Can a photo taken from a DSLR be blown up on a billboard?

A 22-23mp photo... does it only require that it must be exported in 72pp to blow up on a billboard? Can a full size 22-23mp photo from a DSLR be blown up on a billboard size poster?

Just curious because one of my clients wants this and this is the first time I've had this request. Do I need to do anything specific?

Yes but you might need a program like onOne Genuine Fractals to upsize it.

No, you don't need a Hasselblad medium format camera to enlarge to highway sized 14 feet x 42 feet billboards. It enlarges without any special formatting, because the print process they use is a centimeter-sized dot process, and since viewers are 100 feet away at a minimum, you can't see the dots, nor can you see the gradients.

In other words, you'll be just fine.

Many years ago a member here wrote, "If I could stand on the moon, I could make a print the size of New Jersey."

Reminds me of the photo enlargement scene in "High Anxiety."

5W0L3 wrote in post #17097084
A 22-23mp photo... does it only require that it must be exported in 72pp to blow up on a billboard? Can a full size 22-23mp photo from a DSLR be blown up on a billboard size poster?

Just curious because one of my clients wants this and this is the first time I've had this request. Do I need to do anything specific?

To clear up a misconception: despite their large size, advertising billboards are not miraculous high-resolution displays. They' re actually printed at low resolution and get their visual impact from contrast and simple designs.

If you viewed a billboard from pixel-peeping distance, you'd be disappointed to find that its "pixels," the dots that create the image, are very large and can be perceived as a coherent image from only a large distance. The most coarse billboard displays are the recently fashionable electronic kind, which offer fewer fine details than even a cell phone display.

Billboards are designed to be seen from large distances and by people in motion, so there's no benefit from extreme detail. But since most people can't get extremely close to a billboard, they can't detect the coarse display, and so the common misconception reflected in this thread developed. Any decent image from any camera is usable for an advertising billboard.

The most important aspect of billboard design is to sell a message in a handful of seconds, not to overwhelm pixel-peepers.

a couple of years ago, billboards were shot with 8mp DSLRs and 16mp medium format backs.
22-24mp from a modern SLR will easily work for a billboard

Here are a couple of billboards I shot a while back and we had to upsize both. Both were shot with a 5DII but we still had to use onOne to upsize them.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #17097916
Here are a couple of billboards I shot a while back and we had to upsize both. Both were shot with a 5DII but we still had to use onOne to upsize them.

and

and an L Stop ad from the same image as the last billboard.

This is how I make living and my advice is give them the highest quality file you can deliver. $49 is not a lot for a program that can help you do this.

That's good advice actually. It is cheap enough that you can bill the software into the quote. Nice stock style shots by the way, airfrogusmc.

Thanks CRC.

airfrogusmc we're neighbors. I'm in Elmwood Park.
Nice work

Tommydigi wrote in post #17098171
airfrogusmc we're neighbors. I'm in Elmwood Park.
Nice work

Yes we are and thanks...

I've had several billboards filled with a 10MP 1D3 file. 14'x48'. Looked perfectly fine.

From a couple of years ago. My images on a billboard advertising Lao Rugby. Originals taken on a 50D.

Sorry about the below par mobile phone pic.

DC Fan wrote in post #17097428
To clear up a misconception: despite their large size, advertising billboards are not miraculous high-resolution displays. They' re actually printed at low resolution and get their visual impact from contrast and simple designs.

If you viewed a billboard from pixel-peeping distance, you'd be disappointed to find that its "pixels," the dots that create the image, are very large and can be perceived as a coherent image from only a large distance. The most coarse billboard displays are the recently fashionable electronic kind, which offer fewer fine details than even a cell phone display.

Billboards are designed to be seen from large distances and by people in motion, so there's no benefit from extreme detail. But since most people can't get extremely close to a billboard, they can't detect the coarse display, and so the common misconception reflected in this thread developed. Any decent image from any camera is usable for an advertising billboard.

The most important aspect of billboard design is to sell a message in a handful of seconds, not to overwhelm pixel-peepers.

This..