Advice for big prints from 20D, am I missing something??

[johneric8]

First let me say I'm very new to printing out digital images. There is a company called jumbo giant that printed some images for me recently at 11x14 and they looked perfect.. All that I did to the images was so slight adjustments to them before sending them. My method was when I saved them after editing they where saved to the higest quality jpeg and kept at their normal size which was
3504x2336 shot by my 20D. The place where I get my photos printed claims that I can get a very good print of my pictures at even a size of 40x60 If this is true, then please tell me why so many people are talking about upsizing their photos before getting large prints??? Am I missing something here that can make my pictures even better??

[Scottes]

Upsizing yourself can have a lot of benefits, at a cost of a lot of work. But the end result will most likely be only marginally better. Upsizing to 40x60 - 12,000 x 18,000 pixels @ 300DPI or 6000 x 9000 at a more reasonable 150DPI - requires a fast computer with a lot of RAM, or patience. Running sharpening on an image that size will take a while, for instance.

You *will* end up with a better image if you do it yourself. It *will* take you some extra work. The results may be marginally better, and I tend to doubt that there will be a huge difference. Most people (non-graphic/non-photographers) will most likely say they can't tell the difference.

It also takes some experience - which can be built by running some tests. Take a small portion of an image and run several several upsizing & sharpening methods to get a number of different results and print then at a reasonable size, like 5x7 or 8x10. This will take a few hours and cost you $20-40 in prints just to see if you can tell the difference, as well as finding out which upsizing method works best for that one image. And another image will require another test run like this. (For instance resizing a picture of a bird will require different techniques than resizing a picture of a house.)

I am one of those people who can tell the difference, and I don't mind spending an hour to get a print that looks better to me. (Not that every upsize will take an hour.) I've done such tests to build up the knowledge and experience.

If you not willing to spend this extra time and money then it's just a guess, really. Do the upsize yourself without the tests and you'll never really know if it was worth it, though you may get some satisfaction in believing that your extra work was worth it. Even without the tests you will very most likely get a better print, but it may be 2% better or 10% better than just having Jumbo Giant do it. Even with all the tests and/or experience I doubt that you'd get a print that's 20% better, but to some people - like me - that 20% is HUGE.

[gary_hendricks]

I can vouch for the fact that upsizing yourself is pretty good. Most non-photographers will tell you they can't tell the difference.

[KevC]

I'm interested in this upsizing... any links/tutorials?

[Scottes]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37747&highlight=upsizing
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37151&highlight=upsizing
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37558&highlight=upsizing
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42566&highlight=upsizing

[Mike Panic]

i work at a lab (netadmin) - i can tell you that most upsizing photographers due does not yield a better result from wide format inkjet printers - if anything all it gives is a bloated file size.

[johneric8]

Thanks for the feedback!! I have to tell you guys that I apreciate your enthusiasm about upsizing. But, the pictures that I have had done at jumbogiant.com are perfect! I did noting but send them a higest quality JPeg and it's amazing no matter how you slice it... I work for a photograher who shoots catalog work and he said the pictures I had printed from Jumbogiant where very very good! I guess, I really cant imagine how much better they can be by upsizing? Maybe I just take some great pics! hehehe