portrait photography

[dshootist]

so I've just settled down (for the time being) with my brand new Canon 10D. now for the fun part.

my neighbor has asked me to take some portrait shots for her daughter's Senior year. when researching for a good "pro-sumer" the Canon came out on top for color accuracy, so that shouldn't bug, but I'd like to know how big I can go. obviously, there will be some limitations, but what can I tell my neighbor to expect as far as size limitations?

[Laziferous]

I couldn't tell you exactly, being that I have a G2... but I will say that I've had 8x10's printed from photos I've taken with my G2, and they are absolutely beautiful. I would think with a 10D, you could go at least 10x13... probably larger.

[onehotrx7]

A3 quite comfortably, or 12 X 18 from a minilab without a blink of an eye... I've printed a 60" X 40" from a G2, so the 10D won't have any problems there... I print A3 prints from my 10D on a weekly basis, and the quality knocks your socks off... just HOW big do you want to print the shots at??

Cheers,
Stuart

[dshootist]

I'm not looking for anything gargantuan, but I'd like to offer a pretty full range of print options for the parents (from wallet to, say, 18 x 20). were your shots that you print (A3) all RAW, or did you do your interpolation in Photoshop with a Large Fine JPEG? the things that have me curious are: will there be much artifacting/pixelation after I get to about 11 x 17? what type of contrast can I expect? I'll be using soft/diffusion filters as well; how can I use that to my advantage? I hope that they will request mostly wallet size with 8 x 10 being the largest, so that size range is covered.

I've only got a 256 card right now (soon to change), so I get about 90 shots in the Large format (not quite sure what how many RAW files would be). since I'll be burning a CD/DVD later, longterm storage isn't a problem.

[Laziferous]

I've printed a 60" X 40" from a G2
How is that? I don't understand how that's possible, but if it is, I'd like to know how to accomplish it. I would love to have a few prints that size around my home.

[dshootist]

I too would like to hear about how to get a 60" x 40" enlargement from a 4+ megapixel image without some major artifacting. what imaging software did you use? was it a RAW TIFF file or other? did you have a lab print them or some other printer? give with the 411!

[onehotrx7]

For A3 from the 10D, I do no interpolation... I print straight from the image to a Canon S9000, and I get a print that members from the Adelaide Camera Club don't believe were printed on an inkjet... for A3 from the G2 I've resized with Genuine Fractals in Photoshop and have printed some knockout shots that have also won in club competition - I also have a three frame stitch of the Twelve Apostles that has sold S9000's for me at work...

The 60" X 40" does have some magic to it, I'm sure, but all I gave the Canon Rep was a 1600 X 1200 crop from a full size G2 Jpeg, which he handed over to the guy responsible for selling the large format gear in Adelaide - a day later he was back with a huge print that I spent a fortune getting framed the way it deserved... but it takes pride of place in my house... I bet that whatever he did was done with the software that comes with Canon plotters though, as it was also going to be used as a promotional tool - show the image as a little shot on a brochure, then projected on a screen, then the printed image to compare...

Cheers,
Stuart

[dougsturgess]

dshootist wrote:
so I've just settled down (for the time being) with my brand new Canon 10D. now for the fun part.

my neighbor has asked me to take some portrait shots for her daughter's Senior year. when researching for a good "pro-sumer" the Canon came out on top for color accuracy, so that shouldn't bug, but I'd like to know how big I can go. obviously, there will be some limitations, but what can I tell my neighbor to expect as far as size limitations?

I also have a G2 and I've printed up to 20x30 with great results, using RAW mode and fine-tuning with Photoshop. The D10 should be even better.

[Laziferous]

Thanks for the info Stuart.

If you don't mind my asking... what was the cost for a print that size?

[charlesu]

dshootist wrote:
I too would like to hear about how to get a 60" x 40" enlargement from a 4+ megapixel image without some major artifacting. what imaging software did you use? was it a RAW TIFF file or other? did you have a lab print them or some other printer? give with the 411!

It's not so hard as you would think. I have 13x19 prints in my office from a G2 that i took to Disney World on a family vacation. The original capture was in jpeg (about 1MB) but the print is stellar. By the way, I routinely use Genuine Fractals.

Seen from viewing distance of about 3-5 feet it has fooled many photogs into thinking it is medium. Up close and/or with a loupe you can tell it's digital.

I've seen 5 foot prints off of the Lightjet and they are remarkable whether from a 1D or a 1Ds. I own both.

http://www.runways.com/images/WDW%20Feb%202003%20183.jpg

[GPR1]

If you want maximum size, I'd shoot in Raw where you have maximum data, then convert to TIFF for post-processing, a lossless format.

[onehotrx7]

Hi Laziferous,

It was a freebie done by Canon for me (I work for Australia's largest distributor of Canon parts, so we do get the odd favour) but the place round the corner that does plotter prints would charge around about AUD$100 - $150... An A2 sized print is AUD$35 from most places, and a photographic print that size is now AUD$17.50 from my favourite lab...

Cheers,
Stuart