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The real key is the resolution of the camera and the resolution the photo was taken with. This will determine how large of a print you can have without sacrificing image quality.
"Original" file size doesn't help much as file sizes vary with photos.
Hi all, I am wanting to do big prints for my wall and wondering what the best format is?
My files are the original size and PNG files would that be the best or should I resize the images?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107
its best to use raw and learn to post process.
I agree, shoot RAW - always, and PP (post process). If you want big (you didn't tell us how big) you'll want to resize - that's in PP. Most PP software can resize, but be aware, it comes with a cost in image integrity and the choices you make when resizing will have an impact on the product. I have been told that Genuine Fractals is an industry standard for resizing BIG, but is expensive and works as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - so you'll need one of those too.
Bottom line: If you want big prints, and won't be doing this often, you may want to check into some printing outfits like MPix or Snapfish, or any number of others I can't think of right now. See what they offer. There may even be a local printer who might work with you.
WFW&P has it right. Also, the dpi or dots per inch will impact how large the print could be.
Yes and no. Pixels and digital images have no dimension, DPI is used to set the default scale of an image or physical size of an image. For example here's two identical images except they have two DPI settings:
72DPI
600dpi:
Since a browser displays images at their pixel dimensions they are viewed exactly the same size*. If you saved both these images and imported them into a word document you'll get two different sized images because Word will scale them to the canvas or paper size according to the DPI. Same thing if you were to print them in most cases because printing software will utilize the scale.
To determine how large an image you can print you need to know the pixel size. The human eye can see somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 to 300dpi at a standard viewing length, viewing length would be considered arms length. Anything higher and your eye won't be able to see any difference unless you move the images closer or use a magnifying glass.
If for example you had an image that was 3000px*2000px you would divide each pixel length by 300 to get your optimum size for standard viewing length. In this case it would be about a 10*7.
If you were going to place this image high up on the wall you could in fact make it much larger since the viewing length is much farther.
*this can be manipulated with HTML but that's for another topic.
I always edit my photos on photoshop CS4 but I use snapfish for prints. I will need to change my setting on my camera to shoot RAW and just finish in photoshop as usual and save as a TIFF or PNG file.
Should be fine then eh?
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Pixels and digital images have no dimension, DPI is used to set the default scale of an image or physical size of an image. For example here's two identical images except they have two DPI settings:
