Resolution is how much detail is in an image. It is measured by how many pixels (or coloured dots) there are per inch – “dots per inch” or “dpi”. The more dpi, the higher the resolution. This is important if you are enlarging a print because as it gets bigger those dots have to be made bigger to fill the space. If there aren’t enough dots, the image will begin to blur and pixelate.

For a printed image to look ‘ok’ it needs to be about 100 dpi, pretty good at 200dpi and ideal at 300dpi. The eye cannot really tell an image higher than 300dpi.

If you enlarge an image that is 6 inches wide at 300dpi to 12 inches wide, you will half the resolution to 150 dpi, so you need to make sure that you have enough resolution to enlarge an image.

Typically small web images are shown at 72-96 dpi. Images published in articles or for general use 100-200dpi and high quality framed prints at greater than 300dpi.

You need to make sure it has enough resolution. If you right click on an image and pick properties, it will tell you your image’s dimensions in pixels (or dots). For example an image may be 3000 x 2000 pixels. If you display or print that 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall that would be 3000 divided by 6 dots per inch (3000 pixels spread over 6 inches) which would be 500 dpi.

See the FAQ about resolution on what resolution is good.

Aspect ratio is the size of the long edge of a photo compared to its shorter edge, usually as a ratio. This shows what sizes that image can be printed at to exactly fit the paper, without cropping or borders. For example a 6” x 4” photo is an aspect ratio of 3:2. So a 3:2 can be printed 3” x 2”, or 6” x 4” or 12” x 8” (doubling both figures) exactly without cropping. If you printed a 3:2 print on a 4:5 paper (8” x 10” for example) it wouldn’t exactly fit, and would have to be cropped. Imaging printing a 4” x 4” square photo (1:1) on 6”x 4” (3:2) paper – there would be a white border either side of the image.

This can be confusing, so we will always help you if you are unsure or feel free to ask us what paper sizes you can consider. If you right click an image, go to properties and get its dimensions in pixels (3000 x 2000 for example), we will tell you what aspect ratios this will fit and what the maximum size you can consider for its resolution. Just grab a ticket.

Cropping is usually done to make an image of one aspect ratio, fit a paper of a different aspect ratio, although it is used to ‘zoom’ in on a particular part of an image. It effectively cuts bits of the image away to create a new size or ‘zoom’.

Both methods are applied to an entire image to ‘correct’ or balance it to a more ‘normal’ feel.

White Balance

This balances an image’s ‘colour temperature’ so that all of the whites appear pure white, the blacks appear black and the greys are a neutral grey. This neutralises the colour spread so that photos with a bluish (cold) tinge are warmed and yellowish (warm) tinges are cooled. This is effective when images are taken under artificial light that colours them.

Lighting Balance

This is similar to white balance but instead of colour temperature it balances the luminance of the image (or dynamic range). It shifts the shadows to become lightened so only the darkest areas are just black and the highlights so only the brightest areas are white. It also shifts the mid-tones to just grey, aiming to perfectly ‘expose’ the entire image. This effect is limited by the quality of the original exposure when the photo was created.

These are basically the same thing. Digital editing (or manipulation) is when specialist software is used to change an image, either subtlety or dramatically. The most well-known software (used by us along with other brands) is “Adobe Photoshop”. It is because of this excellent software’s effectiveness that the process of digital editing is sometimes called ‘photoshopping’ but Photoshop is actually a trademark of adobe’s flagship photo editor.

We will often provide samples of work done for a client to review or pick final images. These are often watermarked and provided at low resolution to protect our copyright.

This may vary from photo to photo. We may specify the maximum resolution the images supplied. If it is not specified then they will be supplied as high as possible.

Where specified, this will give you the maximum size the samples are intended to print (or display), where they will achieve at least a certain dpi.

Designed as a general purpose photograph size where it will achieve at least 200 dpi when the longest side of the photograph is enlarged to 9 inches.

Designed as a web/email photograph, where it will achieve at least 96 dpi when the longest side of the photograph is enlarged to 9 inches.