Large prints, followup question

[larry_g1]

I've been reading the responses to Jammer Jammer's question (March

26) about how many MP a camera should have in order to get a decent

13x19 print. Here's my follow up question: I know that 250-300 ppi

is considered the minimum for a "good" print. I have a Canon Rebel

(6.3 MP). If I were to enlarge one of its photographs to 13x19 it

comes out to far less than 250 ppi when I check Image Size in

Photoshop. The question, therefore, is: should I resample the image

when I crop it? Or do something else?

Thanks,

Larry G

[daniel_taylor]

Yes, resample the image to 250 ppi at the final print size.

[KenPapai]

I also know that 250-300 DPI on your prints is NOT a minimum for good prints. E.g., 240 DPI is extremely effective even for small A4 sized prints. If your A3+ sized print is going to be viewed from 2 feet to 15 feet away then 240 DPI is overkill. I do this all the time and my prints are as good as any pro lab's (I use an old Epson 1270 and a new R2400 for photo printners).

[marshall]

I've been pretty pleased using 240ppi as output from digital capture. Depending on size, I'd be happy to use more resolution, but the prints at 240ppi have been more than acceptable. Last night, I ran a test on a new Epson 2400 of a cropped image at roughly 175ppi, upsampled to 240ppi. It looked pretty good, though to be fair it's not a shot with a lot of fine detail.

[inspiration point studio]

Judging the quality of the print is a very subjective matter. A friend of mine took a 4x6 300dpi file and extrapolated it up to a 16x24 300 dpi file and liked the results enough to frame and display the picture.

 

Assuming you want a high quality print, printing at 240ppi is probably the lowest setting you should use. If your print gets someone's attention, the next thing he/she will do is to get as close as possible to see how the print looks close up (Notice all those people standing inches away from the photo gallery displays?)

 

Personally, I won't use Photoshop to extrapolate the file to a higher pixel count.

[rdkirk]

>>Assuming you want a high quality print, printing at 240ppi is probably the lowest setting you should use. If your print gets someone's attention, the next thing he/she will do is to get as close as possible to see how the print looks close up (Notice all those people standing inches away from the photo gallery displays?) <<

 

Very true, that. Even if the print is a 40x50, you can expect people to get as close as physically possible to view it...if it's any good.

 

The viewing distance thumbrules are more for more prosaic things like advertisements...which people don't want to examine too closely.

[godfrey]

If people want to be foolish and view a large print from nose-grease damage distances,

that's their problem.

 

I've made some very satisfying full-bleed 13x19 inch prints from 6Mpixel, uninterpolated

PSD files. That works out to be about a 155ppi print. Of course, a 10Mpixel uninterpolated

image looks nicer when examined very close up (about 200ppi) but both have hung on

display, side by side with 300ppi prints, and obtained only complimentary comments.

 

Basically, I support the theory that if the subject matter of a photograph is strong enough

to affect the viewers emotionally, they don't get involved with doing microscopic

examination of the print quality to see how fine the dots are: they react to the content of

the photograph rather than the technology of the print.

 

(It is also true that I tend to print 6-10Mpixel photos more often on 11x17 paper than

13x19 or larger. Quality of the image does count; my experience is that it is only a rare

exposure that has enough quality to render well at larger sizes than that.)

 

Godfrey

[scott_eaton]

<I>The question, therefore, is: should I resample the image when I crop it? Or do something else? Thanks, Larry G</i><P>Ink-jet printer; yes.<P>Lambda/LightJet; no.

[larry_g1]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the responses to my question. This is the first time I've participated in one of these sites. It's really great to have your combined knowledge and wisdom! -Larry G.