When you add a photo to your design in the RapidStudio online editor, you may see a warning flag appear on the image. This article explains what that means, what causes it, and what you can do about it.
What does the low resolution warning mean?
Resolution is a measure of how many pixels an image contains. The more pixels, the more detail — and the sharper and cleaner it will look when printed.
When our editor flags an image as low resolution, it means that at the size you've placed it on the page, the image doesn't have enough pixels to print clearly. The result may look fine on screen but come out blurry, soft, or pixelated when printed.
The warning is there to guide you — not to stop you from continuing. You can choose to ignore it, but we recommend taking action before placing your order, because once a page is printed we can't change it.
What are RapidStudio's print resolutions?
Different products are produced on different equipment, each with their own resolution:
- Digital Press (most photobooks, calendars, and gifts): 200 dpi
- Wetlab / Prolab (Ultimate Albums and Prolab Prints): 300 dpi, or up to 640 dpi on request
- Large Format Inkjet (canvas and large prints): 300 dpi
This means the images you use need to contain enough pixels to meet these figures at the size they appear on the page. A small image placed small on a page may be fine. The same image stretched to fill a full page may not be.
What causes low resolution?
Common causes include:
- The original photo was taken on a low-resolution camera or phone camera set to a small size
- The image was saved at a reduced size for emailing or messaging
- The photo was screenshotted rather than saved in full quality
- The image was cropped heavily, reducing its effective pixel count
- The image was downloaded from a website at web resolution (72 dpi) rather than print resolution
Important: Resolution is not the same as image quality. A blurry or out-of-focus photo with plenty of pixels will not trigger a resolution warning. The warning only relates to pixel count relative to print size.
What can you do about it?
You have three options:
- Reduce the size of the image on the page. Making the image smaller in your layout increases its effective resolution. Shrink it until the warning flag disappears.
- Replace it with a higher resolution version. If you have the original photo, check whether a higher quality version is available. Photos downloaded from WhatsApp or social media are often compressed — try to get the original from the camera or the person who took it.
- Use an AI upscaling tool to enlarge it. AI upscaling tools use machine learning to intelligently add pixels when enlarging an image — often with impressively good results. They can't recover detail that was never there, but for many images they can make a noticeable improvement.
AI upscaling tools worth trying
These tools are worth trying if you want to improve a low-resolution image before uploading:
- Topaz Photo AI — the most powerful option. Excellent results, especially on portraits and detail-rich images. Paid software with a free trial.
- Adobe Firefly (Generative Expand) — if you have an Adobe subscription, Firefly's generative tools can extend and enhance images. Good for backgrounds.
- Upscayl — a free, open-source desktop app that uses AI to upscale images. Very good results for a free tool.
- Let's Enhance — an online tool with a simple upload-and-enhance workflow. Free tier available.
- Remini — a mobile app (iOS and Android) that works particularly well on faces and portraits.
These tools work best when the original image is reasonably sharp to begin with. If the photo is blurry or very heavily compressed, no upscaling tool will fully fix it — and in that case, replacing the image is the better option.
Still unsure?
If you're not sure whether your image will print well, our team is happy to take a look before you place your order.
- Email us at info@rapidstudio.co.za
- Call us on 011 225 0500
- Submit a support request at support.za.rapid.studio
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