Preventing Blurry Pictures: The Keys to Clear Images

[tarekma7]

There’s nothing more frustrating than blurry pictures. While you can try tinkering in a photo editing program, or shrinking the image and crossing your fingers in hopes that no one looks too closely, the best strategy is to start with crystal clear pictures.

We’ve rounded up some of the best info we have on capturing high quality images – whether it’s a photo from a camera, or a screenshot on your computer screen. The following articles will help ensure you don’t end up with blurry pictures or images. To make it so that you don’t have to read every post, we’ve pulled out some of the highlights.

Start with the Basics

What is a pixel? Pixels are the small dots that make up your computer, TV, and phone screen. Digital displays are comprised of pixels. Pixels work together by switching colors extremely fast to create a persistent and smooth viewing experience.

A few important terms related to pixels you might come across include:
Resolution: size of the image in pixels (ex: 1920 x 1080)
Color depth: how many colors are being used to display the image (ex: 32-bit)
Pixel density: the relationship between resolution and physical size of screen (ex: 1080p, or ppi: pixels per inch)
More on pixels in the post: All About Pixels: Resolution, Color Depth, and Pixel Density

Resolve Confusion with High Resolution

Do you ever grab a logo and print it only to discover it looks choppy or “pixelated”? Or taken pictures with your phone, and tried printing them but they just don’t turn out clear? It was probably a low resolution image that wasn’t intended for print. When taking pictures or images, it’s important to start by thinking about where the image will be used: on the web, or printed? You may also need to adjust your phone camera settings to be sure it’s set to take higher-resolution photos if you intend to print them. (I’m looking at you, Mom…)

A few things to keep in mind regarding resolutions:
Low resolution is around 72 pixels per inch (ppi) – perfect for on-screen
High resolution is around 300 pixels per inch (ppi) – good print quality
A low resolution photo may look great on screen, but look blurry when printed

How to Resize Your Image

We’ve all been there. You need an image a little bigger, you grab the corner and drag, and are sorely disappointed when it looks like your eyesight has suddenly deteriorated. Or your image looks like it belongs in a fun-house mirror. Remember how we talked about pixels and pixel density (“dpi: dots per inch” or “ppi: pixels per inch”)? Those things determine the limits you can stretch your image to without it being blurry.

Tips for resizing images:

Maintain aspect ratio (ex: 4:3) to avoid distorting your image (stretching or squishing)
Know how large you CAN make your image: What are the dimensions, how big do you need it to be?
Use an image editing program to resize when possible to get the right size, rather than inserting an image and trying to resize in-program (ex: WordPress, Google Docs, etc.)

Continue reading HERE

[tarekma7]

Blurry Pictures Are the Worst!