To a Computer Monitor, the Web or Email

For display on a computer monitor, or on the web, or for email, the image should be resized and resampled to around 800 x 600 pixels or smaller, and saved in sRGB color space in the JPEG image file format. If the original is in sRGB, you won't need to do anything. If the original is in Adobe RGB or another color space:

• In Photoshop, go to: Edit > Convert to Profile.
• In earlier versions of Photoshop this is done by: Image > Mode > Convert to Profile.
• Leave the conversion options at their defaults.

After resizing and resampling the image, and converting to sRGB if necessary go to: File > Save As and select JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE) under the Format pull-down menu. Then click the Save button. Another dialog box will open with different options depending on the file format chosen.

For JPEG, you can choose different quality settings from 1 to 12 under Image Options. The higher the number, the better the quality and the larger the file. Number 8 is usually a good compromise between quality and file size for display on the web You can pick an even lower number for emailing images. Select Baseline ("Standard") as the Format option.

To a Print

• Desktop Printer - Desktop inkjet printers print in "dots per inch" (DPI), usually in the 720 - 2880 DPI range.

  Dots are not the same thing as pixels! You do not need 2880 pixels per inch of resolution to print to a high quality inkjet printer!

  Depending the sharpness of the image, and the quality of the printer, anywhere from 150 to 360 pixels per inch are required for excellent prints on today's photo quality inkjet printers. Experimentation is helpful, because you can usually get away with a lot less pixel resolution than you would think.

• One Hour Lab - Many one hour photo labs as well as Wal-Marts, Targets, and drug stores, are now using Fuji Frontier or Noritsu printers to make small prints from 4 x 6 inches up to 8 x 10. These Fuji printers in particular are excellent. You can output digital files directly to the printer. They output to Fuji Crystal Archive photographic paper which has excellent color and long-term stability. This is not a laser copier or inkjet print. It is a photographic print made with lasers. In fact, their quality is so good, and price so inexpensive, that I have completely stopped making desktop inkjet prints. A Fuji Frontier printer costs approximately $60,000. It's not surprising that it produces prints that are superior to desktop inkjet printers that cost under $1,000.

  To print to a Fuji Frontier, simply convert your image to sRGB color space, save the digital file as a high-quality setting 8-bit JPEG, and write it to a compact flash card or CD. Take the digital media into your local store and upload it to the printer, usually with a simple self-service computer interface.

• High End Prints - Really excellent, high-end photographic prints can be made by machines like the Cymbolic Sciences LightJet 5000 and the ZBE Chromira. The LighJet uses red, green and blue lasers to print onto photographic paper. The Chromira uses red, green and blue LEDs to print onto photographic paper.

  These printers require 200 to 300 pixels per inch of true optical resolution in the digital file for best quality. Contact the printer for a color space profile for the specific printer, and convert your image to that profile before printing.