 ppi, 72 squares wide, 72 squares high. In technical terms it has 72 x 72 pixels, it is 72 PPI. Total pixels 5184.
Fairly clearly this is a circle, a little rough but not bad. |
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Same Image now at 96 ppi, 96 squares wide, 96 squares high. In technical terms it has 96 x 96 pixels, it is 96 PPI. Total pixels 9216.
This last one (96 ppi) is pretty good but you can still see some stepping around the edges.
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This last image is back to it best. Would you believe its still 96 ppi. Same as the one above it but it looks much better doesn't it. The difference is some software magic called anti-aliasing that smooths sharp changes in colour, I'll talk more about it later. |
The first and last images look great on screen so do we really need an image to be any higher resolution than 96 PPI for high quality printing.
YES we do - Your printer is capable of producing higher quality images than your monitor. Right click on the last 96 ppi image and save it. Open or import it into a program you can use to zoom in on it. Microsoft Paint is sufficient for this. START>>PROGRAMS>>ACCESSORIES>>PAINT.
Don't use Word or Publisher. If you do your image will probably look better on screen than the printed image. Some programs automatically alter the look of low resolution images on screen. Its called resampling or anti-alias. Oddly this is not applied to the print. I don't know why they bother. The programs were designed to create documents for printing and they don't print what you see on screen..... It really only causes grief when people don't understand why ‘it looks fine on screen but when I print it...'.
Back to looking at our 96 ppi image. Zoom in on a section of the image and you will see that our smooth edges are actually quite course. Print it out on high quality settings on high quality paper. Take a close look at the printed circles edges. You should clearly see the stepping in the edge of the curves, this is called pixelation. This 96 ppi image is pixelated. At this point you might be thinking that that its fine, you can't see the issue. Then you are in the happy position of having found the minimum resolution of images that you need to satisfy yourself. Note - Some printers will be set to alter low resolution images automatically, just like Word or Publisher will do to the image on screen. If your printer is doing this you may not be able to see steps in the edge of the curves (you can turn it off) but the edges won't be sharp, they will be blurry. Again - this is called anti-aliasing or image smoothing which helps to overcome pixelation. Personally I make sure this is turned off unless I have a very low resolution image to print and it's not worth touching up the image manually.
Resampling and/or anti-aliasing is a function available in some software that softens sudden changes in colour between pixels to more gradual changes thereby making the image look smoother. The images below are before and after shots of a zoomed in section of our circle. See how the changes in colour are no longer as abrupt in the right hand image.
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This image has not had anti-alias or resampling applied. It shows the sudden changes in colour between pixels. The curve is heavily stepped and rough. |
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In this image you can see that the anti-aliasing software has recognised sudden colour changes and has changed the colour of some pixels to smooth the colour transition and soften the look. Low resolution images can benefit from anti-aliasing. The side effect of anti-aliasing is blurring of edges. |
Interested in a great image editing package that's free? Checkout the link below. For the novice its probably too complicated but if you find Microsoft Paint is too limited this is brilliant.
Visually obvious stepping is called pixelation. The pixels in low resolution images are large enough for your printer to be able to print out each pixel in the image individually. Incredible to think that a home desktop printer can not only print a pixel that is 0.26 of a millimetre in height and width, but it can do it clearly enough for the human eye to make out. This is the topic for next month. Exploring the relationship between image resolution and your printer and finding out the highest resolution that the human eye can make out unassisted.
Jokes of the Month - If you have any good jokes to share please send them to us. Just reply to this email.
1)
An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.
His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
from SN
Earlwood NSW
2)
1st. day on the job
A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question and tapped him on the shoulder. The driver screamed , lost control of the cab , nearly hit a bus , drove up over the curb , and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window.
For a few moments everything was silent in the cab , and then the still shaking driver said , " I'm sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me."
The frightened passenger apologised to the driver and said he didn't realize a mere tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much .
The driver replied ," No , no , I'm sorry , its entirely my fault . Today is my first day driving a cab . I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years ."
from PB
Wurtulla Qld.
Thankyou so much for these contributions.
Items of Interest – The Print Brush
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