Pixels, resolution and print quality: every wedding photographer deals with these elements. In fact, it is no surprise that the yield of the final result depends - at least partially - on these factors.
Yet not all customers realize how widespread the importance of high resolution is in photography. It is used to obtain beautiful photographs, yes, but why? In what respects? Let's see them together.
The importance of high resolution in wedding photography
There are grooms who love a glossy style, others who prefer a vintage filter and still others who want their photographs to be as natural as possible. In short, a photograph is beautiful depending on who looks at it.
The situation changes if we talk about quality wedding photography. This is where resolution comes into play, which largely affects the technical value of a shot.
This concept is not reduced to the simple visual impact of the photo itself. In fact, there are people who also appreciate a polaroid. The true value of a high resolution - and a good wedding photographer knows this - is also linked to the versatility of an HD photo.
As you can see on the wedding photographers' website, there are many wedding album printing formats. From the maxi album to the online photo album, to the mini book, to which are then added the prints developed to be framed.
The resolution in wedding photography makes it possible to exploit maximum elasticity, so as to print your photographs in all the formats you want, without ever losing image quality.
This is why we always give all the shots in HD format to our customers.
What is resolution in photography
We have already said that resolution can be described as image quality. The higher the resolution in wedding photography, the more defined and sharper the photos in your album will be.
In reality it is a question of pixels and points. In fact, resolution is measured in megapixels (millions of pixels), i.e. based on the quantity and density of pixels contained - or imprinted - in the photograph.
Try breaking down an image into a collection of microscopic points. The more points captured, the closer the shot is to the original object.
In this sense resolution is information. To describe an object verbally you need to use words: the more adjectives you find, the more vivid your description. Likewise, the pixels make an identikit of the image.
Fortunately, today a wedding photographer has a wide choice of latest generation digital cameras available, which offer very high resolutions. This is why it is important to have the right professional equipment.
Difference between image quality and print quality
We talked about how resolution affects print quality. True, but these are two different concepts, which should be distinguished.
Resolution in photography is image quality, referring to a digital screen, such as that of a PC. Print quality, on the other hand, is the rendering of the image once printed on paper.
Of course, the two concepts do not always go hand in hand. Indeed, they depend – and therefore change – on different factors.
When it comes to print quality, for example, a lot depends on the paper you decide to print on. A wedding photographer who works in a professional studio like ours works with many formats and knows the result obtainable with each of them.
The real difference between image quality and print quality is due to the fact that in a printed photo the ink dots may be closer together than in the screen image. So, for the same shot, there are multiple points in a single pixel.
This difference is important and must be taken into account before going to print.
Never print photos at the same resolution as your screen: this is a golden rule. While the resolution of a screen is around 72 pixels per inch, in the case of a print it is necessary to stay between 300 and 1800 points.
Ppi vs. Dpi: technical in-depth analysis
Let's go into more detail than what has been said so far.
As you may have noticed I used both the word '"dot" and "pixel". The two terms are not the same thing, although by convention today they are often used interchangeably.
When we talk about resolution in wedding photography, we must distinguish ppi from dpi. The former indicate pixels per inch, while the latter indicate dots per inch.
Ppi therefore refers to digital photography which, as already mentioned, is measured in pixels. For printing, however, dpi applies.
I have already specified that the same photo has more points than pixels. The reason is easy to understand: a single pixel can be composed of different colors of ink, because the printer, to reproduce the color of the pixel, must mix the inks it has available. It follows that a pixel is made up of multiple points.
Let's take for example a 1200 dpi printer (i.e. one that prints with 1200 dots per inch). When printing a 300 ppi image, each pixel corresponds to 16 dots: 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi / 300 ppi x 300 ppi.
I hope you have understood the importance of wedding photography resolution and how you need to keep in mind the difference between ppi and dpi when printing a wedding album.
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