Enlarging (the 10MP) M8 FIles

[ezc203]

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Could members with experience please comment on the extremes of making large prints for M8 files?

 

I have a couple of images that I particularly enjoy and would like to make some prints to hang up. What is the absolute largest I can print (professionally at a photo lab) without pixelation?

 

Most of my files are as close to the original 10MP as possible: I don't crop much and if/when I do it's more to straighten the image out then to exclude a portion of it. All files are shot DNG and then converted to JPEG (90%) with LR.

 

And to make it not just a boring thread, here are some of the images that I'm considering:

 

 

 

 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[wstotler]

IMO, your question is valid but hard to answer directly. There are a lot of variables, including who will be doing your prints and other factors on their end.

 

I'm going to give my advice based on that assumption.

 

I've created 30" by 20" prints with *slight* scuzz visible when viewing at a overly close distance of 12" by taking files to a cheap vendor. (The more expensive vendor I've used does a good job, slightly less scuzzy, but not worth the steep difference in price.) To put it in perspective, the "scuzz" I'm taking about is very slight and only something *I* ever notice--I only see it because I know what the original file was like. Third parties never notice this. (E.g., I'm not talking about banding or halos or . . . bad artifacts. Know what I mean?)

 

From normal viewing distance, the cheap-o vendor does a fine job. Even with areas of graduated color--no banding, halos, bad color, etc.

 

As your images are pretty "organic" without large areas of solid color, I recommend you should try a cheap vendor first--print as cheaply and as large as you can. . . . More on that below.

 

I make TIFF files in Photoshop, where I enlarge the image to the final size and save it. That's what I provide.

 

There are arguments that upsizing should be done with something such as the Genuine Fractals product--or through a multi-step upsizing process in Photoshop. I've not seen gains for any of my work.

 

My advice would be make your TIFF. Take it over. Get it printed cheaply. Have a look and see what you think. (Ensure you tell the vendor to NOT make adjustments to your image--just print it.) Then, from the basis of that print, working with that vendor, you can adjust what you need on the backend to bring them a different file. And try again. It should at that point meet with your approval and also you've established exactly how to work with the vendor to get what you expect.

 

I advise AGAINST providing JPGs to your vendor--depending on their software/hardware chain the path the JPG takes to their printer could result in some unhappy, serious scuzz being introduced into the image (I ran into this) while a pixel-for-pixel, pre-sized 300dpi TIFF will work fine.

 

I also advise AGAINST uploading anything anywhere--both of my vendors' back-end systems crunched the files I provided online with their Internet-based upload tool. Bad output. Take the photo on a flash drive to a storefront so you can be sure back-end systems aren't doing anything "extra."

 

Anyway, that's the safe "my file as I intended it straight into your computer that is directly connected to your printer" approach. Other folks, I'm sure, use the Internet all the time to have their prints made.

 

BTW, 16" x 20" prints and smaller look very, very clean IMO.

 

Cheers and good luck!

Will

[pgk]

As Will says, its difficult to give a simple answer.

 

I use a UK based printing firm called Peak Imaging who do a pretty good job. They print onto Fuji Archiva paper and if I'm unsure of the file I get it printed out small first on the same paper and if this is ok I supply this as a guide print. FWIW I do send Jpegs (max quality) for A2 prints and have no problems even at close viewing distances. I supply at 254ppi (as requested by Peak) and always an sRGB tagged file!

 

I would say that your second picture might easily wash out in the skiy so I'd darken this slightly if I were getting it printed. In fact I'd pull the highlights down in both files personally.

[ezc203]

Thanks for all the useful pointers, I really appreciate them.