Printing

Now let's see how resolution applies to printing. You can use many kinds of printers—an inkjet, a dye sub, a laser printer, or a commercial printing press. The problem is that most of those printing devices can't reproduce exactly what you see on your screen. Instead, the device simulates what you see onscreen using four solid colors. Look at Figures 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8. The first one shows how a dye-sub printer would reproduce an image, the second how an inkjet printer would reproduce it, and the third how a laser printer or printing press would output the same image. When you compare them, you'll notice that the dye sub gives the most detail and the laser printer gives the least. Wouldn't it make sense that you will need more info in your scan if it is going to be printed on a dye-sub printer instead of a laser printer or inkjet? Let's look at the different types of printers we can choose from and see how each one reproduces an image differently and why the image needs to have a different resolution.