how big can it be?

[florenceinitaly]

Is there a way to figure out how big I can print a picture to be, keeping in good resolution of course? There's this wonderful fireworks pic that I want to hang on my wall...

My jpeg is 2576 x 4107 pixels at 8.94mb - there's the RAW file of course but can those be used to print?

Thanks

 

[tirediron]

Assuming a standard printing resolution of 300 dpi, then that will give you an 8.5 x 13 1/4" (divide # pixels by print resolution to acheive dimensions, in this case 300) image. You can print directly from RAW at home, but most labs require either .tif or .jpg.

 

[florenceinitaly]

awww, i got a frame that's 12 x 14 - if i print the picture to that size it won't be sharp will it?

 

[tirediron]

300 dpi is considered the norm for photo-quality printing. If the image is sharp when viewed at 100% it should be sharp when printed as a 300 dpi image.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Ish....

 

[KmH]

300 ppi is no longer considered the norm for photo-quality printing.

It was when pro digital cameras had 5 MP image sensors and it only represented equivelance to a print made from one type of film.

The bottom line is....It depends on the photo.

A respected online consumer lab Mpix.com stakes their reputation on having a 100 ppi minimum and their printers only have a maximum resolution of 250 ppi.

So your 2576 x 4107 pixels might be printable as a quality wall image that is 25.76 inches wide by 41.07 inches tall.

However, it will need to be cropped, at least a little, to make it a true 2:3 aspect ratio (1.5) because it is currently 1.59, or some other aspect ratio (16x20 is a 4:5 aspect ratio, as an example).

The smaller you have the photo printed the higher the resolution will be.

At 200 ppi you could print at 12.97 inches by 20.54 inches without cropping, but that is not a standard size. That doesn't mean you can't get it printed, just that it would need to be printed on oversize paper and would have a white border that was not equal sides and top/bottom.

The larger a print is, the further away people stand to look at it and less fine detail is required on closeup inspection.

 

[tirediron]

ppi

Thanks for the correction - not sure where my mind was yesterday.

As far as 300 PPI no longer being the standard, I think that's is a good guideline to use when the vast majority of people are going to places like Wal-mart to have their images printed...