# conversion from pixels to inches



## mom2inky (Sep 16, 2005)

i have a photo i use as a wallpaper which is 1024x768; i would like to have a 5x7 printed of this but am confused on how to do this. found on the net that your pixel dimensions have to be 1152x864 to get a 5x7 print; does that mean i can't get a 5x7 from my 1024 x 768? thanks all!!


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## itsjusme (Aug 19, 2006)

What software are you using to print with? You should be able to take just about any picture you want and print it out as 5x7. The quality of the picture will depend on the resolution of the original image, but even with software that ships with cheap printers you should be able to print it 5x7 with no problem, or as big as you want up to the limit of the printer.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

You should be able to get a 5x7 inch print made from a 1024x768 pixel file. However if you want the photo to fill the 7 inch width of the print you will loose a few pixels at the top and bottom with only 731 pixels being printed. If you do not want to loose any pixels, you will end up with white space at the left and right sides. It has to do with the fact that 1024/768 is not the same aspect ratio as 7/5.


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## 911 (Mar 26, 2003)

*Get the free program Irfanview. http://www.irfanview.com/

Use it to open the image. It will allow you to adjust the dimensions of the image, or crop it or add 'canvas' to any or all sides of the image, if you wish to do so.

When you select 'Print' Irfanview will offer many options to adjust the print size of the image, and will allow stretching or shrinking of the dimensions to fit any image size you choose.

If you are not a perfectionist, there are 'best fit' options that will look pretty good.

You may need to waste a few pages learning or experimenting, but once you learn to use it, it is a marvelous program.*


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## MtViewer (May 9, 2003)

I ran into this issue when I uploaded photos from my digital camera to Snapfish.com, a photo printing site owned by HP. I either got back prints that were cropped inappropriately or had unexpected white borders. This is because my digital camera produces photos (files I sent to Snapfish) that are no longer in the same dimensions print cameras used to produce. Prints we order (ie. 4x6's, 5x7's etc.) were based on print camera film. 

Here is the help Snapfish.com sent me:

The following chart details the *recommended minimum resolutions* by picture size that will yield the highest quality pictures:

Print Size Minimum resolution recommended
4 x 6............................540 x 360 pixels 
5 x 7............................550 x 393 pixels 
8 x 10..........................960 x 770 pixels 
Wallet size (3 x 2")..........419 x 279 pixels

Note: this means if the picture you want to print has less than these numbers of pixels on its length and width the photo might look fuzzy or grainy. However you CAN have photos with 2x's, 3x's etc. these dimensions on each side; same increase on length and width (ie. no need to reduce these as long as they are in the same ratio of length to width).

If instead your graphics conversion software allows you to change the "Aspect Ratio" in the resizing process follow these guidelines:

Please note that if you would rather correct the aspect ratios of your digital files prior to uploading then to your Snapfish account, here are the correct aspect ratios for the various print sizes:

4x6 = 1.5 to 1
5x7 = 1.4 to 1
8x10 = 1.25 to 1

Aspect ratio is expressed as some number to 1 meaning one side is that much larger than another. To test that this aspect ratio is correct resize your photo to the size in pixels above for a 4x6 print and look at the Aspect Ratio, if available. They should read "540 x 360 pixels" (or some multiple) and "1.5 to 1" respectively.
(360 X 1.5 = 540 AND 4 inches X 1.5 = 6 inches >> a 4x6 print)

If you have the correct aspect ratio the print will look the same as the photo you submit.

Once you choose to change the Aspect Ratio only the length OR width of you original print can stay the same (or otherwise it would already be the correct Aspect Ratio). This can lead to unacceptable distortion but you can play with increasing or decreasing both the length and width to get close to the correct length and with and then finish the resizing using the Aspect Ratio for a properly sized print. This may lead to more controllable distortion.

The alternative, already suggested here is to create a New image with the correct "size in pixels" (length and width) and/or Aspect Ratio. If this turns out to be smaller than your original photo add the same number of pixels to both the length and width on this New image so it is larger than your photo. Copy and paste your original photo onto this correctly sized new image. Leave a border. When the print comes from back you can cut off as much of the border as you wish or cover it during the framing process. The border means the photo printer won't crop your image but you can! 

Hope this helps.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

mom2inky said:


> i ... found on the net that your pixel dimensions have to be 1152x864 to get a 5x7 print; does that mean i can't get a 5x7 from my 1024 x 768?


There are no hard and fast pixel requirements for any picture. It all depends upon what sort of fineness or detail of printing you want, or are capable of having, when you go to print.

The more pixels, generally the more detail you can print. However, there will be a point where if you have more pixels than what can print, in a certain amount of space, then that is just wasted effort on your part. (Wasting either time or file size, perhaps both.)
For example, if your printer can print only a maximum of 300 pixels per inch, then having any more than that is pretty much not needed.

In your case, you have a desire to make a 5x7 print, and your numbers are off a little bit, but it is approximately 150 pixels per inch (a true 150ppi for a 5x7 print would be 750x1050 pixels, but your image, at 768x1024, is very close - just a little distorted). A lot of people might think that printing a color image at 150ppi would be totally acceptable, other people may think that would be pure crap. It is really all up to your desire for detail.

Some print houses, if you were to get something published, may specify some particular ppi or a minimum ppi, and it is not that it is really a physical requirement, but they want some amount of detail that they think their customers would expect for a particular result.

As for getting a 5x7 inch print from very few pixels, you surely can do that. If your picture was only 10 pixels by (to keep the numbers simple) 14 pixels, you could still print it out to 5x7 inchels. Sure the result will be really REALLY blocky, looking like a large checkerboard, but perhaps that is what you want. Perhaps not? It is really up to your desire. You can't print more detail than what is contained in the picture, so it is better to have more pixels to start with, and then go downward from there, if needed.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

You can print a picture to any physical size … But how good will it be ?? 
Let's convert Pixels and Inches … to Pixels per Inch … and see.

Your 1024 pixel wide picture will print 7 inches wide using 146 pixels per inch.
1024pixels / 7 inches = 146 Pixels per inch (PPI) ... or printed dots per inch (DPI)

The more Pixels per Inch .. The better the picture resolution (sharpness) will be.

Rough numbers .. But generally ..
Good = 100 dpi
Better = 200 dpi
Best = 300 dpi.

I think you'll be OK printing this to a 5x7 …. at about 146 dpi.

And I'd use the freeware Irfanview to do the printing …. 
If you don't already have a good Image Viewer and Editor program.


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## mom2inky (Sep 16, 2005)

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INFO!! putting pics on cd and having WM print will let you all know how they turn out!


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

For future reference you might want to crop the images yourself to the right proportions for the print size rather than let Wallyworld do it for you. You sometimes get tops of heads cut off and such. You also will find that you can get a print that has more of what you want in it or just looks better proportionally. If you just send the image to the photofinisher they will crop equal amounts - usually off the top and bottom. You don't lose as much cropping a 4:3 image to 5 X 7 as you do cropping to 4 X 6, but it can still be irritating to have stuff cropped off you hadn't intended to lose.

This free program is very easy to use and is specifically for that task: http://ekot.dk/programmer/JPEGCrops/


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