With the holiday season upon us and the new year quickly approaching, many people spend time thinking about resolutions that they want to fold into their life.

When I, your book designer, think about resolutions I am hopeful for only the best! That is to say - at least 300 dpi. What on earth could that mean? Why, image quality of course!

To help ensure beautiful, crisp, printed results, a book containing photos - whether they will be printed in color or black and white, need to have a high resolution. The resolution of an image refers to the number of pixels within the image. More pixels means better detail and higher quality. To achieve this, it's best to start with the original photo.

If you will be scanning physical prints, you can adjust your scanner settings to scan the image in to your computer at the proper resolution. The minimum for print is 300 dpi., however, especially if the photo has small physical dimensions, I prefer to receive scanned images at a minimum of 600 dpi.

Digital images from phones or cameras may be successfully used in print as long as the photo was taken with the highest quality settings and it has large physical dimensions.

Here is an example of what happens when a low resolution image goes to press, as opposed to the same image saved with a high resolution:

If you aren't sure your photo and image files are saved in high resolution, ask your designer if she can do an assessment to determine if the images will reproduce well in print. Your designer may also be able to offer suggestions to help you get your images saved in high resolution.

Note: Saving a blurry photo in high resolution does not magically make it sharp and in focus. Sometimes editing a photo can improve it somewhat, but it's always best to have a photo that was taken in focus.