Resolution and Printing Quality

Guidelines

• High- resolution photography and printing are strongly recommended
  
• Both conventional and digital photography are acceptable, and conventional or digital printing methods may be used
  
• Resulting print should exhibit a continuous-tone quality regardless of the print method used (dye sublimation, ink jet, laser, etc.)
  
• Digitally printed photos should be produced without visible pixels or dot patterns
  
• Fine facial features should be discernible
  
• The entire face should be in focus
  

Photo Examples

Image quality and resolution are directly related: the higher the resolution, the better the image quality. For conventional photography, high resolution is inherently achieved through the use of 35 mm film stock. In digital photography, the size of the camera's digital sensor determines the degree of resolution that can be achieved. Avoid using a low-resolution digital camera. After images are loaded into the camera's memory and displayed on a monitor, images are often smaller than expected or there are discernible pixels (image pixelation) when the images are enlarged on the monitor or output to a printer.

Images that look fine on a computer screen may appear coarse or grainy when printed, even at the 2 inch x 2 inch dimension. This can be attributed to the differences in image resolution for the display monitor and the digital printer, with respect to the amount of image data available. Digital printers have variable resolution settings, and the proper setting needs to be selected to avoid having an image appear fuzzy or grainy. However, no printer resolution setting can adjust for too little data in the image caused by use of an inappropriate camera lens or low-resolution digital camera.

The subject’s face should be the central or principal point of focus. It may be necessary to adjust the distance setting on the camera’s lens once the subject is framed in the scene. If excessive adjustments are needed to focus properly, the lens being used may not have a suitable focal length (approximately 105 mm) and may cause unwanted distortions in the image.

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