911! Saving images in PS at 300 DPI vs PPI for printing

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 2, 2023
4 replies
3932 views

I'm printing a book of my images (which are very bright, vibrant, and detailed) and the test prints are coming back AWFUL - murky, dark, loss of detail, streaking/banding. The cover, however, is absolutely perfect. Aside from the fact that it is glossy, while the images in the book are on matte paper (cannot be changed), the cover file was created in Illustrator (or similar graphic software) even though the original image processed in PS.

It would appear that my images (all processed in PS) are not including or retaining DPI information for the printer, no matter how I save them. They are all set to 300 PPI (under Image - Image Size - Resolution.

I've tried every form of saving the jpg: Save As (legacy), Save Copy, Export As - none of these offers the option for DPI. So while all my images ARE 300 PPI, I do not know if the printers are reading this as 300 DPI. It certainly looks like they're printing low res versions - there is pixilating/banding in the dark areas.

All images were shot in RAW, and are maximum size for my camera. The typical image dimensions are 4429x4279, and 300 PPI. Some are slightly smaller, a few slightly larger, all 300 PPI. I should be able to create billboards from them! I'm freaking out because my publish date is the 20th.

I just need to know how to include DPI info in the image files. I already know the difference between DPI and PPI, and know how to get 300 PPI. I'm on Windows 10, PS 2023.

Windows

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jane-e

Community Expert

@22tanguera wrote:

I just need to know how to include DPI info in the image files.

You can't include DPI in your image files — you can only control the amount of ink in the physical printing device.

https://99designs.com/blog/tips/ppi-vs-dpi-whats-the-difference/

Jane

2

22tangueraAuthor

Known Participant

How can I get the inside of the book to look like the outside of the book?

This is the cover, and this is what it looks like printed. I created all the images in PS, all saved the same way. This particular image was imported into Illustrator and submitted to the same printer in a separate file for the cover. The printed version of the cover is almost identical to this.

2

22tangueraAuthor

Known Participant

PS - I did not create the cover file, nor do I own Illustrator.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

Anecdotally DPI and PPI are the same in the printing world. Dont shoot the messenger @TheDigitalDog

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

The PPI value is meaningless! Its just metadata. Work in pixels (HxW); what are those images?

100x100@100PPi is no different from 100x100@1000PPI! They both have 100x100 pixels.

This very, very old primer on resolution still seems necessary to post; this may help in understanding what the printer clearly doesn't by their request:
http://digitaldog.net/files/Resolution.pdf

The raws are 4429x4279, great. What are the TIFFs (or PSDs or JPEGs) in pixel dimension?

BTW, no matter the number of pixels, images that are murky or dark will reproduce mirky and dark. This isn't an attribute of the number of pixels (the resolution). A loss of detail, yes, that would be a factor.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

2

22tangueraAuthor

Known Participant

The photos are the same pixel size as the raws: 4429x4279.

Here are the before and afters of one of my darker images. Yes, I understand displayed images appear brighter than printed ones, and the photo of the page looks a bit worse than on the page. But there is such a loss of detail in the darks, the lights all seem clipped, and the pixilation/banding is just unacceptable.