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Please help me understand what "resolution" I should be using

Explorer ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

All the studying and learning I did for PS somehow didn't bring this part up (or I forgot). What resolution should I use for these different types of content?

Banners for social media (Mostly words with gradients and/or background glow around text and (usually small) images)

Banners for paid advertising on websites such as Pornhub (Mostly words with gradients and/or background glow around text and (usually small) images)

Stock photography image with our images and words added

Ads for printed magazines

I feel like this is a really dumb question, but I want to make everything as good as possible.

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

Resolution is a print parameter.

An image just consists of pixels, discrete sizeless data points. That's all it is, nothing else.

Anything destined for screen viewing - websites, social media and so on - already has a resolution, namely, whatever screen it's viewed on. There already is a pixel grid in the screen, and the image pixels align neatly onto that.

For screen, you'll be asked for certain pixel dimensions. So many pixels high by so many pixels wide. There may be scaling if the website is designed to do so, but it all starts with a pixel size.

On paper, there is no such pixel grid, so one has to be invented. That's the pixels per inch number, aka resolution. There has to be a certain pixel density for an image to look good. A standard requirement for book and magazine print is 300 ppi, but for billboards and wall-sized banners it might be as low as 10 or 15 ppi, because it will be seen from a longer distance. It depends on the use. Ask.

Standard procedure is to do the math. You know the physical size the image is supposed to have, and you know the number of pixels in your file. Do the math, and you know what the ppi number ends up at. If you know how the image will be used, and what a sensible ppi requirement is for that use, you then know what a realistic print size is and if the image is big enough.

(Luckily, you don't have to actually do the math with a calculator, although you can do that. But you can just let Photoshop's Image Size dialog do it for you).

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

Oh, forgot: Just keep "resample" unchecked, and you can change ppi to your heart's content without affecting the file in the slightest. The very same file can be used in a book at 300ppi, and a billboard at 15ppi, and work equally well for both. It's just metadata.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019
LATEST

Hi!

I found a cool little list of sizes on a website that I thought might be helpful to you:

Standard Web Digital Image Sizes - Tim Stanley

The best place to find out the sizes of web banners and ads if from the website you are looking to advertise on. It sometimes differs from website to website.

Let us know if you still have any questions,

Michelle

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

Resolution has to do with print and it depends on what you are printing. Pixel dimension depends on the web size you need.

Maybe this will help:

Understanding resolution |

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

On the web, standard resolution is 96 pixels per inch.  In other words, that's what most browsers are capable of rendering on screen.  

Magazines * web banners vary.  Ask the magazine or ad agency what height, width and dpi they require before you create your images.  Most magazines want at least 150 dpi or higher.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
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Advocate ,
Jun 26, 2019 Jun 26, 2019

Thought I'd share this great link on explaining dpi for web vs print.

https://daraskolnick.com/image-dpi-web/

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