Image resolution of inserted image

Question

I'm creating a PDF e-book for a friend:
I scan an image (line art) as a 200dpi greyscale jpg in photoshop. Looks sharp on screen and when printed. I scale down the image from 100% to the size I'll need it in Pages (3" wide). Move over into Pages and insert>choose> and select my image. Once imported, the image is huge! So I go back to photoshop and scale it down way more. Now when I re-import the image into Pages, its the correct size but appears fuzzy. If I print the image from Pages....it's fuzzy. If I print that same image from photoshop it's tiny. How do I reconcile this?

Answer 1

I'm sorry but that doesn't answer my question (I'm not being rude). If it's 4" ouside Pages (in PhotoShop)......why wouldn't it still be 4" when inserted into Pages.
You are dealing with two separate issues here.
Your original question asked about the change in display/print clarity when a file imported to pages at two different resolutions. In the first case you have an 4" image at 200 dpi (or lines). This means the image contains 800 dots in the dimension being measured. When this image is imported to Pages, it still has 800 dots in the indicated dimensions and will have a 200 dpi resolution when displayed as a 4" image (i.e. 800 dots / 4" = 200 d/") On the other hand, if you display the same image at 2" in Pages, then the resolution becomes 800 dots / 2" = 400 d/" resolution available for display or printing. However, the apparent quality of any such representation will depend on the monitor display or print resolution used to render the image. (I.e., you can modify the viewing/printing scale of a Pages page, as well as, the size of the image within a Pages page which affects both the relative size of the page as well as its apparent quality.
In the second rendering of your question, you asked why the PS and Pages images display at different sizes. One of the main differences between the two applications is that PS displays the image at dimensions relative to the "display" dimensions which are embedded in the image while Pages displays the same image relative to the viewing scale selected by the user which is relative the fixed resolution of your monitor and/or print resolution. (I.e., if you want the small, 1" PS view of your image to "appear" the same size as your Pages version of the same image, then reduce the resolution reference embedded in the PS file (which PS uses for display but Pages does not use) to match the current resolution of your monitor. That is, both applications must be using the same reference resolution for their display.
One last point here. If you are creating an eBook here then disregard both applications when it comes to scaling and resolution settings. Simply target your project for the size and resolution of the target eBook reading device. For example, if creating a file for an 800x600 @200 dpi device use a page size on the order of 4" x 3" (less any area not dedicated for reading display) or on the order of 4.8" x 3.6" for an 800x600 device at 166.67 dpi device, use these dimensions for your target page dimensions in Pages, and use an image that provides your best estimate of quality on the device in terms of KBs required for the saved PDF file. In this manner you should end up with an eBook that matches your project file in terms of page content.