anyone offer some advice on poster size prints

hello, I'm preparing my first poster. Our Staples store around the corner has decent prices, they have a HP 130NR. I asked the best dpi for the printer, and of course no one there knew. With a google search I found out it prints 2400dpi x 1200dpi.

I'd like to ask for the best route to take and PhotoShop settings.

If it helps, this is what I'm doing. A gift for my Daughters soccer Coach, a poster 24x36 with himself and a montage of shots of the team players I've taken over the last year. Just guessing so far, but I should have room for a 4x6 of each player. So this will/should be viewed fairly close up.

My plan was to create a file in Photoshop 24x36, not sure what to enter for pixels/inch ?. 300 made a rather large file. What would be best for quality.

Also, when I asked at the store, they mentioned blowing it up for me to print size. What gets the best results, creating the final print size yourself, or let them do it ?.
I feel better doing it myself knowing it's final when I give it to them. But I'd like to do it the "right" way.

So if someone could get me started by telling me the correct value to use in Photoshop/New File/
W- 24 inches
L- 36 inches
? - pixels/inch

thanks for any advice.

Unless you have some adjustments to color balance, sharpening, brightness, contrast, etc., why not just take a copy of the file right out of the camera on a CDROM and tell them what size you want it printed? That way, they get the file with all the pixels and detail that the image has with no possibility of anyone inadvertently worsening the situation by trying to do something unnecessary.

I'm not sure Robert has answered your question, as it seems you want to make a collage, either that or I don't understand your question. Yes, 300dpi would be a reasonable value, and yes, it'll make a big file - 222MB according to CS.

Bigger the better. I've blown up posters from film to poster size, but haven't done digital yet. I'll have to try that too.

since this is not commerical, you can just interpolate the pixel with CS. It will do a decent job for a non-commerical work. But most of the time, it requires VERY VERY detail editing for big prints. Because every detail is now emphasize. Have fun

300dpi will be fine, though 400 would be 'best' (395.5 MB).
Flatten the image with a tagged color profile (aRGB or sRGB) and give them a small proof. Spend a few extra bucks and get a 8x10 printed crop of the 100% image for pre-approval.

thanks for the tips, also thanks for pointing out trying a 8x10 first. I would have just gone and printed it.

In case I wasn't to clear on what I'm doing. I'm Creating a New File in Photoshop, 24x36 inches.

There are 14 players, 2 Coaches, 1 Manager. I'm making individual pic's of each person (guessing here on size right now) at 4x6 and putting it onto the 24x36 poster. So 18 pictures on going on to it. Some text of the Team name and year.

I'm on version 2, I didn't like my first one.

I'll use 300dpi, and hope for the best.

Paul, 300 dpi will do you fine, tho of course it takes a bit of patience to work with the file size you'll have. Since you're doing all the work yourself and not taking it to a professional printer, the 8x10 sample print is an excellent idea.

If you were taking that image to a real poster pro, which you may want to do at some point in the future on another project, make sure to ask them what THEY prefer. Each printer has their own equipment, which they know how to make talk its best, and it's in their interest to capture and produce the best quality possible. In the right hands, you'll be in the best of hands.

Now, maybe this is obvious and you've already thought of it, and maybe someone has already mentioned it on this thread and I missed it, but make sure the exposures on all those prints look right before you flatten the image. Flattening the image, of course, is about the last step you want to take. The closer each image is to each other for exposure and tone, the fewer the challenges in the printing process, and the better the likelihood the poster will come out just right.

Good luck, and have fun!

I work at Staples in BC, and I've printed some photos on our 130NR and find it breathtaking.

My advice is to find what software that your Copy Centre is running and tailor your file format to that - ours doesn't run Photoshop, and often I've had to plug my laptop into the USB to get my file printed the way I want.

We do, however, have Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.0, and it's easy to print to the wide format from there.

The prints are not water or dampness safe - they are ruined if they get wet. A bit of a heads-up.

Otherwise, I'm incredibly happy with my many prints from the wide format printer.
Admittedly, it's not professional photo printing, but it sure does get nice results.

For wide-format professional-quality prints, I recommend Elcocolor