If you are just getting started with digital scrapbooking, then this elementary lesson is for you. It is a lot easier than you might imagine.

What is Resolution?

A pixel is the name of the tiny dots that make up an image. The word “pixel” is a contraction of the words “picture” (or “pix”) and “element” and generally is the smallest part of any type of digitally represented image. People are easily confused because the word pixel assumes subtle differences in meaning depending on the context in which it is used such as in printed images or the megapixels in a digital camera.

To simplify this discussion, just think of a pixel as a tiny point of light or color representing a very small component of a much larger image.

People also talk about resolution when referring to pixels. Resolution is a measurement of how many pixels fit into a certain defined space. You may have heard of “dots per inch” (DPI) or “pixels per inch” (PPI) and the meaning of these two terms adds to the confusion because once again it depends on the context in which the term is used.

Let’s simplify once again by saying that image resolution is an expression of how much detail an image holds.

Our TVs, computer monitors, cell phones, and even digital cameras are full of pixels – thousands and thousands of them all jam-packed together so closely it tricks the human brain into thinking these tiny dots are a smooth image. These digital images appear just about anywhere we look in our technology filled world, from our PDAs to our car dashboard to the giant electronic billboards on display along the highway or in New York’s Times Square.

The more pixels inside an image, the smoother the photograph looks. On the contrary, if the pixel count is too low, the image quality suffers. So you may be able to distinguish the individual dots in a microwave display but a printed digital photo looks as smooth as glass. A pixelated image results when the pixel count is so low, you can see the jagged edges.

Digital cameras have made sharing photos easier than ever. No longer do you have to get film developed and multiple copies printed. Today, many people share their photos through email and social network sites. However, before doing this the image taken from the digital camera is usually downsized.

Digital cameras are built to duplicate film camera quality and therefore capture images with a huge pixel resolution. Compare that to nearly all home computer monitors that have a low pixel count, typically under 100 pixels in an inch. Displaying high resolution images on a low resolution device results in an image that appears much larger than the computer screen. Digital cameras capture images at high resolution to permit photographic quality prints. But e-mailing this large image file will take megabytes of data and many e-mail users will reject it.

Image Resampling

The solution is resampling the image which is geek speak for changing the resolution. Decreasing the number of pixels makes the image appear normal on a computer monitor. And this will let you e-mail Mom with the most recent family photos from your latest vacation. But after changing the resolution of the image, don’t expect to get a good photograph any longer since you’ve removed too many pixels.

So here is the main thing to remember. Images that will be printed need to be at a high resolution while images displayed on a computer screen need only a low resolution.

If you choose to do both, make a copy of your original digital image for playing around with. In addition to preparing for both printing and viewing images correctly, this is also a highly recommended backup plan for all of your digital images.

With the information presented here, you will not have any more problems with printing and sharing your digital photographs.

For a more in-depth description of how to re-sample digital images and more topics on photo resolution, see how to use Photoshop at www.toNoodle.com.

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