Need to take photos of food over 24mp

Soocom1 · Feb 10, 2023

Oh I get that part.

The DPI v Mp is based on concepts that are not necessarily erroneous but based on comparison imaging from cameras that hold the image to a certain standard and that information is pushed to the general public.

The thing to remember is that at that printed size you’re asking for, you wont be looking at the image from 10 inches away.
So the pixilation that takes place will only be seen if you are close tot he image.

You have to stand back some distance to actually see it. So thus, as long as the image produces that size, your in good shape.

The size of a 4000 x 6000 DPI image can be done in any photo editing but with some pixilation taking place.

RAW images shot and then post processed can be as large as 50+Mb in size and can hold the overall quality when post processed to that size.

This link can help:

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00027623

And here:

How to Understand Pixels, Resolution, and Resize Your Images in Photoshop Correctly

f64_or_bust · Mar 22, 2023

Images can also be scaled. Topaz Gigapixel does an amazing job.

But there are sooo many other questions relating to this. You're shooting food shots, right? That's not at all trival to compose and light to make the food look great. This is not a cell-phone eBay picture. Some photographers specialize in food for that reason. It's actually one of the more difficult jobs. Megapixels is the least of your worries. There are lenses, and a whole bunch of lighting issues. You may do best by simply being the one to "style" the food.

I'm going to vote with the "hire the pro" suggestion, at least for the first shot. Watch the pro work, note the amount of gear it actually takes to pull off that shot, and don't worry about 4000x6000 on the base image. There's a lot to do in post anyway. Nobody prints anything right out of the camera. And that's where the pro wins too. Many years of experience and training. Getting a good looking color print is quite another issue.

Hire the pro, see what he does, and then decide if you need to be the photographer. We can all be experts in something, but unlikely in everything. If food is your expertise, then do that.

Keep in mind, printers are not photographers. I work with printers a lot, they're a whole thing unto themselves, and most don't understand phography other than trying to get a print the client likes. Here's my test: Ask your printer for a copy of the color profile of his printing system. The answer you'll most often get is, "What's that?" or "We don't use that". Then you know they don't get it.

Those that question the pixel count in their posts here are correct. Total pixels in an image relates only to viewing distance. Nobody's looking at a 4' x 6' poster a foot away, and what they're actually printing for you is only 83DPI, but that's actually more than enough at sign-viewing distance. But you can create that in post too, you don't have to shoot it.

smoke665 · Mar 22, 2023

bargainbabelv said:
. The printer told that the image would need to be 4000 x 6000 DPI for a product that large. I inputted those specs for a photo into Google and got the 24 megapixels.

I know it's confusing, but camera MP and print Resolution are not the same. Resolution measures the number of pixels in an image – the total number of dots that make up the image. Sensor Megapixels measure the size of each pixel which determine the total number available.

Resolution is about how much information you have to work with, while print resolution is about how much you can actually use. Print resolution is measured as dots per inch (dpi), how many ink dots can be applied to a sheet of paper in one inch. The higher the dpi number, the more detail your printed images will have. The total number of pixels in an image is fixed based on the sensor size and pixels on board, as you enlarge the image you increase not only the size of the pixel, but the space in between. Enlarge it to much and upsampling pixalation occurs (the individual pixels become visable).

To determine the resolution required you have to first consider the final image size, and the distance you'll be viewing it from. 300 dpi is the industry standard for a medium resolution image with 600 dpi and above considered high resolution. IE: If you had a 24x36 image at 300 dpi, the total file size would be 77.8 MP drop your dpi to 100/in and the file size drops to 8.6MP. As mentioned earlier if you're viewing this from 6 to 8 feet away, 85 to 100 dpi would likely be sufficient. Going with to low of a dpi will harm the image viewing quality but going with more than you need won't, you just reach a point where the increase in dpi doesn't cause a noticeable difference. Your printer should be able to guide you.

As to camera, you can print a large image from a cell phone, how large depends on the criteria and restrictions noted above. As others mentioned lighting the shot, staging, etc., of food shots is an art form in itself. Hiring a professional with the knowledge and equipment might be the less expensive and time efficient way to go.

greybeard · Apr 26, 2023

Strodav said:
If this is a one time deal, hire a photographer, or a family friend that is a photographer. Taking good photos takes skill, especially knowledge and experience with good composition and good lighting. Then there's Post Processing, but maybe your printer will do that for you. Don't buy equipment that will be used once then sit for weeks collecting dust. If you really want to do it yourself, consider renting. I use lensrentals.com. If you really want to buy, buy used. I use KEH.com and there are some great deals on dslrs and lenses right now as people unload that gear to go mirrorless. Just know that it takes time to learn how to use a camera correctly.

You need to find out what the 24mp requirement is all about. Most printers will tell you how many pixels per inch they recommend, not the mp of the image, but maybe they backed into 24mp from your requirements. In any case, I have gotten very good results making 17" X 22" prints from 12mp cell phone jpgs, so I'm skeptical of the 24mp requirement.

This is by far the best advice.