Printing pano... dpi question

[Turnerea]

I haven't paid much attention to the finer details of the resolution of my images since I've just printed 4x6s or 8x10s up until now. However I want to try and print the pano shown below in as large a size as will look good.

I've read online that 300dpi is required for a good print. It seems that the image as I've worked on it via Gimp is 72dpi, and the print size is ~68inch x 16inch. I figure that I just need to scale down the size by 72/300 = .24, so I get a final size of ~16" x 3.84". Is that seriously the largest I can print this at??

In trying to figure this out I realized that when I exported the RAW files from LR, I scaled the jpgs so that my final image size wouldn't be crazy big. Though no matter what, the dpi is 72, but the print size is 4x bigger when I "burn full size jpeg" (Does this all make sense?). Does this mean that I need to use those full size files, deal with the LARGE file size? This would correspond to a max final size of about 64" x 16" @ 300dpi... though I probably wouldnt' print it quite that big anyway.

So I realize this is quite a long weird post, but maybe if some of you out there take all this info in stride, some advice may be right on your fingertips... if so, I'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[Johnboy2978]

For online viewing 72 dpi is adequate. For printing I typically use 300 dpi though I think MPix says that 240 dpi is their standard. Yes, the file size gets rather large with a panorama. In PS CS2, I typically set the crop tool to 300 dpi and then crop the dimensions as I see fit. If I want the whole picture, it is sometimes necessary to copy the whole image and open a new file with the dimensions of something that MPix uses as a standard pano like 5x15", 10x20" etc and have a solid white canvas and then paste the actual image onto it. You sometimes have to pay for a lot of wasted space with panos, but they look nice after you mat and frame them.

 

[astrostu]

The minimum image resolution for printing is generally said to be 150 ppi (yes, pixels per inch ... dpi refers to the resolution at which the printer lays down ink/dots/whatever to make the image which you'd better hope is more than 150 ppi).

The generally recommended resolution is 300 ppi. It's really as simple as that. If you're willing to live with images that look somewhat pixelated, then go ahead and print at a lower resolution. If you're not going to be looking at it from a foot or so away, then you may get by alright with that. Otherwise, don't skimp on the pixels.

 

[rufus5150]

Mpix recommends 250dpi. 240dpi is generally optimal (or acceptable) for desktop photoprinters (ink-jet).

 

[Turnerea]

Mpix recommends 250dpi. 240dpi is generally optimal (or acceptable) for desktop photoprinters (ink-jet).

I should have stated one question more directly. In order to determine the dpi that my picture is going to be printed from the gimp menus, I need to look at the image properties where I get:

pixel dimensions: 10624 x 2638
print size: 147.556" x 36.639"
resolution: 72 x 72 ppi

So if I want the image to be at least 300dpi, then I need to scale the print size by the quantity (72/300) correct? At that size, I'm scaling down the printed image size and keeping all the pixels, and thereby increasing the resolution to 300, right?

Thanks for the help... I'm just getting comfortable with all the terms that I've glossed over since switching over to digital.