Thursday session with Steve part.3

This week we talked about picture resolution (RGB which stands for red, green and blue) and how a picture is composed by a huge amount of pixels. Steve decided to go through this subject so that we could learn how to make the best out of using the printing room (on level 6). To explain better he showed us how to look at the resolution on a picture and how to change it. First of all, the resolution depends on whether the picture needs to be printed or used as a web file. According to him, in order to print a good quality picture the resolution needs to be of 300 DPI (which is the standard option), whilst on a screen you don't need as many pixels, therefore what you need is a 72 PPI (pixel per inch).

Afterwards, he showed us how to find all the information regarding how to use the printing facilities on a specific section on Blackboard. Before heading to the Printing room we had a tutorial on how to change the resolution of a picture into 72PPI (for web) using Photoshop. This part of the lecture was essential because Steve gave us some very useful tips. For instance, it is extremely important that the size of the picture you are going to upload on the web is as low as possible (possibly under 10mb). Also, to remember when closing the Photoshop file not to save, so that it is not going to disrupt the original RAW file.

Instead, if you decide to print a picture there are more options to consider such as the type of paper needed and laying out the picture properly on Photoshop in order to not waste any paper. Another important tip: Always leave at least 3 mm of white space at the edges (using a ruler on Photoshop) and that is because the printer doesn't do it automatically.

The last part of this session involved trying to set up an image to eventually print. After the very detailed tutorial we had, setting up everything to print a picture was extremely easy and quick especially because if I had any doubts at all I could always double-check with Steve.

I believe that these lectures with Steve will be extremely helpful in the future, especially next year. What I learned throughout these weeks is to be aware of how important is to know all the technicalities behind a picture and to be able to present at my best future projects.