I dont remember what the dpi is on thos thigns bt most of them are poorly maintained and calibrated wrong they are fussy resolution qisw

Huh, there's a few possible answers to this problem, one is img ratio. though it sounds like you've gotten that already worked out, but it's possible the system simply works out height based on width or vice versa.

Second certain Image formats specify image dimensions separate from DPI, i honestly cannot remember if Jpeg has that capability and even less sure if the kiosk's would make use of it.

Third, I've only heard of this affecting video and I'd need a camera buff to confirm and I don't believe it's likely, but perhaps the systems don't use a 1:1 pixel/dot ratio possibly it's something silly like 1:1.39


As Jace said alot of these terminals are poorly set up and maintained, might want to try another venue if you continue to get inconsistent results.


300dpi is actually quite low resolution for an image i believe. most home printers operate at around 600 DPI and i believe those kiosk's actually rated much higher. possibly it's error in the upscaling of the images?

I've thought about that too, but if there is any odd width/height ratios my squares would not be square - they are.

Second if it worked on widths or heights, the image wouldn't be be bigger than the actual printed paper. I checked the width and height were off the edged of the paper.

I think someone just scaled the images so they were bigger than the print medium, instead of printing it as 1:1 scale.

I will take a ruler and check next time when I get the photos and complain if they are not right.

JPGs can specify DPI. However, it's quite likely that the kiosk would ignore it unless it was asked to use it specifically. Most users have no understanding of these elements, so they're typically set to something stupid. So the kiosk is better off making its own guess at what the user actually wants.

As for image resolution, 300dpi is actually more than needed. In fact, there is no benefit to resolutions above around 180-220dpi in the source image for a high quality lithographic print, much less other forms of printing. The printer simply can not reproduce more detail than that.

But wait... don't high quality printers run around 5000dpi? Well, yes. But that's printer resolution. The printer can only produce 3-7 solid colors at that resolution and must print extremely fine dithered dot patterns mixing those colors to approximate the 16 million color range possible in the source image. The actual effective resolution is only about 180dpi for a very good printer.

So basically, those big dpi numbers that get thrown around are more or less marketting hype.

For source images, anywhere between 200-300dpi is good. 300dpi is a good resolution for editting because it leaves room to crop the image as necessary without dropping below that 180-220dpi threshold. Above 300dpi is just wasteful.

For images which are purely black and white (not greyscale), the rules are different. The printer can use pure colors and doesn't need dither patterns. Effective dpi rises sharply and reaches a ceiling at about 600dpi. Higher than that, once again, produces no further benefit.

Anyway, hope that helps.

I wasn't expecting to wake up to a printing lesson this morning, but it was awesome all the same. I know it was meant for Ara, but thanks anyway. Neat read. ^^

Thats exactly why I do art at 300dpi and why I print out at 300dpi too. No sign of pixels - art look gorgeous. 200dpi you can still see the pixels if you look carefully.

I hope your not forking out Mega Bickie for this, bris.

I was thinking at first of the Photo BOOTHS they have up here, then realized you meant an actuall old fashioned printmaker.
what it sounds like is that they're automatically resizing everything to fit the paper. mabey they're too used to dealing with the fixed pixel sizes that go with digital cameras. all I know is that we don't bother with a photo kiosk unless it's actual film we're dealing with. and we haven't bothered with a film camera (but still have them) for almost a decade.

They kiosk are resizing my work, but not to fit the size of the paper. How can a 4x6" file not fit onto a 4x6" piece of paper???

Mind you, I thought all kiosks are the same and Im using one of the cheapest. Maybe that makes the difference.

I always go to one of those mom-and-pop run places for digital art prints, as it seems that if you own the place yourself you actually know how to use the equipment there. I went to Staples a few times, but they're not that bright (I suppose because it's a summer job rather than a profession). Staples and the like are known to print off the wrong items over and over and not notice on their own I don't want a blown up image of a 100x100 icon.

Well this is what you have to remember, is that no matter what automations the kiosk has, the photos are still being processed by a human in the back. So you have to talk to them to make sure the measurements are a priority, otherwise they're just going to do what they do and process them like they would some soccer mom's birthday photos...

Excellent! The process isnt 100% automated. So there is human intervention at some point. Im beginning to draw the conclusion too that the guy behind the counter yesterday had too much time on his hands and fiddled the pictures up to remove the white space around the art, not knowing I NEEDED that space.

This time Im ready. I'm taking a tape measure in and will measure the pictures up as soon as I get them. If they have been resized, I'll demand then get done again.

This is ancient now, and you've probably figured it out, but... obviously people don't want borders on their already tiny 4"x6" prints, so the kiosks apply the same crop that conventional photo-printing would. They'll probably also scale to fit the 'page.'

IIRC the cost-per-page for the current crop of Kodak photo printers is as good as the kiosk, so you may want to look into those to have more control and do it from the comfort of your own home. Quality's also quite good, of course, and they're very convenient as a charging/docking station if you have a Kodak or compatible camera. (Pulling memory cards is for suckers!)

Another alternative would be to hit up a print shop like a Kinko's; color laser on glossy paper can also be more-than-good these days, and they'll either control for size for you, or (at a high-volume place like Kinko's) let you keep printing and only charge for the results you wanted.