Subtitles of the Movie

So, yet another acronym in photography to deal with, huh? Well, DPI and PPI mean completely different things, and to complicate matters even more are commonly misused. Now DPI refers to the printer's ability to deposit fine ink droplets onto the paper surface. PPI refers to the number Pixels Per Inch in a digital image. Now people often say DPI when they actually mean PPI. Now to explain just a bit, when an inkjet printer head moves across the paper it deposits a tiny droplet of ink that mixes with other droplets of different colors to create the end result color that the image requires. A single pixel can contain up to 16 droplets of color. The smaller the droplets, say around 2 picoliters, the more accurate the print's colors will be. Now the resolution and the physical size of the image will dictate the size of the pixels, but the printer's DPI capabilities will always remain constant. I know, you're getting a headache right about now, right? Well, all you've got to remember is that when you discuss the digital image say PPI. When you discuss the printer say DPI and you will forever be known as someone who understands what they are talking about even if you really don't.