photo enlargement for large format

[ccuddey]

hello all, looking for a little help.

I have
alienware laptop with plenty of computing power
illustrator
photoshop
flexisign
versaworks

original image 1274x704

my question is. what is the best way to enlarge a photo for a wall mural print. Currently what I was doing was taking the photo into photoshop and using the photo enlargement features inside of it. I would take the picture. blow it up to 108" H by 170"w. then saving the file, opening it up in illustrator and creating clipping masks at 50"by108" clipping masks (54" media with 1 inch overlap and 1 inch each side white bleed for trimming). The problem is the file is so big it wont even save its something like half a gb.

I also tried scalling down the image to 10% size I wanted it to be. so taking the image and making it 10.8" by 17 inch and then creating the same clipping mask only this time at 5 inches by 10.8 inches. then exporting to versaworks and printing at 1000 percent.

the first method I could never get to print because it wouldn't even save the gigantic file.'

the second method printer extremely pixelated.



I'm clearly doing something wrong.


Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rossmosh]

You haven't posted anything about the quality and resolution of your original image. If your original image isn't high resolution AND high quality, you're not going to get good print outs.

 

[PRS Bryan]

I always use Photoshop for enlarging any raster images.

How big is the original image?

You do know can't turn a low res image into a high res image.

 

[ccuddey]

the original Image is 1274x704. I'm actually unfamiliar with whether or not that is high quality or not. I usually design vector based logos and such. I have not had much experience doing raster based graphics.

 

[Solventinkjet]

In Photoshop, in the image size dialog, enlarge the file to the size you want, make sure, "Resample Image", is selected and then choose, "Bicubic Smoother" as the setting under resample. This is best for enlarging bitmap files. I have also seen 3rd party software that claims it enlarges with an algorithm and is supposed to be better but I have not had that experience.

 

[ccuddey]

updated original post. put in picture size and fixed the part where I was editing in illustrator first. I actually enlarge in photoshop and then open up in illustrator.

 

[PRS Bryan]

the original Image is 1274x704. I'm actually unfamiliar with whether or not that is high quality or not. I usually design vector based logos and such. I have not had much experience doing raster based graphics.

Even with following Vander's instructions, I doubt it is going to look good.

I would not consider that a high enough resolution to blow up to the size you are thanking about.

I would look for another image.

 

[eahicks]

the original Image is 1274x704. I'm actually unfamiliar with whether or not that is high quality or not. I usually design vector based logos and such. I have not had much experience doing raster based graphics.

1274x704 what? Is that inches? is that the pixel size? at what physical size? Those dimensions mean it's a pretty small file to begin....roughly 9x18 I suspect at 72 dpi. That will not look good blown up at all. You need an orignal file to be well over 300 dpi to blow up to anything near what you want.

 

[ccuddey]

I know I must sound really dumb but I'm pretty sure that is pixels.

I am unaware of how to check a raster image dpi.

I know in photoshop I was telling it a certain size I wanted and then setting the dpi to 300.

At 100 percent preview the image didn't look too bad. but could never get that big a file to save inside of illustrator. I tried .eps, .png and jpg. nothing would save. I could get it to save in photshop with no issues. the only way I could get it to save was reducing to 10 percent inside of illustrator and then blowing up to 1000 percent. it would print extremely pixelated at that point.

I was looking at something called yotta print. its 100 dollars for unlimited sizing and use. Didn't know if anyone here has had experience with that.

 

[PRS Bryan]

https://www.iprintfromhome.com/mso/UnderstandingDPI.pdf

Many people get confused.

Read the above pdf for a basic primer on DPI and physical size.

The rules for raster images are completely different and your scaling options are much more limited than vector art.

Spend some time on google you will figure it out soon.

As for now, you can try to print directly from Photoshop into Versaworks, or just drag and drop a tiff. Be prepared it will take a very long time to rip.

 

[dypinc]

I know I must sound really dumb but I'm pretty sure that is pixels.

I am unaware of how to check a raster image dpi.

I know in photoshop I was telling it a certain size I wanted and then setting the dpi to 300.

At 100 percent preview the image didn't look too bad. but could never get that big a file to save inside of illustrator. I tried .eps, .png and jpg. nothing would save. I could get it to save in photshop with no issues. the only way I could get it to save was reducing to 10 percent inside of illustrator and then blowing up to 1000 percent. it would print extremely pixelated at that point.

I was looking at something called yotta print. its 100 dollars for unlimited sizing and use. Didn't know if anyone here has had experience with that.

Do everything in Photoshop. Illustrator is not designed for bitmap images at that size. You could try placing the file in Illustrator that might allow you to save it.

150dpi at actual size should be sufficient.

 

[ccuddey]

can I create print tiles inside of photoshop? if so I will try saving in photoshop at actual size and opening direct into versaworks.

thank you all for the inputs so far.

 

[J Hill Designs]

can I create print tiles inside of photoshop? if so I will try saving in photoshop at actual size and opening direct into versaworks.

thank you all for the inputs so far.

manually add guides to get sizes perfect, use snap to guides, select each tile, copy, new file, paste, save

 

[DigitalWoodGFX]

Well, a file that is 1274x704 pixels at 72 pixels/inch measures out to 17.694" x 9.778" according to Photoshop. This is an awkward size for an image to begin. Likely the file was edited/cropped to that size.

You said in your original post that you would like to print your image at 170" x 108". Even at 72 pixels/inch (which is low for most print applications, unless they are meant to be viewed from a great distance, such as a billboard), you're looking at a file that is 12,240px X 7,776px.

In essence, you're attempting to fill 95,178,240 pixels with 896,896 pixels worth of information. The rest of those 94 million or so pixels will be created by Photoshop's best guess at how they should look. Invariably you're going to see a loss in quality trying to do this. This case is fairly extreme, as you're attempting to enlarge your image by roughly 10x. You would want to start with a much larger image to print at the size you're describing.

Here are a couple articles on the topic:
http://www.stillcreekpress.com/how-to-prepare-your-files-for-output-to-a-large-format-printer/

http://layersmagazine.com/large-format-printing.html

Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[rossmosh]

the original Image is 1274x704. I'm actually unfamiliar with whether or not that is high quality or not. I usually design vector based logos and such. I have not had much experience doing raster based graphics.

To put it simply, that image is dog **** and not good for anything other than potentially a small poster or sticker. You need something MUCH higher resolution.

How low of a DPI you can print really depends on viewing distance. The further you're away from the image, the lower the DPI you can get away with.

No offense, but this is beyond basic info. You should really pass on this job.

 

[ccuddey]

I appreciate all the help. Looks like I have some research to do but at least now I know where to find it. I knew here would be a good place to start. When I tried researching on google the only thing that really came up on the matter was if you were protons and tiling a bunch of 8x11.5 inch pieces of paper or if you wanted to order a wall mural from a company. So at least now I know where to find the information thanks to you guys.

Thank you. I will try and update on a solution for future reference.

 

[player]

I tend to go more by the meg size, because dpi and resolution are conjoined.

So how many megabytes is the file?

 

[Fred Weiss]

I tend to go more by the meg size, because dpi and resolution are conjoined.

So how many megabytes is the file?

I go by pixel dimensions. It is the absolute constant parameter. DPI, resolution and print dimensions may change while pixel dimensions may remain unchanged. File sizes vary depending on what colors are in the image as well as the bit depth and the compression type and amount of the file ... so it's far from absolute or reliable.

If you have an image measuring 720 x 720 pixels, it will print at 10 x 10 inches if the output is set to 72 DPI. The same image will print at 2.4 inches square if set to 300 DPI. If you want to print the image at 72" then you will be printing with a 10 PPI (pixels per inch) image (720 / 72 = 10). If you want to enlarge the image so that it can be printed at the full size of 72 inches at 72 DPI, then you will need to enlarge it to 51,840 x 51,840 pixels or by a factor of 720%.

The enlargement will most likely disappoint and be poor in quality. I use 400% as the limit for enlargement of a bitmap as a rule of thumb before pixelization and visible defects become apparent. It will, of course, depend on the size of the image before any enlargement as well as the file's condition.

 

[rossmosh]

I tend to go more by the meg size, because dpi and resolution are conjoined.

So how many megabytes is the file?

That's really not the way to do it.

First, DPI and resolution are not conjoined. DPI is a made up number in the digital world. It just scales an image. If I have a 1000x1000 image at 72dpi or 1000x1000 image at 300dpi, it's the same image until it gets printed. Second, I could easily make a 150mb 300dpi, high resolution image that would print absolutely terribly. That's exactly what the OP is describing. He's taking a bad source file and trying to res it up. The end result is a huge image that theoretically should print well except for the fact the quality is unavoidably horrible.

The only way to actually evaluate an image is to look at the resolution and look at the quality.

 

[player]

OK so I got pixel dimension and dpi mixed up.

I still go by megabytes. It is easy. A 1 meg files is not so good, and 15 meg file better, a 100 meg file better yet.