proportionally challenged

If this is a daft question to some then please indulge me but what does 'viewing at 100%' really mean?

For example, I take a photo of my fingernail which is, say, 1cm square. I view it on my monitor at 100% and my fingernail is now 15cm square. I can't get my head round the proportions. Can anyone explain for me please?

1 sensor pixel = 1 monitor pixel

That is what viewing at 100% means.

glaopt1 said:

If this is a daft question to some then please indulge me but what does 'viewing at 100%' really mean?

For example, I take a photo of my fingernail which is, say, 1cm square. I view it on my monitor at 100% and my fingernail is now 15cm square. I can't get my head round the proportions. Can anyone explain for me please?

Click to expand...

--
Bruce

glaopt1 said:

If this is a daft question to some then please indulge me but what does 'viewing at 100%' really mean?

For example, I take a photo of my fingernail which is, say, 1cm square. I view it on my monitor at 100% and my fingernail is now 15cm square. I can't get my head round the proportions. Can anyone explain for me please?

Click to expand...

It means that the fingernail image captured by your camera's sensor is being displayed on your monitor on a per pixel basis. If your monitor has a pixel density of 96 pixels per inch, then your camera's sensor captured the fingernail image within a 567 x 567 pixel square (displayed in a 15 cm square on your monitor).

• 15 cm / 2.54 cm per inch * 96 pixels per inch = 566.9 pixels per side (567 * 567 = 321489 pixels area)

If you displayed it at 50% (7.5 cm), then you would have to reduce the number of pixels by 1/2 (linear dimension). This requires software (monitor/browser/photoshop/etc) to combine groups of 4 pixels into one.

• 7.5 cm / 2.54 cm per inch * 96 pixels per inch = 283.5 pixels per side (284 * 284 = 80656 pixels area)

--
-Dave
http://pixseal.com

Thankyou.I'm beginning to see the connection.

It's also known as pixel peeping .

Consider that what it also means is that you're seeing one small part of the image blown up to a huge size on your display.

Please don't get into this silly habit.

--
StephenG

sjgcit said:

Consider that what it also means is that you're seeing one small part of the image blown up to a huge size on your display.

Please don't get into this silly habit.

Click to expand...

Or better said use it wisely. If one wants to print 42cm x 30cm or larger and photo invites to closer inspection (lot of small stories / facts in image) it is wise to inspect image at 100%.

If the photo will be shown on-line email pixelpeeping the original file is indeed a fools waste of time. (because original file has much more pixels than final web image).

Once it was quite simple. There were at best 2 Mp cameras their resolution was 1600 x 1200 pixels. Large monitors could show the total photo without scaling it down. Today cameras have much more pixels. So the user has the option to see the photo as is at 100% or scale down the view (not the file!).

This also means there is a difference between a photo file that is scaled down for on-line show and a photo that is only scaled down to see a smaller version.