So, you’re ready to capture your artwork to sell it online, or you've taken some amazing photographs with your smartphone that you'd like to produce as fine art prints, but now what? How do you know if your smartphone is taking photos that are good enough to print?
Out of all the questions we get from artists here at PrinTribe, some of the most popular ones are about whether the photos on their smartphones are good enough to print.
Surprising? Not one bit! This is such an important part of your process, as the quality of your prints should meet your needs and your customer’s standards. After all, they certainly aren’t going to appreciate a blurry print when they’re expecting one that’s as rich and vibrant as your original piece.
We’re here to demystify any confusion you may have about your smartphone's photo quality, so you can choose the best resolution to suit your artwork, no matter what size print your customer requests.
Quality Matters, But How Much?
Determining print quality isn’t as straightforward as it seems, but it helps to think of it as a colourful dance between Megapixels, resolution calculations, and the size of your smartphone’s image sensor (the part that lets the light in). Knowing about aspect ratios and pixel-to-cm conversions also helps you print fine art quality images with confidence.
Resolution impacts the quality and details of the print, and it’s measured by Megapixels (MP). A higher number of Megapixels corresponds to more detail and a sharper, more vibrant print. Colours are richer, there’s significantly more depth, and it will generally be a more accurate rendition of your original artwork. Megapixels alone don’t have the final word on the quality of your images – it is just the detail that is most talked about.
How Big Can You Print Images from Your Phone?
Knowing the Megapixels of your mobile phone will give you a ballpark idea of the maximum print size you can choose, without compromising on quality.
Most smartphones nowadays will shoot between 12 and 48 Megapixels, but it really depends on the brand and model of your phone. For reference, iPhones have been able to shoot with a minimum of 12 Megapixels
since 2015, so you can only imagine how much each iPhone’s MP has improved as the years have passed.
Refer to this table if you’re ever confused about how large you should print your piece. Stick it somewhere in your studio so that you’ll always be prepared with the ideal sizes and resolutions every time!
PRO TIP! We recommend uploading your images to PrinTribe at the dimensions and resolutions of the largest size image you intend to print. That way you can print all smaller size variations from the one image.
Resolution Megapixels | Maximum File Size Pixels | Maximum Print Size at 300dpi | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
2 MP | 1600 x 1200 | 14 x 9 cm | Not recommended |
4 MP | 2464 x 1632 | 23 x 15 cm | Not recommended |
8 MP | 3264 x 2448 | 30 x 20 cm | Good quality |
12 MP | 400 x 2800 | 35 x 23 cm | Excellent quality |
16 MP + | 4920 x 3264 | 40 x 30 cm | Excellent quality |
How Aspect Ratio Affects Your Printed Images
It can be confusing to see a preview of your
printed photos appear cropped in comparison to the image viewed on your phone or digitally. The explanation for this lies in aspect ratios. The aspect ratio simply refers to the height-to-width ratio of a rectangular image.
Smartphone cameras generally use 4:3, 16:9 and square (1:1) ratios. For your photo to retain the same dimensions when printed as fine art, the ratio of the paper size you choose, and the ratio your smartphone’s camera shoots in need to match. For example, a 60 x 40cm print size is a 3:2 ratio which will result in cropping of your image if your camera shoots in 4:3 ratio.
But don’t worry – there are still ways to print your images successfully. Adding a white border can compensate for a different aspect ratio and create a beautiful print!
However, cropping is the only option if you desire a borderless edge-to-edge print. PrinTribe’s built-in visual Artwork Editor allows you to make your cropping decisions and gives you control over the final image to create stunning fine art prints.
PRO TIP! Check your phone’s manual to see what ratios your phone shoots in and view instructions to choose your desired ratio for image capture. If you have the knowledge, you can use image editing software such as Photoshop or Affinity to manipulate your image size prior to uploading it to PrinTribe.
Print-Worthy Tips to Keep in Mind
Understanding the intertwining threads of resolution, size, and quality is crucial when you’re looking to transform your works of art into tangible pieces for your customers. By getting yourself familiar with your device’s capabilities and keeping the conversion table at hand, you’re well on your way to creating print-worthy shots every time.
P.S. Did you hear? This is the first of our exciting new Blog Series: Creative Convo Corner - where we’ll be answering the most frequently asked questions from all of you, the amazing artists out there. Make sure you stay tuned for the next instalment of our Creative Convo Corner Series so you never miss out on the answers to your burning questions!
And if you’ve got a query of your own, don’t hesitate to let us know by contacting our team. We can’t wait to hear from you!
