The problem with using photos from the internet

 

 (The photo is fuzzy on purpose! )

Have you ever come across an amazing photo on the internet and then try to use that on your sales literature or printed material?  You paste it into your MS Word flyer and come to find out that it’s too small.  So what you do? You stretch it. 

But here’s the problem:

When you stretch it, it becomes fuzzy.

And even worse:

You print it out or send it to Kinkos (or Staples) and it becomes even more fuzzy.

This is why you can’t use photos from the internet. At least not what we call “web resolution” photos.  Web resolution photos are small-sized photos that are enhanced for fast viewing on the internet.  In the design world, they are known as “72dpi” or 72 dots per inch quality. 

Print resolution (i.e. for press printers) typically use photos with at least 300 dpi, or 300 dots per inch for best quality. 

Unless you have a photo editor program like Photoshop or similar, you probably won’t be able to distinguish this difference.  A fast way to estimate it would be to check the file size.  If it’s under 10KB, most likely the image will be horrible for print.  Like the photo I have above.  Do you notice the difference between this one and the sunset in the previous post?

A general rule of thumb is that most (if not all) photos on the internet cannot be used for printed material.  That’s why www.sxc.hu that I recommended earlier is a great website because these photos are to be used in printed material.