Marketing materials look better with photos. Period. “A photo is worth a thousand words.” From the beginning of the first printed photograph in the 1820s, people have known the value of a good photo. But with megapixels, color and photo effect jargon floating around everywhere on the Internet and in photo studios, how do you know when you have a good photo? It all depends on the lighting, the megapixels and the photographer.

When you create a brochure or flyer that has an intriguing message and a blurry photo, people are only going to remember that blurry photo. “What was in that photo? Was it supposed to be like that?” A photo can make or break your marketing materials. And the most important factor of the blurry photo is the number of pixels. 

Pixels – The Building Blocks of Photos

To have a clear photo, you need to take the picture with a digital camera that has a decent amount of pixels. A decent amount means at least 2MP (more about MP in a minute). Anymore, it’s hard to find a low-end digital camera with 2MP – most start at 3MP or more. This is good news for you that digital cameras are getting more affordable.  

What is a Pixel?

A pixel is a dot of information, a dot of color, in your photo. Photos today are made up of millions of these dots, or pixels. Mega means “million” so whenever you talk in megapixels (MP) you mean X million pixels. So, a 2MP camera will provide 2 million pixels when a photo is printed from that camera. That may sound like a lot, but really 2 million pixels will only get you as far as a clear 4×6 photo.

If you are printing a poster and need to take a photo, you’ll want to take the photo with a camera that can produce a print size of 12×16 or maybe even 18×24. The bigger the MP of the camera, the more expensive it is. A 12×16 print, to be printed clearly, needs to be taken with a 10MP camera.  An 18×24 print, to be printed clearly, needs to be taken with a 14MP camera.

Now, with a 10MP camera, you can make photo sizes up to 12×16 clearly. Anything smaller will come out equally as clear.  

Camera Quality

Most amateur digital cameras on the market today, the ones you can get at Target or Best Buy, range from 5MP to 8MP. The largest clear photo you can print with a 5MP camera is 8×12. With an 8MP camera you can get up to 11×14. This is good enough for most people and most small businesses as well.

If you print photos larger than the maximum sizes given here, you’ll end up with a blurry, pixilated photo. So check out the MP size of camera before you buy, keeping in mind what you’ll use the photos for. If your photos will just be for regular-size flyers, brochures and postcards, you can get a great 5MP digital camera for an affordable price, between $100 and $300.