Resolute to know Resolution: PDF

So someone says to you, "Your image needs more resolution, the quality is horrible..look at all those little squares and hard edges around the image". So what do you do? Head right on over to the Image>Image size> resolution and just add it. STOP IT! You can not allow Photoshop to fill in those extra pixels and that's what it's doing and you know what will happen? The image will go soft instead of the hard edges you had before. Yep your probably thinking then I am a in hot water. Yes you are as far as this image is concerned but we're going to solve it for the next, and the next, and the next.

And you want to know a secret? This resolution thing only matters if your going to print! If your going to keep that bad boy on the computer/screen then it just doesn't matter. It will matter if you enlarge and want to later on print it…you'll end up with a really soft, poor quality image. Know your needs NOW! My recommendation? Have the most bang for your buck by having alot of resolution now, down sampling is easy, adding is not.

• Photoshop (all versions!) • Image> Image size> This is what it looks like when you bring and image in from your camera or down load it from an image source such as Morgue File. When they say its high Resolution, it is. You just have to adjust it. They uploaded at full size from their camera which is the poster size in inches you see on the left.

So the best thing to do now? Head right down at the bottom of that window and uncheck the resample box. Whats this do? It locks in all the pixels for this image so that you can toss them around where you need them most! HA! Now you can have the quality you were looking for! 300 ppi's is intended for printing professionally, as a student I have found that 200 ppi works quite nicely at the various printing places around town. It is also smaller for storage which can be an issue!

Now you have the resolution locked and are ready to work with the image but alas you have discovered that the iamge is a bit to large for your needs. Simple: recheck the sample Image box so that all your doing now is adjust DOWN the size of image. You will tell your self from now on you will never again enlarge an image in Photoshop or any where else for that matter.