Help with printing 20by30

[ShaneF]

Let me start by saying i know nothing about printing.

So i have a friend who really likes one of my photos of him at a truck pull and asked if he could get it printed 20by30 and let me also say he insists it be printed at walmart, dident argue.

This issue i am having is that no matter how i export the file from ligtroom cropped at 20by30 with 300ppi wheather it be tiff or hight quality JPEG the walmart site keeps telling me it is to low of resolution and might not be a good print.

Can the great collection of minds here tell me how to export this properly. I dont know what i am doing wrong.

 

[scotts2014se]

I do all my prints at Walmart, as large as 24" x 36". I have also done 20" x 30", 300 Dpi and my resolution is around 6000 pixels x 4000 pixels.
I did a google search for print size calculators and they state that the largest optimal print size for the dimensions I use would be 20" x 13" but that you can usually go larger and still have a good print, which I dont see any issues with the 24" x 36" prints I have done.

Here's some help...
http://www.rapidnet.com/~rernster/information_about/print_size_calculator.htm

 

[ShaneF]

The image dimensions are (2014*1403) maybe it is to small for the print. Does it need to be enlarged? i really dont know because i have never printed anything larger then a 8*10

I would hate to spend 25.00 and have it come out looking like garbage

 

[KmH]

Your main issues are just basic math.

1403 px / 300 ppi = 4.97 inches (ppi = pixels per inch)
2014 px / 300 ppi = 6.7 inches.

Your photo does not have the same aspect ratio a 20 x 30 print has. 30 / 20 = 1.5. The long side of the print is 1.5x longer tyhan the short side.
2014 / 1403 = 1.44
To get to 1.5 you need to crop some off the short side. 2014 / 1.5 = 1343 px. So 1403 - 1343 = 60 pixels you need to lose.
Or the print won't be 'full bleed'. or all the way to the edges of the paper on the long side of the print.

Walmart's minimum print resolution is likely right about 100 ppi (2014 / 30 inches = 67 ppi). So you either need to print smaller or you need to up-res the image.
At 100 ppi a 2014 x 1403 px image will be a 20.14 inch x 14.03 inch print.

Up-res involves software creating pixels that didn't exist in real life.

 

[ShaneF]

Ha well that does not seem like a large print at all now does it, what am i missing? Like i said i really have no idea here i am totally lost on how to go about this.

 

[photoguy99]

It should look fine if you stand far enough away from it.

300dpi is 'the standard' since the print will still look sharp up close and personal. You can print at much lower resolutions if the print is intended to be viewed from a few feet away.

There are, I think, some post processing things you can or ought to do in this case. I don't know what they are, though.

 

[scotts2014se]

The calculator states that the optimal size would be a 5" x 7" for that res. Lowering the ppi will allow larger prints at a lower quality, but even at 180 ppi it would only allow for a 8" x 11" and I cant imagine being able to push it larger with a 180 ppi. I dont think you're going to be able to get those sizes with that resolution.

 

[KmH]

Ha well that does not seem like a large print at all now does it, what am i missing?

The largest the photo could reasonable be printed (@ 100 ppi) for your friend is 20 x 14.
Even at 100 ppi the viewing distance for a 20x14 print would be great enough that your friend would likely be more than pleased with the print.

You could get it printed on 24 x 16 paper and the 20x14 image would have 2 inch white borders on the long side and 1 inch white borders on the short size.

What, if any, image editing software do you have?

FWIW - Quite a few of the chromogenic printing machines online labs use cannot print at a resolution exceeding 250 ppi.

Ppi and dpi are not interchangeable terms and have very different meanings. It takes at least several dot to print a single pixel.
Digital input devices have ppi. Output devices have dpi.
Stated another way - ppi applies to RGB additive color model input files, while dpi applies to CMYK subtractive color model output files.

 

[scotts2014se]

Ha well that does not seem like a large print at all now does it, what am i missing?

The largest the photo could reasonable be printed (@ 100 ppi) for your friend is 20 x 14.
Even at 100 ppi the viewing distance for a 20x14 print would be great enough that your friend would likely be more than pleased with the print.

You could get it printed on 24 x 16 paper and the 20x14 image would have 2 inch white borders on the long side and 1 inch white borders on the short size.

What, if any, image editing software do you have?

I dont think Walmart has the capabilty to center it so that there is a border, but there is no reason a border couldnt be used after the print.

 

[ShaneF]

i do have photoshop and found a video on youtube on how to enlarge photos using it, so i gave it a shot and this is what it came out as

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shuttershocked/14296503987/sizes/o/

Seeing it this large makes me realie i have some touch ups to do.

 

[KmH]

I see A Lot of posterization in the sky.

• Understanding Image Posterization