[Stormsong]

Hi Mark, increasing the dpi/ppi will not degrade the photo, unless your original image is of low resolution to start with. It's a bit complicated, but let me try and put it like this - what dpi/ppi does in essence is to increase the size of the area that an image can be printed on, not the quality or resolution of the original image; if your original image is below 1MB for example, you are going to struggle to get a good print regardless of the dpi/ppi setting, if you want to print at 48 inches by 24 inches.

In traditional printing terms, the closer the dots/pixels per inch, the better - ie the higher the number, the bigger the area you can print an image out on. For most print applications, 300dpi is adequate. However, bear in mind that if your original image is not of a high enough resolution, you can't simply up the dpi/ppi in the hope that it will improve the quality of the image when you print it.

I hope this helps and has not confused you more!

Regards,
Denise

PS: I worked in the print industry for 10 years and the bane of any publishing house's life in the digital age is to get images at the correct dpi - in the old days of 35mm film and printed photographs, it wasn't a problem, but digital has changed all that.