Digital Prints

52
Mastering Digital Printing
Table 2.2 Viewing Distance & Visual Acuity
Print Dimensions Standard Viewing Maximum Visual Resolution Maximum Visual Resolution
(inches) Distance 1 (inches) (Ordinary) 2 (details per inch) (Ideal) 3 (details per inch)
4×6 10.8 318 637
8×10 19.2 179 358
13×19 34.5 100 199
30×40 75.0 46 92
1 Formula: 1.5 × diagonal of art.
2 “Ordinary” means reduced illumination on the target and its surroundings.
3 “Ideal” means bright illumination on the target and its surroundings.
The formula numbers give you a place to start, but your own experience and your own style
of printing and displaying will determine which printer resolutions will work best for you.
This entire concept of viewing distance and the eye’s maximum resolving power was brought
home to me in dramatic fashion when I visited well-known documentary and fine-art
photographer Joel Meyerowitz at his studio in New York City. Meyerowitz had just started
experimenting with in-house inkjet printing, and he wanted to see how it compared to traditional
C-prints, which he was used to getting from the top photo labs in New York.
He and I both analyzed two 11 × 14-inch prints made of the same image he had photographed
in Tuscany (see Figure 2.10). Using a loupe (magnifier), I could see the difference between
Figure 2.10 Left: White Road by Joel Meyerowitz (2003). Details at right show comparison of C-print and HP Designjet 130 inkjet print at high
magnification. The inkjet colors are truer to the original, and when viewed at a normal viewing distance, the inkjet dot structure disappears.
Courtesy of Joel Meyerowitz Photography/www.joelmeyerowitz.com