Getting larger photos printed

[dullbird]

Hi Guru's

I have some questions about printing photos which I'm sure some of you can easily answer..

many of us take photos these days and never go to the effort of printing them..I know I haven't the closest I have gotten is painting from photos I have taken.

I do however want to make some big prints and I would love to have it done on canvas to hang around my house....


So some questions if I may:

can anyone tell me what is the largest size I can print realistically from my D7100 with the 24mps it has.

As I often crop in on some photos because I like specific shapes or crop it so its framed better...is there a way I can check to see if the photo quality would become to poor to use (to much noise, softness) when blown up to a bigger size?

I think one of the biggest things holding me back printing some things is, printing on Canvas is not cheap and I worry that I might send a photo away to be printed and ultimately be disappointed with what comes back.
It may look good on my screen but doesn't translate on to a bigger canvas picture...

I'm not talking about colour here either as I know that ranges from your screen to the printer....

I'm talking quality of the overall image....I appreciate that the image has to be sharp to start with too so lets talk hypothetically like I'm going to be sending away a sharp image.:)

I'm sure like many of you I'm my own biggest critic and I'm not often happy with the stuff I have done...but when I am happy I then dont want to disappoint myself with something that actually turns out crap and I have wasted heaps of money on because I will never attempt it again....

[Chucaro]

In the 24 bit mode you can have a high quality print on a 24"X30" enlargement however it all depends in the type of image that you selected to print.
To give you an example

The image bellow it is heavy in details and I would not print larger than 16" in the larger side on a D300s images @ 14dpi

http://megashot.net/sbushinskii/mvc/photo_photopage/20100528091917_81122.jpg

On the other hand I have a print of the image bellow from the D300s which it is 40" in the large side and the quality it is good because there are no details on it.

http://megashot.net/sbushinskii/mvc/photo_photopage/20100611094515_64336.jpg

I hope that this help :)

[rocket scientist]

I have printed a few of my landscapes on canvas for display in local galleries, and some of them just don't look good on canvas. It has to be the right image to suit canvas.
I am still printing shots taken on my Canon d60 (6mpx) up to 1mtr x 1 mtr and they look great. Remember, you are not looking at them with your nose on the canvas! ;)
Maybe crop a small section to A4 size and have it printed by a lab to give you an idea of the final result.

Pete.

[Tusker]

Hi Lou

Never had anything printed on canvas. It'd be worth talking to whoever is printing these as to what resolution is needed. Or what rule of thumb applies compared to photographic paper.

The largest print possible depends on the size of your file. Have a play with this calculator. Dpi doesn't equate to ppi.

Printing > Pixels, PPI, & Print Size Calculators (http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/1_calculators.htm)

Of course, less resolution is needed as the viewing distance increases, i.e. with larger prints. I have a yellow sticky on my screen, with this table, showing print size (long edge) , printer resolution needed (dpi) and file size needed (ppi).

8" > 480dpi > 3840 ppi
10" > 360dpi > 3600 ppi
12" > 300dpi > 3600 ppi
18" > 240dpi > 4320 ppi
24" > 180dpi > 4320 ppi

I'll let you do the maths for larger again. And when it comes to sharpening for canvas, no idea. Talk to your printer, he/she may well do it for you.

Regards
Max P

[Benz]

We have a few canvas prints done up and they look pretty nice.

with 24 mp you should be able to get something pretty big.

What you want to look at is resolution measure in DPI (dots per inch). This will give you an indication on how clear the printed image will be.

For canvas printing something like 150 - 200 DPI will give you a high quality image and 100 - 70 DPI is kind of as low as you want to go. For printing on paper I believe you will want a higher resolution.

For example I have a nice image which measures 2848 x 4288 pixels taken on my D90 (lower pixel rate than your camera takes) and if I blow it up to 45x30 inches (1143x762mm) I get ~150 DPI

a quick google search gave me this site HERE (http://www.fabness.com.au/en/default.asp?xid=resolutionGuide&cm=help) which is pretty handy for letting you know what kind of DPI you will get when an image is blown up to common sizes.

You will also want to take note on what resolution they print at but in most cases this is much of a muchness to the untrained eye. I once had some photos printed on canvas and later talked to some guy who said the shop I had them done at does a horrible job... They looked fine to me but I guess he was in the business of printing and offered higher quality printing, it did however come at a much higher price.

[PTC]

A few years back i use to install really big billboards on the roofs of city buildings. When we were preparing them at the factory the images were so pixelated that sometimes even we didn't know what they were showing or saying on it. But once installed and looked at from the ground level it all snaps perfectly into focus.

So even a small photo blown up to a massive size can still look great. It all depends how close people are going to be to the photo.

[dullbird]

thats a good point I really never thought about it like that...

perhaps I could print terrible photos and just put a red cord around it preventing people getting any closer than 10meters to view :lol2:

[mattyg]

I have blown up a couple of prints to B0 size (1000mm x 1414mm) from my old 12mp canon 400d. They are a bit pixilated up close but look at it from across the lounge room and you wouldn't know.

It's quite inexpensive to get B0 prints on photo paper at officeworks - about $60ish when I got mine last year. Try it out to see if your happy with it before spending big $$$ on canvas etc.

[p38arover]

Lu,

When you bring the triggers back, I can show you a canvas print I had done from this pic of the participants in the 5th anniversary remembrance ride for Bucko.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=77321&stc=1&d=1400145754

[dullbird]

Hey Ron I can bring the triggers back when ever you like.....I have only used them the two times I know im going to get some so I haven't used them since..

they have nice fresh batteries in them for you too :)

[p38arover]

No hurry, Lou. I might take a ride over to Thirmere railway museum soonish.

[dmdigital]

Lou in photoshop (and similar) you can use pixel interpolation as you enlarge an image's size. This means that its entirely possible to print much larger than you think at 300dpi. So whilst your sensor limits a 300dpi print size you can enlarge it... with care. It is usually best to do this in small (<10%) increments.

For example a 100 x 75 cm print taken on 10mp D3s is something I've done several prints and I'm looking at doing some wall prints using removable vinyl that will be 2m x 2m off images from my D200.

So if the image is sharp then you can do wonders with it.

[dullbird]

Hey Derek

A vinyl print that sounds awesome

Could you let me know how much that costs when you have it done...is it to be placed on a wall?

Would he cool to do something like that and put it on a feature wall in my house :)

[JBLR]

You will have no problems with large format printing from the D7100. Just remember the words of legendary photographer Rick Sammon - 'Raw Rules'.

I am not sure if you manually process your images or shoot direct to jpeg, however, if it is the latter, the D7100 will allow you to capture both Raw and Jpeg at the same time, if you prefer not to manually process your images. The only downside to this is available storage memory, however, capturing your images this way will allow you greater control and options for that one perfect shot.

My best suggestion is to use a reputable printer who understands colour management. Many of these printers will often supply you with their ICC profiles to allow you to match your images as closely to their output as your hardware will allow. Also most are happy to tweak any problem areas for a minor charge if required.

Any image you put onto canvass will always be a little softer, purely due to the material you are printing to, therefore make sure you pick your image correctly and know outcome. Certain types of images that have sharp hard contrasting areas often will look better on other mediums, however, will still look great on canvas.

Canvas will also be a little forgiving to the image especially if it is not tack sharp (however I am not sure why you would print those anyway).

Any decent imaging provider will have the necessary software that can upscale proportionately, without major loss such as Photoshop or Perfect Resize (my preferred favourite).

I digitally restore old images and have recently printed and framed a clients restored image onto canvas 50x17 without issue.

Hope this helps. :D

JB

[dullbird]

Yeah I shoot Raw :)

[JBLR]

That's awesome,

If you get stuck or need assistance, flip me a message and I would be happy to upscale for you if needed.

JB