iPhoto & Aperture: Minimum picture resolution for ordering quality books, cards, or calendars

Summary

This document lists the minimum resolution and recommended DPI needed for ordering books, cards, or calendars through iPhoto.

Products Affected

Aperture 1.0, Aperture 1.1, Aperture 1.5, iPhoto '08 (7.x), iPhoto 2.x, iPhoto 4.x, iPhoto 5.x, iPhoto 6.x

For quality books, cards, and calendars, these are the minimum resolutions (based on the 180 DPI setting) required for full bleed images.

Full bleed images are images that print from one side of the page to the other, they do not use standard borders, this way the pages can be trimmed so that the photo fills the entire page.

Hardcover/Large Softcover Book 2010 x 1558
Medium Softcover Book 1440 x 1080
Small Softcover Book 660 x 495
Calendar 2375 x 1905
Greeting Card 1300 x 928
Postcard 1105 x 736

Note: A yellow warning triangle with an exclamation point in the center may appear if the resolution is too low (below 180 DPI).

 

The recommended DPI for the image is 300, which requires much larger images:

Hardcover/Large Softcover Book 3338 x 2587
Medium Softcover Book 2438 x 1838
Small Softcover Book 1088 x 825
Calendar 3938 x 3158
Greeting Card 2138 x 1538
Postcard 1838 x 1238

Note: The dimensions do not match the "dimension x DPI" formula exactly since the frames are sized to the edge of the bleed area (1/16" on all sides) with some frames even extending beyond that point.

Additional Information

For more information, see this article about ordering photo products and minimum picture resolution for iPhoto and Aperture.

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