How to set photoshop dpi (ppi) for a high quality 20x30" print?

C

Cointreau

New member
I have a poster I am making, and it will be 20x30 inches. I am doing a space and planet scene. However, when I go to make it, when I zoom to actual pixels it looks great but when I zoom out, the stars turn into a glob.

I have the dpi set to 300 right now. When I go lower (72dpi, it looks fine zoomed out.

All I am concerned about is that the final print will look good.

Remember, 20x30, poster with fine detail. It is not a picture it is a render make completely in photoshop. What dpi should I use.


Thanks
 
300 at least. 72 might look fine on your screen, but it won't print that way.
 
It's fine. The thing about photoshop is that the program is trying to show you a zoomed out version of 300ppi picture on a screen that is only capable of showing 72ppi. What you see on screen at 100%, 50% and 25% is going to give you the best idea of how it will print because they even fractions. You start getting weird displays at zooms like 66.7% and 16.7% because photoshop is trying to interpolate and improper fraction of a pixel.


***Additional***
Use 300 dpi. The photoshop file should have been made at 300 dpi. If it's already made at a low dpi and you're planning on sizing it up, you're going to have loss of detail and some pixelation.

Always always always, make your photoshop files at 300dpi no matter what it's gonna be used for, because you can always scale down later if you need to, but you can't scale up and keep the image clarity.
 
It's fine. The thing about photoshop is that the program is trying to show you a zoomed out version of 300ppi picture on a screen that is only capable of showing 72ppi. What you see on screen at 100%, 50% and 25% is going to give you the best idea of how it will print because they even fractions. You start getting weird displays at zooms like 66.7% and 16.7% because photoshop is trying to interpolate and improper fraction of a pixel.


***Additional***
Use 300 dpi. The photoshop file should have been made at 300 dpi. If it's already made at a low dpi and you're planning on sizing it up, you're going to have loss of detail and some pixelation.

Always always always, make your photoshop files at 300dpi no matter what it's gonna be used for, because you can always scale down later if you need to, but you can't scale up and keep the image clarity.
 
Back
Top