PS pros, HELP!!!!

[IndyJeff]

My son is giving his girlfriend a heart shaped locket for Christmas. I need to reduce a pic of him and one of her to rouughly 1/2 X 1/2 inch. I have tried it and it comes out very grainey.
My question now would be the following

1. What resolution should I have this at to get a sharp image
2. Is it better to crop their heads out of the original and work with just that
3. What file size would you shoot this at on a D60, RAW, LargeFine, SmallFine?

Unfortunately I have procrastinated and I am now under a crunch to get it done by tomorrow as this is when he is supposed to give it to her.

I know somebody on here has the answer and maybe even experience doing this.

Thanks in advance

[RichardtheSane]

Here is what I do with images I want to print a different sizes...
I would go to the Image Size panel, UNTICK the 'Resample Image' box then enter the actual image size I want to print out at in the boxes. It then prints at that exact size on the page and looks great :)

[robertwgross]

Discussion of the resolution of the original image is irrelevant. For a print that small, anything will work.

The relevant discussion is what kind of printer to use, and how to set up the print driver to get the finest print resolution onto glossy paper.

---Bob Gross---

[IndyJeff]

Thanks guys, here is what I did:

I bumped the res up to 600, set width at .5 inch and it did fine. The problem I think was caused by the 72 res.

The hard part was cutting the dadblamed thing to fit, once I figured out how to insert the pic, it was a breeze.

I just love life's little challenges, usually after I figure them out tho!!!

[Motorsports Photo]

IndyJeff wrote:
I bumped the res up to 600, set width at .5 inch and it did fine. The problem I think was caused by the 72 res.


You ought to know better than to try to print anything at 72!

(-:

Happy holidays!

-Pete

[IndyJeff]

Motorsports Photo I haven't had any problems printing anything else at 72. that is the res that the D60 shoots at. So far all have come out just fine. All I have ever had to do was just resize the file and print.

On a side note, are you also known as "Speedy Pete"?

[Belmondo]

IndyJeff wrote:
Motorsports Photo I haven't had any problems printing anything else at 72. that is the res that the D60 shoots at. So far all have come out just fine. All I have ever had to do was just resize the file and print.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that. Your D60 shoots at a resolution of 3072 X 2048. The 72 dpi usually only refers to a display resolution. At 100% magnification, the 6.3 megapixel image would give you a print roughly 42 X 28 inches. Are you referring to the screen resolution of the displayed image? If so, one really has very little to do with the other. In truth, a 72dpi print is not going to be very good at all----I don't get acceptable results until at least around 150-200 dpi.

I think (hope) you're mixing up your terms.

[Avarond]

Whats probably happening in this situation is IndyJeff is reducing the size of his pics down without resampling which in turn is increasing his resolution. For instance if the original size is 3072x2048 at 72 dpi then reducing your picture 50 percent is equal to raising the dpi to 150 dpi or so. That is why the pictures look better even though he isnt actually changing the dpi settings.

Coming from a strong prepress background I deal with resolution problems constantly.

By the way love the forum and im learning lots since im an totally new to all this camera stuff. Just got the Dreb the 50mm f1.8 is getting ordered next week, then its on to the 70-200 L.

Larry

[IndyJeff]

LOL Yeah what Larry said above. I am confusing.

When I take the image into PS it is 42x28, I reduce the size and never mess with the res. So I guess it changes the dpi to a higher setting as I reduce the print size.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?