There are simple rules for getting the right image resolution for print and web applications.

A basic rule of thumb is all web graphics are 72dpi and all print media should be 300 dpi and above.

What does this mean? Well in short you must never use images you have on your website for printed material. Web graphics are designed to be nice and small in file size and when viewed on a computer monitor at full scale they appear perfect and clear. People often make the mistake of enlarging a web graphics and using them in print media.

To demonstrate this we have taken an image from our site at its original scale. It looks as it is intended,clean and clear at this size:

When the original graphic is saved for use on the website, specialist software optimises the image. This means all un-necessary data is stripped from the photo leaving just the bare bones of an image. This means that the photo looks clear at its final intended size but increase the size of the optimised image and you get this:

If you look at the image you see it is made up of hundreds of tiny squares, or pixels. This is the same image as above just enlarged as you would do any photo. A print resolution images has more than 4 times the pixels of a web image ,which means the image can be enlarged without loss of clarity (to a point!)

So in short never use images you grabbed off the internet (except for print resolution stock images) if you want nice crisp images in your newspaper ad or magazine feature. You need quality large format high resolution images of 300 dpi plus for all print media especially if you want nice full page sized images. Getting artwork produced by a professional will guarantee your companies image looks great what ever the media and will save you time and money in the long run.