How large can I print this picture before it looks grainy?

Question

I took a picture with, I believe, a 10.1 MP camera.
I want to print it as large as possible, but don't want it to look crappy.
Here is the info on the file:
3648x2736 pixels
480 dpi both vertically and horizontally
Bit depth: 24
size: 2.56 MB

Thanks!

Answer 1

Your problem will be JPG attracting more then "grain"..... A mish-mash of cross hatch lines seen as blocks all over the image, some more seen than others. If you try to enhance the image, you also enhance these compression fractures as well.

.

I can take 6mp images at 3000x2000 pixels from my camera and make them into prints of 16x20's that look very very good.!

.

I have gone as large as 24x36 on some that look like they were shot with 400 ASA film..

.

Your DPI means nothing....

.

Your JPG compression is a bit high and if you know you will be wanting to print these images from now on, lower the compression down a few notches.. or shoot in another format. TIFF or RAW.

.

If you use a RIP printer interface (RIP = Raster Image Processing) and a large format printer you will have no problem in matching my sizes and most likely surpass them. You have plenty of pixels and that is what is needed. The DPI means squat here and adds NO increase to resolution or print size what so ever.

.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=the+myth+of+dpi&oq=the+myth+of+dpi&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=2265l9219l0l9672l15l9l0l6l6l0l250l1219l2.6.1l15l0&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i15.2265l9219l0l9672l15l9l0l6l6l0l250l1219l2j6j1l15l0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=297cffb4fb1be379&biw=1074&bih=678

.

Read the reports on - The Myth of DPI - and how much time people spend spinning their wheels over such a item that has NO connection anymore in the world of DIGITAL, as it once did in the world of old fashion printing techniques of 20+ years ago.. Today it is PIXELS, there are no DPI here anymore..

.

Now, back to how big can you print.. 6Mp cameras (and smaller) have been used to make bill boards along the roads for years now. The secret..? It's the viewing distance. The rule of thumb here is to stand back the same distance the print is large (or farther). A 3x4 ft image should not be viewed any closer than 4 ft. The larger, the farther back the viewer should be. This is a fact, even with regular photographs.

.

Today we have Pixel Peepers who do nothing more than get nose close to a image and tear it apart because they can see - pixels.. If they would do this with a real photograph they most likely would see grain as well, but here, no one really said anything.. Hmmmmm..? Curious..

.

My camera is a modified Nikon D-200 and over 5 years old now, however, it is still producing excellent images and making me $$ because I took some time to learn and under stand the digital process and what is hype, BS and fact. I take, print, mount and frame my own images and I sell at, in.. a small but prominent Tucson art gallery. I know what I say works because I have been doing it for over 14 years now and thats OK that few want to follow or listen. If everyone knew "how easy" it really is, competition would be so much greater..

Answer 2

Why 480dpi? DPI is the printer resolution and usually they are never set for more than 300dpi, for a large print often less than 200dpi. The larger the print the less resolution you need.



DPI and PPI are not the same thing. Only at 6" X 4" will they have the same value.



I routinely print images from a 10Mp camera to 4ft X 3ft, even larger on occasion, but that's using a perfect Raw file, everything is exaggerated when you print large, the image has to be perfect and by and large Jpeg files won't do it, they don't have all the data, a 2.5 Mb file is just not big enough to get to this kind of size, a perfect print at 10" X 8" needs a 10Mb file, to print at 4ft you need a 48Mb file.



Chris

Answer 3

Because of the viewing distance of large prints, you can, as others have said, go as high as you want. However, you should start out with a high quality original. Some have said that jpeg is a poor choice. If your jpeg was straight out of the camera at high/fine resolution, then they are wrong. If it has been saved one or more times with higher compression, then they are right. So always work with the original. Jpeg format at the highest resolution/least compression will not lose quality. How do I know? I tested it by saving a jpeg through 20 generations and saw no change in file size and resolution from start to finish. If you use lower resolution, the loss of quality is dramatic.



Some high end cameras do save 12-14 bits per color channel in raw images. Jpeg uses 8-bits per channel. So there is some loss going from raw to jpeg. However, it's practically impossible for the human eye to detect.

Answer 4

This depends on several factors. The main one is the size and quality of the original photo. Whatever camera you are using, ALWAYS use the highest quality setting and the largest file size possible. (Many cameras will have settings like Fine, Very Fine, choose whatever is the best quality setting, and then File sizes, usually with Large being the largest). It does depend on the number of pixels, but also the overall quality of the photo. A large photo that is too dark or too bright/light (overexposed) will product a poor quality enlargement. So make sure whatever photos you want to use have been taken with the right lighting/exposure and focus. Obviously a small photo, or something you grabbed off the Internet, is not going to enlarge well. Although it may look find on your computer screen, generally the resolution is low because the image is not intended for print, but just for screen display. And enlarging such as image will produce something badly pixelated and poor quality. This is just general information. I would also to talk to whatever company you plan to use for enlarging your images and see what their requirements are regarding original file size and pixel count.

Answer 5

You can go really quite big with that. How big do you want to go? The Print Space in London is a very good printers and offer any size from standard 4x5" to 60x80" and there's no reason why you couldn't go that big.



Of course, it depends also on what format the file is. If it's jpeg, i wouldn't recommend going bigger than A1 but if it's a tiff file you'd have more choice.



EDIT: In that case, talk to a printer. I'm not 100% sure how big you could go with a jpeg as i usually work with tiffs. I know i did print a couple of images once in average poster size, about A1, and they were fine. But a pro print lab will know best. The problem with jpeg is that it is a compressed file and they're not very tolerant of big changes.

Answer 6

Ok so the larger the print, the further back you will be, the lower the Dots per Inch (DPI) we can use.



For printing things like a pamplet, we would need to print at around 300DPI so your image above could be printed at 12.16 inches by 9.12 inches.



But for a large print, you can tone that down to 100DPI and it will look good because to see the entire print, you will have to be further away ... this is how billboards are printed ... with billvboards, you are so far away that the individual dots ok ink couls be the size of your pinky and you owuldn;t notice it.



So at 100 DPI your print woul be 36.48 inches by 27.36 inches or about 3 feet by 2.25 feet

Answer 7

Without additional software you should be able to print 16 x 20.



If you use software, you can scale the image larger and print billboard size.

Answer 8

Others have already given you excellent advice...

I'll just point out that it will never look "grainy" -- digital images don't have "grain," that's a film artifact.



Peace.