Help! can not convert to 300dpi resolution

Desertgf

Welcome to the Apple user discussion forum

My first suggestion is to have Apple print them - I'm very happy with the job they do and most people that post here are too. If a photo does not have a warning yellow triangle on it the printing is quiet good and I have prints a couple of photos with warnings and while not as good, they were acceptable.

You can not really change the dpi - and while some programs will increase the total pixel count, they really do not increase the picture quality because they simply take the information that is them and interpolate to generate additional pixels.

to achieve 300 dpi you need 300 pixels per inch - so a full bleed 8.5 x 11 print would need to be 2550 x 3300 or 8,414,000 total pixels -- the same photo printed as a 3 x 5 would only need to be 900 x 1500 or 1,350,000 pixels. for book printing the difference between a jpeg and a tiff is not going to be noticeable to anyone but an expert - and once you have a jpeg converting it to a tiff does nothing - what ever is lost is lost and can not be brought back

Again my suggestion is to have Apple print the book (being sure you have no warning triangles in it) - then you will know how it can be done. If in the future you want to use others then at least you will have a base line to judge against.

LN

Select the photo you are discussing in iPhoto and look in the information pane - at the bottom of the left side bar - what is the size reported there?

I don't use iWork so am of no assistance there

Unless your cover is very complicated you should be able to do it yourself

LN

It depends on the size of the book, 3x5, right, and the number of pixels in the photo. For a 300 dpi 3x5 photo you'll need a minimum of 900 x 1500 pixels. I think that possibly Pages reduces the 3x5 photo to a standard monitor display dpi of 72. You're best bet would be to use a 3rd party editor like Photoshop Elements to create you 3x5 cover as you can control the quality and output much more effective than with iPhoto or Pages.

Normally you shouldn't have to change the dpi. When you fit a photo into a 3 x 5 space the available pixels will be "squeezed" into that space with the resulting dpi set automatically, i.e pixel dimension divided by print dimension = dpi. See The Myth of DPI for more information on that.

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Am still confused as to the size of the book you're wanting to create? Is it a 3x5 inch book?