Pixels

[jw001]

I had a shoot yesterday at the Mesquite Animal Shelter. I am giving each customer a web ready photo. What is the PPI (pixels per inch) that gives a relatively clear email photo, but won't allow a good print to be made by the customer off the email?
I use PS, and is the resize option the best, or save for web option?
thanks in advance
Jeff

[ronocnikral]

we use save for the web. 72 dpi is what we use and is the norm. and if you use lightroom, this is uber easy.

of course, there is no promise that they can't print it. say you gave them an 8x10 size (whatever that is in pixels...) in 72 dpi. they will most likely be able to shrink that down to a 4x6 and get an ok print. a pro lab won't print it, but walgreens most likely would.

72 dpi gives you optimum viewing on the computer screen.

[venchka]

What Conor said PLUS limit the size to something like 800 pixels on the long side. sRGB for color space.

[srwatters]

dpi means nothing unless it is combined with the size (number of inches). It's pixels that matters. Most small format photos require a fairly high dpi value to get a reasonable print something in the 180ppi range for a 4x6. Take that size and multiply your 72dpi and you could size your image at 288x440 which would be a little small for viewing on screen. If you want to push it up some, maybe around 100dpi (400x600), it would be better but still print at very low resolution. The best solution is for you to size some images at different pixel dimensions and print them to see what quality you would deem 'unacceptable' or be willing to give away.

[CShuler]

I just wanted to throw in that when using the "save for web" option, you are most likely to lose your meta data, which means you lose your embeded copyright. I would take the extra steps and resize then save as jpeg. You can always write an action to do this and it is super easy. I have an action that resizes, puts a watermark then saves as jpeg. I'm able to do this for a whole session in a matter of seconds.