Print: Photography
To achieve the best results reproducing photographs in print, adhere to the following minimum technical requirements:
General
Minimum resolution for printing. The rule-of-thumb minimum for high-quality printing is 300dpi at final reproduction size.
Color conversion for printing. Convert RGB images to CMYK (i.e., the four process colors used in color printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). Convert using Image/Mode/Convert to Profile in Adobe Photoshop. For sheetfed color printing on coated paper, convert to "U.S. Sheetfed Coated v2". For web color printing on coated paper, convert to "U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2".
Scanning film vs. scanning a print. Direct scanning of film (e.g., a 35mm "slide" or film negative) often results in higher reproduction quality than scanning a print. A film scanner (which directly scans negative or positive film) will generally produce a higher-quality digital image than a flatbed scanner equipped with a transparency adaptor. If you don't have a scanner, don't worry; many retail film processors now provide scans of your developed film on CD that can be of quality sufficient for reproduction (always ask for reproduction-quality scans if your plan is to reproduce your photos in print)
Digital Photography
When shooting with a digital camera, (1) adjust camera settings to shoot JPEGs of the largest size with the least amount of compression (generally, this will be a Large/Fine setting); this will yield an image that can be reproduced at the largest size possible shooting with your particular camera.
A four-megapixel camera at the highest image-quality setting will yield a 300-dpi image of about 5-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches in size; a six-megapixel camera will yield a 300-dpi image of about 7 x 10 inches.
To keep digital "noise" (analogous to "grain" in film) at a minimum, do all your shooting with the camera set between ISO 100 and 400; if light is inadequate to shoot in this ISO range, use a flash or a tripod to compensate.
For general guidelines about photography, go to:
http://www.ucsc.edu/identity/overview-photoguide.html
To see examples of effective photography, go to:
http://www.ucsc.edu/identity/overview-photoexamples.html
For in-depth reviews of digital cameras and comparisons between them, go to:
http://www.dpreview.com.