Okay, need a little help with resizing for large print.

So, I'm doing a canvas picture for my father, it will be 20X30 black and white. The lab is asking for it to be at least 1800X1200 with 300 dpi. Well, I have it sized correctly but they are saying that it is still low quality and pixelated. Now, I'm not sure if it's my conversion process or that the picture just isn't clear enough for such a large print...any helo would be greatly appreciated...

It was shot in raw with a 5D Mark III and and a 28-70 L.

Iso 160
70mm
1/100 sec at f5.6

Here is the original pic, only thing done to it is that it was converted from Raw

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

If you like it, tell them to print it! Make sure that your software hasn't downsized it in any way, then just print it. Be aware that print quality differs a bit in relation to your viewing distance. but that canvas prints are very "forgiving" when it comes to fine-detail resolution! I'm not sure why your print shop would be picky about a 20x30 print from a 5DIII (unless you resized down)!

Go to to different lab. Run, don't walk, because this is the most outrageous, unprofessional and ignorant thing I've ever heard. They are asking for 1200x1800 pixels (what a normal lab would specify for a 4x6 inch print, not 20x30 inches), you are giving them 3840x5760 pixels, and they are not satisfied? Specifying a ppi tag is a clear indication that they don't have half an idea about printing and calling it "pixelated" is absurd and makes you wonder if they even know what the word means.

A high quality smooth paper 20x30 should be 6000x9000 pixels (300 ppi). Any reputable lab will do the upsizing themselves but some control freak photographers who want to have their hands in the pot as much as is possible will do it at home. For an uncropped 5D3 image this is an easy resize, only 1.6X and to tell the truth I don't think that up to 2X it makes any difference who does it.

To sum up; they should not ask for a ppi, certainly not a meaningless and arbitrary tag, rather they should resize it to whatever real ppi is dictated by the size of the print and the requirements of their machine. With a 5D3 image this is easily done and there is no way a 20x30 would be "pixelated".

If you want opinions about the quality of your shot, that cannot be done by viewing a low resolution version. Crop out a representative section of the original, around 800x800 pixels, what is called a 100% crop, and post that here.

When I read,

My take is that the OP has cropped the original file to a size that is smaller than 1800x1200 and they are trying to explain that the image will be printed at 60ppi (or less), which may result in a poor quality print. I'm assuming that the lab doesn't want the OP to complain when the print is complete and is expecting to get paid for a 20x30 print.

I have all of my prints done by Mpix, who recommends no less than 100ppi, and optimum of 250ppi. Which would mean, 2000x3000 (@100ppi) and 5000x7500 (@250ppi).

What are the pixel dimensions that you are providing to the lab?

Ok, I've never had this situation pop up with any other lab. But, I'm kind of stuck with them. My mother purchased a package from Amazon Local that included this size print.

I haven't cropped it at all, this looks exactly how I took it

Well, as has been pointed out, "1800x1200 with 300 dpi" doesn't make sense for a couple reasons. First, 1800x1200 doesn't give you 300dpi for a 20x30 print. Second, if they should either be giving you the pixel dimensions they want for a certain size print or the dpi. That aside, what I'd do in your case is just uprez the photo yourself to 300 dpi and see if that makes them happy. As said, you're really not increasing the pixel count by all that much, so most decent image editing software should be able to do a perfectly acceptable job. Personally, I like to take care of adjusting the resolution myself to correspond with my desired print dimensions and printer's dpi anyway. If nothing else, it allows me to see for myself if the picture is going to be overly pixelated (which it certainly shouldn't be in your case).

I notice that the B&W conversion image as posted is much smaller than the "original" above it. As I'm using my phone (Galaxy Note) I do not have an easy way to find the actual pixel dimensions as posted. Although the OP says it is uncropped from the OOC image, has it been resized at all? Both for posting here and for the images sent to the lab? As others have said it is the actual number of pixels in the file sent to the lab that is important.

Alan

The two posted versions have obviously been resized, the moderators would have had a fit otherwise; the color version is 1280x854 (still too big, that) and the b/w is 800x562. The OP has not clearly stated how many pixels he sent the lab, but why would anybody who wants a 20x30 downsize the the image?

Elie I know you would not want to resize the image for sending it to print. I noticed that the OP had shot RAW, which is great. We do not know though which RAW converter he used. With some converters it is possible that it is doing a resize automatically as part of the convert to JPEG process, without the OP realising. Unless the OP comes back and tells us the pixel dimensions of the images he is sending the lab it's just guess work on our part.

Alan.

Printing & Enlargement FAQ.

Post a link to the exact file you sent to the lab, via yousendit or dropbox. It's not a sharp shot, camera motion I expect. Could be you've done something wrong and sent a low res file.