Too Much Resolution

Nearly every exhibition prospectus I see asks for "high resolution" images. Certainly desirable, but the requirement has pretty much lost any useful meaning with today's digital cameras. Unless you're publishing a book, the images you receive are more likely to have too much resolution than not enough.

The resolution of an image is typically measured in megapixels, or millions of pixels. An image with more pixels shows more detail in the artwork. Consumer digital cameras today usually have a resolution of at least eight megapixels (2400 x 3600 pixels) ... more than enough for an excellent 8" x 10" print.

By comparison, the typical computer screen is "low resolution" and displays only about one megapixel (768 x 1024 pixels). This means that an eight megapixel image looks the same on-screen as a one megapixel image because the computer combines the excess pixels to fit the image on the screen. That's right ... the computer turned that "high resolution" image into one with much lower resolution.

Have a computer with a "high resolution" screen? Well, it still won't display more than about two megapixels (1200 x 1920 pixels). Want to print a 4" x 6" image in the exibition catalog? You still need only about two megapixels. In short, a "low resolution" image of one to two megapixels is sufficient for most purposes.