working with large file, for oversize print

N
Posted By
noone
Jan 6, 2005
Views
650
Replies
13
Status
Closed
I have an 8-1/2 x 11 image that I want to have printed at about 2 ft x 3 ft. But it needs some manipulation in Photoshop first, so I want to do the scanning and editing myself before giving the file to the printer on a CD or DVD.

I’ve never worked with anything near this kind of scale. What is reasonable as to resolution and file size?

My scanner, a home model Epson flatbed, doesn’t want to scan the image up to that size, at any resolution higher than 800 dpi (1200 dpi would, at the target size, exceed the maximum pixels).

This creates a file that, as an uncompressed TIFF, is about 1.48 gig. This makes everything very slow in Photoshop — even "rotate image" took a couple of minutes, and each "Save" is another long wait. (I have a WinXP machine, 3GB-P4, 1 gig RAM, very large scratch disk.)

Am I attempting something totally nuts? My home printer is happy with 150 dpi, but I figured a professional poster-printer would want much bigger res, especially for 2ft x 3 ft.

I’ve spoken to 2 people at Kinkos who couldn’t shed any light beyond "You can use any resolution, but the better the resolution, the better it would look", and "Save it in any format, a jpg would be fine" (which sounds dubious to me). Unfortunately I don’t have any specific info about their printing process.

Any tips from someone experienced with prepping images for large prints, would be appreciated.
Related Tags
file large print work

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

N
noone
Jan 6, 2005
A bit of follow-up: Some googling got me to a print house that does very large banners (they use an example of 5 ft x 40 ft), and they want Photoshop work sumitted at 50 dpi (which their printing process, called JazzExpress, reinterpolates up to 200dpi).

So it soumds like I’ve been making some wildly wrong guesses about resolution requirements for large prints, at least for some printing processes. Do I need to escalate my inquiries at Kinkos, or can someone please offer some knowledge about working with images for poster-size prints?
S
steggy
Jan 6, 2005
Ted Kerin wrote:
A bit of follow-up: Some googling got me to a print house that does very large banners (they use an example of 5 ft x 40 ft), and they want Photoshop work sumitted at 50 dpi (which their printing process, called JazzExpress, reinterpolates up to 200dpi).

So it soumds like I’ve been making some wildly wrong guesses about resolution requirements for large prints, at least for some printing processes. Do I need to escalate my inquiries at Kinkos, or can someone please offer some knowledge about working with images for poster-size prints?

It also depends on the technique that is used, I do not expect Kinko’s to use a plotter? If so……. that will work.

I did learn though it is always good to use a higher resolution, 50DPI is a bit insane. I designed a poster format size document once in 200 DPI, the file size was acceptible, if in your case it is not, lower the ressolution The printer blew it up to 400% and it looked great. Again it depends on the possibilities of the printer/plotter, maybe you should look for a more specialized company.

steg
SC
Sleeping Cat Creations
Jan 6, 2005
Ted Kerin wrote:
A bit of follow-up: Some googling got me to a print house that does very large banners (they use an example of 5 ft x 40 ft), and they want Photoshop work sumitted at 50 dpi (which their printing process, called JazzExpress, reinterpolates up to 200dpi).

So it soumds like I’ve been making some wildly wrong guesses about resolution requirements for large prints, at least for some printing processes. Do I need to escalate my inquiries at Kinkos, or can someone please offer some knowledge about working with images for poster-size prints?
Banners are meant to be viewed from a distance so their resolution can be low. I have samples of banners printed on vinyl at 180dpi and 360dpi from a supplier. For distance viewing 180dpi reads very well. For close up viewing 360dpi is much better BUT much more expensive. A local sign shop will make banners but they use 600dpi and charge $10 per sq ft. Most sign shops will have a small variety of materials for printing and yes they can all take a lower resolution and interpolate it to a larger print. What you may find more valuable is to inquire about someone who has a plotter. I have used a 36" wide plotter with some good results and the selections of paper are more varied than a sign shop although the resolution only goes to 300dpi on the ones I have used and the format is CMYK. I also have seen other plotters at engineering conferences that print out, very slowly, high density color images on glossy paper. At the time I had no interest in on of these plotters so I did not take down the manufacturer but you should be able to do some research and find a supplier. Alternative is to check with a blueprint and graphics supply company which will do custom plotting on a per square foot basis but you will need to have your print done to the end size you require before they will be able to plot them. A bit of random information but I hope it helps.
R
RSD99
Jan 6, 2005
First:
Figure out how and where the banner is going to be printed.

Second:
**ASK** the people that will print the final banner how they want the file prepared.

Other than that … you have received some good advice … including that made by "Sleeping Cat Creations."

"Ted Kerin" wrote in message
I have an 8-1/2 x 11 image that I want to have printed at about 2 ft x 3
ft.
But it needs some manipulation in Photoshop first, so I want to do the scanning and editing myself before giving the file to the printer on a CD
or
DVD.

I’ve never worked with anything near this kind of scale. What is
reasonable
as to resolution and file size?

My scanner, a home model Epson flatbed, doesn’t want to scan the image up
to
that size, at any resolution higher than 800 dpi (1200 dpi would, at the target size, exceed the maximum pixels).

This creates a file that, as an uncompressed TIFF, is about 1.48 gig.
This
makes everything very slow in Photoshop — even "rotate image" took a
couple
of minutes, and each "Save" is another long wait. (I have a WinXP
machine,
3GB-P4, 1 gig RAM, very large scratch disk.)

Am I attempting something totally nuts? My home printer is happy with 150 dpi, but I figured a professional poster-printer would want much bigger
res,
especially for 2ft x 3 ft.

I’ve spoken to 2 people at Kinkos who couldn’t shed any light beyond "You can use any resolution, but the better the resolution, the better it
would
look", and "Save it in any format, a jpg would be fine" (which sounds dubious to me). Unfortunately I don’t have any specific info about their printing process.

Any tips from someone experienced with prepping images for large prints, would be appreciated.

LC
Larry CdeBaca
Jan 6, 2005
I read recently that TIFF files are 4 times the size of RAW — and RAW are already many times the size of JPGs. Meaning, tiff may not be the file type of choice.

I recently worked with an aerial image file, 3400×3400 pixels, that was to be printed by Kinko’s. They asked for a pdf file, straight from PS. Final print — and working size inside PS — 40"x40". The resolution was 200 or 300 dpi, can’t recall, but the file was 200 MB .

Ask to talk to the person who will be working with your image. Most Kinko’s counter staff are not that helpful when it comes to advice about filesize.

50 dpi for a 40ft panel seems right. The larger the print, the farther back you need to be to even see the thing. Why waste resources on the unseeable??

"Ted Kerin" wrote in message
A bit of follow-up: Some googling got me to a print house that does very large banners (they use an example of 5 ft x 40 ft), and they want Photoshop work sumitted at 50 dpi (which their printing process, called JazzExpress, reinterpolates up to 200dpi).

So it soumds like I’ve been making some wildly wrong guesses about resolution requirements for large prints, at least for some printing processes. Do I need to escalate my inquiries at Kinkos, or can someone please offer some knowledge about working with images for poster-size prints?
TK
Ted Kerin
Jan 6, 2005
Thanks to everyone, for the very helpful replies.

I will follow-up with getting better info from Kinkos, and meanwhile I was most interested in the insights about why "bigger print does not always mean you need higher resolution", which makes sense. Thanks again.
D
Dee
Jan 7, 2005
"Ted Kerin" wrote in message
I have an 8-1/2 x 11 image that I want to have printed at about 2 ft x 3
ft.
But it needs some manipulation in Photoshop first, so I want to do the scanning and editing myself before giving the file to the printer on a CD
or
DVD.

I’ve never worked with anything near this kind of scale. What is
reasonable
as to resolution and file size?

My scanner, a home model Epson flatbed, doesn’t want to scan the image up
to
that size, at any resolution higher than 800 dpi (1200 dpi would, at the target size, exceed the maximum pixels).

This creates a file that, as an uncompressed TIFF, is about 1.48 gig. This makes everything very slow in Photoshop — even "rotate image" took a
couple
of minutes, and each "Save" is another long wait. (I have a WinXP machine, 3GB-P4, 1 gig RAM, very large scratch disk.)

Am I attempting something totally nuts? My home printer is happy with 150 dpi, but I figured a professional poster-printer would want much bigger
res,
especially for 2ft x 3 ft.

I’ve spoken to 2 people at Kinkos who couldn’t shed any light beyond "You can use any resolution, but the better the resolution, the better it would look", and "Save it in any format, a jpg would be fine" (which sounds dubious to me). Unfortunately I don’t have any specific info about their printing process.

Any tips from someone experienced with prepping images for large prints, would be appreciated.

Hi Ted,

Just wanted to jump in here. I’ve had large posters and prints made from much of my original art … after I’ve scanned it into Photoshop … and have NEVER needed to go over 300 dpi for any printer to print out. Anything over 300 is usually just not needed and takes up more space and time that isn’t neccesary.

I also scanned the art in at 300 … and that’s all you’ll really ever need to go .. again, anything over that is a waste of time and space. Most printers can work beautifully with 300 dpi.

Hope that helps …
Dee
S
Stephan
Jan 7, 2005
Sleeping Cat Creations wrote:
Ted Kerin wrote:

snip
Banners are meant to be viewed from a distance so their resolution can be low. I have samples of banners printed on vinyl at 180dpi and 360dpi from a supplier. For distance viewing 180dpi reads very well. For close up viewing 360dpi is much better BUT much more expensive. >snip<

That is what I thought for a long time too, until a friend proved me wrong. I print "large" (13×50) panoramas on my Epson1280 at 180 DPI. They are sharp, you don’t need to stand back to make them look good!

To anyone jumping at me with: "Non sense!, you need to print at 300 DPI!" I can only say:
Try!
And to anyone coming up with the classic: "depends on you standards" I’ll say that my prints sell!

Stephan
H
Hecate
Jan 7, 2005
On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 19:02:47 GMT, "Dee" wrote:

Hi Ted,

Just wanted to jump in here. I’ve had large posters and prints made from much of my original art … after I’ve scanned it into Photoshop … and have NEVER needed to go over 300 dpi for any printer to print out. Anything over 300 is usually just not needed and takes up more space and time that isn’t neccesary.

I also scanned the art in at 300 … and that’s all you’ll really ever need to go .. again, anything over that is a waste of time and space. Most printers can work beautifully with 300 dpi.

Hope that helps …
Dee
<sigh> Hi Dee,

I do believe you’re mixing up dpi and ppi…

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui
D
Dee
Jan 9, 2005
Hi Dee,
I do believe you’re mixing up dpi and ppi…

Well, this is a good way to think about it:

http://www.med.unc.edu/ois/etg/training/scanning/welcome.htm

I’m just looking into what ppi is … will have to learn more about it.

Dee
S
steggy
Jan 9, 2005
Dee wrote:
Hi Dee,
I do believe you’re mixing up dpi and ppi…

Well, this is a good way to think about it:

http://www.med.unc.edu/ois/etg/training/scanning/welcome.htm
I’m just looking into what ppi is … will have to learn more about it.
Dee

It can be confusing. Maybe this will help:

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/intermediate/a/meas_resolutio n.htm

steg
H
Hecate
Jan 10, 2005
On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:45:52 GMT, "Dee" wrote:

Hi Dee,
I do believe you’re mixing up dpi and ppi…

Well, this is a good way to think about it:

http://www.med.unc.edu/ois/etg/training/scanning/welcome.htm
I’m just looking into what ppi is … will have to learn more about it.
ppi = pixels per inch and is the resolution of an image if you are printing it.

dpi = dots per inch and is the resolution used by the printer to print your Xppi image (where x is the specific printing resolution of the image.

scanning is something different altogether 🙂

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui
RS
Robert Strom
Jan 12, 2005
I just had a 3040×2016 image ( approx. 7"x10"x300dpi) enlarged to a 44" wide image. It was printed at 72dpi. The image ws beautiful. I am not going to worry about re-sampling anything to 300 dpi before doing large size inkjet printing again.

Robert Strom

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:04:44 +0000, Hecate wrote:

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:45:52 GMT, "Dee" wrote:
Hi Dee,
I do believe you’re mixing up dpi and ppi…

Well, this is a good way to think about it:

http://www.med.unc.edu/ois/etg/training/scanning/welcome.htm
I’m just looking into what ppi is … will have to learn more about it.
ppi = pixels per inch and is the resolution of an image if you are printing it.

dpi = dots per inch and is the resolution used by the printer to print your Xppi image (where x is the specific printing resolution of the image.

scanning is something different altogether 🙂

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections