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Introduction |
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Having creative freedom with your digital photos has a lot to do with image quality and resolution. We'll
explain exactly what resolution is, how it differs from camera to camera, and how you can take advantage of
it to produce stunning results.
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Understanding pixels |
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To understand the possibilities of digital photography, let's first explore how digital photos are made.
Like a tile mosaic, every digital picture is made up of tiny squares called pixels. If you zoom in far enough
on any digital image, you can see them. Each little pixel has its own specific colour and brightness. Millions
of these pixels combined together form your digital photo. The more pixels a photo has, the higher the resolution
becomes.
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Digital cameras and megapixels |
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One million pixels is equal to 1 megapixel (MP). The more megapixels your camera has, the higher the resolution of its photos.
A 5MP digital camera might be perfect for you or you may need more.
So how much resolution is enough? That depends. For 4" x 6" prints, 3 MP is perfect. But consider other projects, like
enlarging your photos to 16" x 20", or cropping a small portion of your photo and enlarging just that portion. In this case,
a 5MP camera or higher will give you the resolution you need.
| Camera megapixels |
Largest professional-quality prints |
| 4 MP |
11" x 14" |
| 5-6 MP |
16" x 20" |
| 8 MP |
20" x 30" |
| 10 MP |
Poster size |
Resolution and sharing photos via the Internet |
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Whether you're e-mailing or sharing your photos on the web, knowing the right-sized photo for the job saves
time and frustration. Higher resolution photos contain more information; more information means larger file sizes.
It's best to make your photos smaller than 500K when sending via e-mail. You have two options for bringing
down your file size:
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Set your camera to shoot at a lower resolution.
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Resize your images using HP Photosmart Premier
(packaged with all new HP cameras) or HP Photosmart Essential.
Or, share unlimited photos-regardless of file size-with family and friends through
Snapfish*, HP's online photo sharing website.
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Resolution and memory cards |
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Your photos are also your digital negatives. You may want to edit them in different ways as time goes by. Plan ahead by
archiving them correctly.
Shooting photos at a lower resolution will save space on your memory card or hard drive in the short run, but consider
shooting at the highest resolution for future projects. That way, you'll always have a nice, big image to work from. Who
knows what kinds of creative edits you'll want to make down the road.
This chart shows how photo size affects your memory needs.
| Camera megapixels |
Images on a 64MB memory card |
Images on a 128MB memory card |
Images on a 256MB memory card |
Images on a 512MB memory card |
Images on a 1GB memory card |
| 4MP |
40–50 |
91–100 |
171–189 |
362–400 |
724–800 |
| 5MP |
35–40 |
70–78 |
141–157 |
283–313 |
565–625 |
| 6MP |
27–32 |
57–63 |
113–125 |
226–250 |
452–500 |
| 8MP |
20–23 |
38–42 |
75–83 |
151–167 |
301–333 |
Recommended products |
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Get help deciding with the HP printer buying guide.
See HP's complete lineup of photo printers.
Learn more |
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Award-winning support |
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Related links |
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*Snapfish is not yet available in Canada
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