If you are just getting started with digital scrapbooking, then this basic lesson is for you. It is a lot easier than you might imagine.

Digital Image Resolution

The tiny dots that make up an image are called pixels. The word “pixel” is computer speak meaning picture element and generally is the smallest part of any type of digitally represented image. People are easily confused because the word pixel assumes subtle differences in meaning depending on the context in which it is used such as in printed images or the megapixels in a digital camera.

To simplify this discussion, just think of a pixel as a tiny point of light or color representing a very small component of a much larger image.

People also talk about resolution when referring to pixels. Resolution is a measurement of how many pixels fit into a certain defined space. You may have heard of “dots per inch” (DPI) or “pixels per inch” (PPI) and the meaning of these two terms adds to the confusion because once again it depends on the context in which the term is used.

Let’s simplify once again by saying that image resolution is an expression of how much detail an image holds.

Our TVs, computer screens, cell phones, and even digital photographs are full of pixels – thousands and thousands of them all crowded together so closely it tricks the human brain into thinking these tiny dots are a smooth image. These digital images appear just about anywhere we look in our technology filled world, from our PDAs to our car dashboard to the giant electronic billboards on display along the highway or in New York’s Times Square.

The higher the pixel count within an image, the better the photograph looks. On the contrary, if the number of pixels is too low, the image quality degrades. So you may be able to distinguish the individual dots in a microwave display but a printed digital photo looks as smooth as glass. A pixelated image results when the pixel count is so low, you can see the jagged edges.

Digital cameras have made sharing photos easier than ever. No longer do you have to get film developed and multiple copies printed. Today, many people share their photos through email and social network sites. However, before doing this the image taken from the digital camera is usually downsized.

Digital cameras are built to duplicate film camera quality and therefore capture images with a huge pixel resolution. Compare that to nearly all home computer displays that have a low pixel count, generally under 100 pixels in an inch. Displaying the former on the latter results in an image that appears much larger than the computer screen. Digital cameras capture images at high resolution to facilitate photographic quality prints. But e-mailing this large image file will take megabytes of data and many e-mail users will disallow it.

Image Resampling

The key is resampling the image which is computer speak for altering the resolution. Decreasing the number of pixels will make the image appear normal on a computer screen. And this will allow you to e-mail Mom with the most recent family photos from your recent vacation. But after changing the resolution of the image, don’t think that you will still get a good print anymore since you’ve taken out so many pixels.

To sum it all up, here is what you need to take away from this short article. Digital images that will be printed need to be at a high resolution whereas images displayed on a computer screen need only a low resolution.

If you intend to do both of the above, make a copy of your original digital image for playing around with. In addition to preparing for both printing and viewing images correctly, this is also a highly recommended backup plan for all of your digital images.

Now you are ready to take lots of digital photographs and be able to print and share them without any more problems.

For a more complete description of how to re-sample digital images and more topics on digital photo editing, see how to use Photoshop at www.toNoodle.com.