Printing at Higher Resolution?

Let me first show you what im working with.



Im printing this on an Epson Stylus CX4600. It supports 1440DPI Printing. Ive tried setting the resolution in photoshop to 1440 on the printer section (edit/preferences/units & rulers). Ive tried printing on photopaper, glossy photopaper, matte paper, and regular paper. Ive set the printer for best quality, normal quality and everything in between. But still everytime I print, it does not look as it does on the screen. It prints out fairly blurry, you cant read any text thats on it, except the top part, and thats even blurry. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

What is the size of the source file? (the thing you are trying to print).

[QUOTE=thehermit]What is the size of the source file? (the thing you are trying to print).[/QUOTE]


If you are refering to when I right click it and goto properties it says

Size: 78723

Dimensions: 187 x 303



I also tried going to file/new, then setting the deminsions as 8.5 x 11 (paper size) then putting the resolution at 1440..but when I copy it over, its so tiny I cant even see it.

Here's the problem.

That 1440 value is how many printer dots are being deposited per inch. There can be many printer dots deposited to represent one pixel in your image file.

Your image file, at 187px X 303 px is just way too small. For printing, a good rule of thumb is to build images at 300 pixels/per inch. Your image would only print well at about 0.6" X 1.0" There's nothing you can do to increase the effective resolution of your file at this point. You'll have to rebuild it at 300 p.p.i.

Want a good tutorial about image resolution? Bookmark, read and study the following:
http://www.scantips.com

[QUOTE=Utopian23]Here's the problem.

That 1440 value is how many printer dots are being deposited per inch. There can be many printer dots deposited to represent one pixel in your image file.

Your image file, at 187px X 303 px is just way too small. For printing, a good rule of thumb is to build images at 300 pixels/per inch. Your image would only print well at about 0.6" X 1.0" There's nothing you can do to increase the effective resolution of your file at this point. You'll have to rebuild it at 300 p.p.i.

Want a good tutorial about image resolution? Bookmark, read and study the following:
http://www.scantips.com[/QUOTE]


Ok gotcha. The 187px X 303 px is representing the actual physical size correct?

roger that, size in pixels.

chris

If you KNOW that you're going to be going to print with a piece you're going to make in PS; make sure you create the file @ 300 ppi (pixels per inch); and then make it the actual size in inches that you want.

The 'next level' is to create vector art in Adobe Illustrator, which is vector based and not affected by ppi, you can make a piece 8.5x11" and then scale it up to billboard size without losing any resolution.

And the next level to that, is to not use the term ppi (pixels per inch), rather, use dpi (dots per inch) when refering to print jobs. This is the proper way to refer to it when it's a print job and is extremely relevant when dealing with printers and certain print jobs.

Further...

Image size should ALWAYS be referred to in p.p.i when the image is in the digital realm. Scanned, digitally photographed, when working in Photoshop or any other raster-based workflow. The only unit of measurement that matters is pixels per inch.

The p.p.i---»d.p.i calculation is only important when preparing for print output.

ALWAYS scan for output.

Just ask Wayne Fulton:

"We scan for the capability of our output device.

We choose the scan resolution based strictly on the needs of the output device that will process that image."

http://www.scantips.com/basics01.html