Supercell panorama printing question

Hey guys, looking for some printing advice. Here's a pano of a storm cell I took this weekend. The hospital I work for puts on a charity event every year and some of the people in charge want me to donate a print for the silent auction. I don't mind at all, but I've never had "professional" prints made, especially not of a panoramic shot like this. First question is what is a good website to use to get quality prints. Next, I think the foreground focus is pretty soft and I'm afraid if I blow it up too much it'll look like crap. Anyone with an eye for these things feel like checking out the high res picture and giving me an estimate of what size I should have it made? Would appreciate all input! Thanks!

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …85166788@N02/14​324564802/

First I would personally get rid of the power lines/poles and the protrusion on the left.

As far as the foreground, yes it is soft, but you could sharpen it up for print and IMO make it look OK. How large depends on viewing distance, but I reckon I could make a 30" wide print look decent/good. That would only be about 9in tall - how large were you hoping to print it?

I'm guessing you don't have a lot of printing experience (or large printing experience) or you wouldn't be asking the question, so I would say you need to sharpen the foreground until it looks over-sharpened at 100% on a monitor. How much 'over sharpened' is hard to describe without some experience. Depending on the sharpening method I would also use or add a sharpener that acts like a clarity (USM with large radius works like this).

Sharpening is a whole game in itself, sharpening for a 'professional' print is even more tricky. If I get really picky I can easily end up making a print 2-3 times.

I would have a go at it, let us know the size you want to print it and then let us look at it (you'll need a bit more sharpening for a larger print than a smaller one).

As far as a printing service, Adorama Pix is decent (and looks similar to my 3880) and cheap, but if you want it on some really nice paper, you may need to use something more 'professional'.

ALTERNATIVE - print it on canvas, it will look soft enough anyway no-one will be able to tell that the foreground is soft (I'd still sharpen it though). I hate most canvas prints, especially landscapes, but apparently they are popular.

Assuming the height we see is the frame width of a normal shot, then it will go a lot further than 9 inches. I keep a roll of paper 13" wide for my pano's and only limited myself to that because my Epson R2880 will do about that or 14". They have all been fine.

What pixel dimensions is the final image? 4300 or so wide on flickr, you could probably make a decent 50" print.

I like the image. I think good editing could take it from good to awesome - recover some highlights, change the contrast highlights and shadows to add drama, add saturation, remove poles in the foreground, that sort of thing. If you post a high res version I'm sure someone will help, but maybe you want to keep it to yourself as it's potentially a saleable image.

Print it at a pro lab on metallic paper, or some kind of art paper with a slight sheen.

A quick edit in ACR, since you have "image editing ok". I could do better in PS but it's busy batching right now. Happy to send you the XMP if you want it, just PM me.

Thanks for all the tips guys, really appreciate it. Not sure how large I want to print it, probably 30" would be sufficient. I just wasnt sure how it would look that large. Good to know that oversharpening is the way to go. Tim I really like that edit and appreciate you taking the time to do it. PM sent about a higher res version. Thanks again!

I would leave the foreground objects alone. They provide a size perspective. Besides, if the poles were removed then there would be the mysterious wires that have no visible means of support. The fence post on the left also help to orient the viewer with respect to the bit of road visible on the right. Personally, I don't think that the image needs any manipulation. Editing needs a better reason than the fact that you can. The primary object in the image is the storm cloud. If the foreground is slightly soft that actually works in favor directing the eye towards the clouds.

Bill Boehme wrote in post #16949691
Editing needs a better reason than the fact that you can.

It does? I thought it was only 'art' is you cloned out something.

/sarcasm

Bill Boehme wrote in post #16949691
The primary object in the image is the storm cloud. If the foreground is slightly soft that actually works in favor directing the eye towards the clouds.

Agreed. I would still sharpen it some, but I totally agree the foreground does not need to be tack sharp and any softness has not spoiled the shot.

I think the point is often made on these forums that although it is good to strive for technical perfection, often in photography the best shots are not technically perfect - and they don't need to be to be great shots.

Before committing big money, why not crop out a 6" x 4" test sample at the "magnification of choice" and see how that prints?

I do that myself when home printing larger images.

Not processing based but I have question that I would like the answer to. How wide is that pano? Is it approaching 180 degrees? It's a great image, but I was interested in figuring the effect the perspective projection was having on the shape of the storm front.

Alan

Thanks guys! Bill and ejenner I appreciate the thoughts. I usually don't do a lot of post processing, partly because I don't have the experience or software at the moment to do much. So it's nice to be reminded a picture can still be fine without too much tweaking. Makes it easier to leave "as is".

Lowner, good tip. I'll probably try that and see how well it turns out.

Alan, it's really not that wide. Nowhere near 180, probably around 90 actually. It's 4 images shot at 18mm, but could have been done with 3.