What resolution is the nature photography, and will it print? – Affordable Nature Photography

Cheap does not mean small. Every image page carries the exact pixel dimensions of the original in its specification table, and that number is what matters.

The arithmetic

Divide pixels by target dots per inch.

At 300 dpi, standard commercial print, a 6000-pixel edge is 20 inches. That is comfortably an A2 poster. A 3840-pixel edge is just under 13 inches, so A4 with room to crop and A3 at a push.

At 150 dpi, which is entirely normal for anything viewed from more than arm's length, both numbers double. Exhibition panels and roll-up banners are frequently produced at 100 dpi or less.

For screens, dpi is meaningless. Only pixel width counts, and 2560 pixels covers a full-bleed hero on almost any display.

Where landscape work differs

Two things are worth knowing about valley and ridgeline frames specifically.

They get cropped horizontally. A wide landscape reformatted into a square or a portrait crop loses most of its width. Do the pixel arithmetic on the crop you intend, not on the original, or you will discover the problem at the printer.

Distant detail is atmospheric, not soft. Haze in a valley is real, and no amount of resolution sharpens it. If you need crisp detail on a far ridge, choose a frame shot in clear air rather than a bigger file.

The previews

Each page serves previews at 480, 960, 1440, 1920, 2560 and 3840 pixels wide, plus the full width, all watermarked in a three-by-three grid. They exist so the page loads fast and so you can comp a layout at real size before you spend anything. They are not usable in production and are not meant to be.

If a file is too small

Ask before you buy rather than after. Send the asset id and the size you need. Upscaling is possible and modern tools are good, but they invent texture, and invented texture in foliage and rock is visible to anyone who looks.

We would rather tell you a frame will not print at the size you want than sell you three dollars of disappointment.

Aspect ratios

The specification table gives the ratio as well as the pixel count, and in landscape work it is the number that decides whether an image fits your layout at all.

Most frames here are 3:2 or wider. Squeezing a 3:2 valley into a 16:9 banner costs you a quarter of the height, which usually means the sky or the foreground goes. Squeezing it into a 4:5 social crop costs most of the width, which usually means the composition goes entirely.

Check the ratio before the resolution. A file with plenty of pixels in the wrong shape is still the wrong file.