What would you do - Exhibit Related

[JohnnyWrench]

I need some advice here. I have the opportunity to show some of my work in a football themed exhibit in a gallery outside the University of Phoenix Stadium. The AZ Cardinals play there and it's where this year's Super Bowl will be played. It's through my employer, who will be paying for the prints and the budget for this is VERY limited. As a result the photos are being printed through Costco. I was originally thinking of doing 18 x 12 inch prints because they're cheap and the quality is quite good, but then decided to go bigger and did a 30 x 20 test print. The quality on that wasn't nearly as good. So my question is... Large with lower print quality, or small with much better print quality. I think I know the answer but I'm looking for some outside opinions. Thanks.

FYI- I'm not a pro. I'm an amateur enthusiast hoping to get some exposure through this which might lead to some paid shoots in the future.

 

[KmH]

For exhibition you definitely want high quality prints, and high quality gallery presentation with the prints framed and matted behind high quality glazing.

Costco can make high quality prints if your images are properly prepared for printing.

 

[The_Traveler]

12 x 18 or 11 x 14 can look quite nice in a 16 x 20 frame but the cost of the print is small compared to matting and frames, even do it yourself.

badly done stuff will be a bad advertisement.

pick only the best few and pay for them.
get the color profiles from Costco and make certain the color is good.

 

[keyseddie]

For exhibition you definitely want high quality prints, and high quality gallery presentation with the prints framed and matted behind high quality glazing.

badly done stuff will be a bad advertisement.

pick only the best few and pay for them.

What those guys said. Opportunity is knocking, dude! Don't let it pass you by. Either sell the idea of a bigger budget to your employer, (making sure that they see the advantage of doing it high end) or finance it yourself. I find it hard to believe that costco can do as well as a pro lab. How long the exhibit is being shown is the crucial question.

 

[Vince.1551]

Print quality for sure. Mount it on a board if budget is limited.

 

[JohnnyWrench]

Thanks guys. Exactly what I was thinking.

And Lew you're spot on with your point about the profile. It's incredible how much the color shifted when I applied it. I'm re-editing the shots and will send another test. It was stupid of me to skip that step... No excuse for it. These need to be up on Friday but Costco has a pretty quick turn around and I have matte cutting gear at home so I should be OK.

 

[KmH]

FWIW - matte is a photo paper finish. Mat material gets cut to aid image presentation.

Mat Board Cutters | Logan Matte Cutter - Utrecht Art

 

[TCampbell]

As many have pretty much unanimously advised... if the quality is low... then that's a non-option.

The number of pixels per inch needed to make an image look good depends on the viewing distance. Billboard photographs can actually have a staggeringly low number of pixels per inch (PPI). But given that these billboards are viewed from a fairly large distance (hundreds of feet away) they actually still look pretty good.

In a gallery environment, images can be scrutinized at fairly close distances. When you're printing at 20x30, it is actually possible to notice the difference between "good glass" and "average glass". On computer screens, however... it's extremely hard to tell the difference because you cannot view the entire image at 100% scale. The image is always resampled to a smaller size to fit the screen.

You'll need to evaluate how large these images can be and still look good. But the bottom line is... they MUST look good -- otherwise you'll either need to print smaller or elect not to use those images.