![]() ![]() Using my operating system's handy built-in calculator, 2560 ÷ 23.4 = 109.4, which I'll round off to 109. For example, I'll take the first number in my display resolution, 2560, and divide it by my measured screen width in inches, which was 23.4. This will give you the actual screen resolution in pixels per inch. Then, simply take the first number in your monitor's native display resolution, which gives you the screen width in pixels, and divide it by your measured screen width in inches. Whatever your monitor's native display resolution is, make sure it's what you have it set to in your operating system's display options. For example, a screen with a native display resolution of 1920x10 pixels from left to right and 1080 from top to bottom. Next, make sure your computer monitor is running at its native display resolution, which gives you the actual number of pixels in your display from left to right and top to bottom. Measure the width of your screen (not including the outer border). At the moment, it's being viewed at the 100% zoom level ( young thinking woman photo from Shutterstock): ![]() What happens when we do the math using the wrong numbers? We get the wrong answer, and in the case of the Print Size view mode, Photoshop ends up choosing the wrong zoom level, resulting in a print size preview that's not even close to being accurate.Īs an example, here's an image I currently have open in Photoshop. So what does it do? It just assumes your screen resolution is that good ol' 72 pixels per inch nonsense when it's really much higher than that. ![]() In order for the plan to work, Photoshop needs to know your computer display's screen resolution so it can do the math and figure out the correct zoom level, but Photoshop doesn't know your display's screen resolution and it has no way of finding that out on its own. Not only would this help you visualize the final printed result, it would also help when sharpening the image for output. For example, if you're working on an image that will be printed as a 4圆, the Print Size command would display the image 4 inches x 6 inches on your screen. The way it's supposed to work is that when we choose the Print Size command from the View menu, Photoshop instantly zooms the image to whatever level is needed for it to appear on your screen at the same size it will appear on paper. Like Apple's original 72 pixel-per-inch screen resolution standard from nearly 30 years ago, the goal of Photoshop's Print Size view mode was to give us an accurate preview of how the image on your screen will look when printed. At least, it's accurate if you don't know the two important things we're about to learn - why it's useless and how to fix it! I'm calling it a "mystery" to be polite, but most Photoshop users simply call it "useless", a more accurate description. Yet one zoom option under the View menu has remained a mystery to most Photoshop users over the years - Print Size. Photoshop lets us view our images at just about any zoom size we like using the Zoom Tool, and it also includes a few automatic zoom options under the View menu in the Menu Bar, like Fit on Screen, which zooms the image to whatever size is needed for it to fit entirely within the dimensions of your display, and Actual Pixels which instantly jumps you to the 100% zoom level. I'll be using Photoshop CS6 here but any version from CS4 and up will do.ĭownload this tutorial as a print-ready PDF! The Problem With Photoshop's Print Size View Version Requirements: To get the most from this tutorial, you'll need to be using Photoshop CS4 or higher and that's because we'll be using a feature that Adobe first introduced in CS4. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to take that information, give it to Photoshop, and enjoy much more accurate on-screen previews of how our photos will look when printed! However, we learned in that tutorial that neither of these reasons hold true, and that 72 ppi hasn't actually been a useful "standard" in over 20 years!Īs we learned in that tutorial, computer displays today all have screen resolutions higher than 72 pixels per inch, and we proved it by learning an easy way to find your monitor's actual screen resolution. Others believe a 72 ppi resolution prevents people from downloading and printing high quality versions of the image. Some believe it allows their images to display properly on the web. In a previous tutorial, The 72 ppi Web Resolution Myth, we looked at a belief held by many digital photographers and web designers today that images destined for the web or for viewing on-screen need to be saved in Photoshop at a resolution of 72 pixels per inch. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |