Prints

As the politicians say, I misspoke in the post above. It should have been 254 ppi. This guy was an economy print shop, and I don't know why he used that particular figure.

lowpine said:

I'm interested in getting a print made and have some questions.

To begin with here's what I want to print:

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lowpine said:

The original is 50mb and 17403x3687.

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That's a pretty huge image size, horizontally anyway. At the default 72 dpi, it represents an image 241.7 in wide, and 51 in high. That's big enough for my living room and then some.

Of course it could be scaled to any smaller and proportionate size. No problem there, and of course, the image will look better, sharper, less "grainy" etc.

lowpine said:

I'd like to get a rather large print made and am trying to figure out what the largest viable print size would be with a crisp-nongrainy image. In trying to come up with an estimated size, I viewed the picture on screen, zooming in until I detected graininess, then dialed it back a bit. I have a 24" monitor, so I started at one side of the image, then dragged the image the full length of the monitor.... I came up with 74"! Now I don't think I'd print it that large, but I was surprised! I had 48" in mind, but what about the 74" figure? How do you determine the size print for your image?

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So, at width of 74 in, your image is scaled to 234 dpi (in terms of the image, not printer resolution), which would probably work OK, if the original image looks good at the proposed size. You should be able to judge this on your monitor when viewing the image at actual 100% size, though of course you won't be able to see the whole image. You'll have to look at it in pieces.

lowpine said:

Moving on, with whom do you have your prints made? local print shops, online (snapfish), or 'big box' photo shops (Walgreens/Target)? Target will do a 'poster' for $9, anyone try this?

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There are several ways to get prints made if you don't have a printer of your own to do the job. My ancient but capable Epson Pro 4000 is limited to 17 in paper height, but can print in "banner" mode, for images greater than the standard 22 in.

You could look for pro photo shops that offer printing services--they'll often do a splendid job, if not cheaply. Print shops, like Kinkos and the like usually have the equipment, but that might require some time for you to get it looking just right. They'll probably be willing to work with you.

On-line services might be OK, if you know from experience they are reliable. Sounds like you'd have to check it out carefully to make sure it would be what you want.

I would avoid like the plague those cheap, mass-market "poster prints". They are almost guaranteed to be lower quality, definitely not producing anywhere near "enthusiast-level" results.

lowpine said:

I'm not going for museum quality here, I just want something with true colors decent quality and a reasonable price.

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How far is a print with "true colors" and "decent quality" from "museum quality" after all? No way a "decent quality" print in that size (or even half as big) is going to be obtainable for $9.00. Not even close.

Check out the options, choose carefully, and if you're lucky, you'll get what you pay for.

JRA

--
Artists must not only see, but see what they are seeing.

lowpine said:

I'm not going for museum quality here, I just want something with true colors decent quality and a reasonable price.

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The only way to ensure the color that you want, true or not, is to print proofs. You should look for either online printing service that mails proofs, or a local print shop that offers proofs.

Online may be less expensive, but will take longer. Locally you can save money by using cheaper paper, especially if you are not going for "museum quality."

As an example, in San Francisco, California, I began to use Rayko photocenter. Their less expensive paper comes to $11 for a 8x10, and their most expensive paper is $15 for an 8x10. Either is significantly more expensive that the $4 prints at Walgreens. But find that Walgreens color gamut is visibly smaller. This is probably true of all Frontier-type printers. They also tend to make automatic adjustments that cancel all the changes I make to my images. Finally, cheap online labs will require sRGB color space, whereas a more costly printer will often offer ProPhoto RGB. I am now considering reprinting all of my collection at Rayko.

So the bottom line is: color accuracy is a very tricky thing. Wherever you print, get a 4x6 proof of the whole image to check for color, and may be a 4x6 proof of a crop at the size of the final print to check for sharpness. Higher priced printers do give benefits in terms of paper, color gamut, and proofing flexibility.

Vlad

I would also suggest that you get a small print made of an important part of the picture printed at the resolution you intend on the medium you want for the big print. Getting say an 8x10 print of the bridge in the middle distance will show both the color mapping and the resolution of the final image without spending a lot of money. View this print at the same distance you expect to view the larger print. If things are satisfactory you have spent a few more bucks (which you might ask to get refunded if you buy a big print). If things aren't as you expect you are only out a few dollars.

It is important that your display is calibrated properly so what you see is what you get. Some companies will provide sample prints on various media (via mail). You can then compare the sample output with the corresponding images on their website to see how the images on your screen compare to the printed output.