If you have ever taken a picture with your camera and uploaded your pictures to your computer you have created a digital image. A digital image  is composed of pixels (short for picture elements). Each pixel represents the specific color at a single point in the image. Size wise they compare to minuscule grain particles and are arranged in a regular pattern of rows and columns. A digital image is the grouping of individual pixels put together and is sometimes called a bitmap.

Color vs. Black and White Images

Color images are made up of colored pixels which hold three numbers corresponding to the red, green, and blue levels of the image at a specific location. These are the primary colors for mixing light and is sometimes referred to as RGB. This method for mixing colors allows for roughly 16.7 million different possible colors with the various combinations of the three. Black and white images differ in that they are made of pixels in different shades of gray. The gray levels span the full range from black to white to create 256 different grays.

Resolution

Have you ever tried to increase the size of a picture and it is fuzzy? The images low resolution is the problem you may be combating. The quality of the image is based on the number of points at which we sample the image by measuring its color. The density of pixels in an image is referred to as its resolution.

Higher resolution images contain more information. If the image size is kept the same and there is an increase in the resolution, the image gets sharper and more detailed. Alternatively, if taking a higher resolution image, you can produce a larger image with the same amount of detail.

Note: If you are using digital images in printed media a higher resolution is key to a clean crisp appearance. Save the images in a high resolution at the size expected to be used upfront.

Tim Grier
Computer Magician
CET Computer Magic
704-677-3035