Glossary of printing terms
Every wonder what DPI is? Is print resolution confusing? This page is a collection of commonly used terminology for digital printing. Still have questions? Ask us!
Definitions for digital printing, picture enlargement and photo resolution
The following terms are commonly used when printing digital photo enlargements:
- Archival ink
- UV-resistant ink ideal for digital photo prints, giclee artwork and picture enlargements
- Blow up
- Enlarge a photo, usually to giclee print a digital picture, scanned image, fine art enlargement or picture
- Color management
- Calibration of equipment to yield accurate color reproductions and picture enlargements
- DPI (dots per inch)
- Measurement of picture resolution which is reduced by enlargement of photos, pictures, or fine art
- Digital picture
- Photo scanned or taken with a digital camera, ready for enlargement
- Digital printing
- Process of printing a digital picture or giclee fine art picture to a digital printer
- Digital proof
- Digital image of an enlargement picture viewable on a monitor
- Enlarge
- To increase the size of a digital photo or digital picture, for printing an enlargement
- Enlargement
- A digital photo, digital picture, or fine art reproduction that has been enlarged and printed
- Fine art reproduction
- High-resolution, giclee museum quality reproduction or enlargement of artwork images and paintings
- Giclee printing
- Digital printing, i.e. large format digital print, giclee fine art reproduction or photo enlargement
- Image resolution
- The number of pixels (dots) contained in a digital image or enlargement
- Interpolation
- Special image enlarging algorithm designed to preserve photo quality during enlargement
- JPEG or JPG
- File format for digital picture images with superior compression ideal for digital photos, enlargements and picture reproduction
- Large format printing
- Process of giclee printing photographs, picture enlargements, prints or reproductions
- Media
- The substrate the enlargement or digital picture is to be giclee printed on
- Museum-quality
- High-quality image output for reproductions and photo enlargements
- Photo enlargement
- Process of blowing up and printing a digital picture reproduction on a large format giclee printer
- Photo resizing
- Enlargement of original photos, (e.g. enlarged from 8x10 to life size or poster size)
- Photoshop
- Software used to enlarge, resize, modify and print digital photo picture enlargements, artwork or fine art to a digital printer
- Physical proof
- Printed picture reproduction for approving color and printed enlargement resolution
- Pixel
- A single dot representing a color in an enlargement picture
- Scanned image
- Artwork, pictures, photos or fine art that have been digitized (input) with a scanner
- TIFF or TIF
- File format for lossless digital pictures and photos; ideal for enlargements, fine art giclee reproductions, digital photos and pictures, but files are much larger