The Photopia Blog
Tips, tutorials & inspiration for making slideshows
FEBRUARY 4, By Photopia
Best Image Resolution for Photopia
How can you ensure your images are displayed at their best in your Photopia show? A good place to start is with the resolution of the images you are using.
Two numbers affect the resolution of your images: the Pixel Aspect Resolution and the PPI. Photographers and other print artists refer to image resolution in terms of DPI (Dots per Inch). Digital artists use the term PPI (Pixels per Inch). These terms are not interchangeable.
DPI refers to the number of printed dots within one inch of an image printed on a page. PPI refers to the number of digital pixels within one inch of an image on a computer monitor. Values between 300 and 600 PPI are usually used to ensure high-quality printed images.
When scanning images for a slideshow, your scanning software will give you resolution or DPI options. The higher the DPI, the more detail will be retained in the image, resulting in a higher file size. 72-150 DPI is low resolution, 300 DPI is standard resolution, and 600+ is High Resolution.
Pixel Aspect Ratio is the number of pixels in the width of the image times the number of pixels in the height. This determines the shape of your image or slideshow.
The image above has a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 3000 x 2000 at 72 PPI
This is the same image but has a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 300 x 200 at 72 PPI
To determine the best resolution for your photos, you should know the resolution you plan to render your final video. There are many different video resolutions, but the most common are:
Standard = 1280 x 720
Full HD = 1920 x 1080
4K = 3840 x 2160
Using image resolutions larger than your final output is recommended to accommodate any zooming or cropping that would make your image larger than 100% of the video output resolution.
For a Full HD resolution video (1920 x 1080), it is recommended that your images be between 3000 and 4000 pixels wide for landscape images or between 2100 and 3200 pixels tall for portrait images to accommodate any zoom animations. If your images are always displayed in video resolution (standard for most portrait-oriented images), resolutions close to the final video resolution are fine.
