Of the new CS resampling methods, "Bicubic sharper" is better for
downsampling and "Bicubic smoother" is better for upsampling. We should have
put some indication of that in the Image Size dialog.

I'm picky but not ultra-critical, and I need a loupe to see things that
Chris Cox can see with his naked eyes (he wrote the new resampling
algorithms). For printing to Epsons, I was never able to see a significant
difference (even with a loupe) between using bicubic resampling in Photoshop
to some magic resolution like 240, 300, 360, or 720 vs. just printing my
180-300 dpi images directly to the printer at 257.5 dpi or whatever they
were once I'd set the physical dimensions. Certainly any difference I
thought I could see was wiped out by minor tweaking to the sharpening
parameters I applied (I don't use global USM, either).

So I believe that this is one of those things that is subtle enough that you
should try it yourself on a few images to see what you prefer or if you can
see a difference at all.

I've seen tests suggesting that with text or certain kinds of high contrast
detail there would be a more visible difference. But I convinced myself that
it didn't make enough difference *for me* to spend the time worrying about
it. I just crop the image at the most visually appropriate location, sharpen
it, set the physical dimensions to the size I want, and print it at that
resolution. 

Russell Williams

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