How do I resize an online photo to be the size of a regular printed photograph?

Question

What pixel height and width do I need to make it ?

Answer 1

To get a good print you need 100 to 300 pixels per inch (ppi), depending on the printer. So for example, a 4x6 inch print would require at least 400x600 pixels. More pixels would (e.g. 800x1200) would give a clearer print.

There may be a problem, however. Most online photos are low resolution (ppi). Although photo editing software can "resize" the image and add more new pixels, the way it is done results in a more fuzzy picture. (The existing pixels are stretched farther apart, and new pixels are created based on the surrounding original pixels. This causes edges to blur.)

Look for a website that offers higher resolution pictures for download. You may have to pay a few dollars.

Or if it is a special photo, try downloading and resizing and see if the print is clear enough.

Good Luck

Answer 2

The "Gold Standard" is 300 ppi. For 4x6, this would mean 1200x1800 pixels, which works out to 2.16MP. You would be hard pressed to see the difference between 300 and 200 ppi prints at 4x6. 200 ppi gives 800x1200 or 0.96MP. Some places will reject anything below 175 ppi. Your 800 pixel width works out to 133 ppi. Stick to at least 1200 pixels wide. Someone is sure to point out that "ppi" is screen resolution and "dpi" is print resolution, but since you are talking about resizing image files, I am speaking in terms of ppi.

Answer 3

be carful pulling things from off the internet, typically these are 72 to 96 dpi (dots per inch) and for nice print quality you want something closer to 300. You can upsamle the resolution only if you are making the size of the photo smaller.
Example:
Good - 96 dpi 20in x 12in to 300 dpi 5in x 3in
Bad- 96 dpi at 3 x 5 to 300 3 x 5.
I hope that makes sense. If you print at the lower dpi your pics will turn out aweful. Good luck hope I helped at least make sense of it!

Answer 4

What you are doing is illegal and can be punished in a court of law. I speak for all photographers when I say, "Shame on you!" You would be taking hard earned money from hard working people if you just lifted one of their pix from the net. It's one thing to copy a photo in it's original size from the net (those pix are usually low resolution and much can't be done with them anyway)but to want to make it into a photo sized pic would be wrong and illegal. I implore you not to do such a thing. I am not saying don't copy the pix at all for a school project or to show a friend. That is fine but to want to copy em and change em to make em better to sale or what have you is immoral and illegal.

Answer 5

There's a program you can get it's http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize I hope this helps.