billboard size?

[snowfalldesigns]

I'm getting ready to talk with a business owner about doing a session with her staff. I don't know that she will be asking about doing a new billboard but I know she has used group shots on a billboard before. I'm wondering if I have the equipment to create an image big enough for a billboard. I shoot with a Canon 7D and in RAW (of course). What would my dpi need to been when converting to jpeg? And since I'm asking, what dpi do you stick with when converting from RAW to jpeg for a normal session?
Anything else I would need to know in preparation for the possible billboard question?

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by snowfalldesigns

I'm getting ready to talk with a business owner about doing a session with her staff. I don't know that she will be asking about doing a new billboard but I know she has used group shots on a billboard before. I'm wondering if I have the equipment to create an image big enough for a billboard. I shoot with a Canon 7D and in RAW (of course). What would my dpi need to been when converting to jpeg? And since I'm asking, what dpi do you stick with when converting from RAW to jpeg for a normal session?
Anything else I would need to know in preparation for the possible billboard question?

If its technically a billboard (as in, up on giant pole, viewing from 200 feet away) then the 7D will be fine. Its viewed from far enough back that you won't see any problems

DPI doesn't matter until you print -- you shoot with all the pixels. Then when you print, take your pixels in one direction divided by the size you want in inches. So, say you have 4000 px on the long end. If you print a 4x6, then its 4000/6 = 666.6 dpi. Or if you print a 24x36 print, then its 4000/36 = 111 dpi. Just set it to 300 and don't worry about it.

Other considerations are quality lenses, lighting equipment, backdrops...

[snowfalldesigns]

Okay - that seems easy enough. I shoot mainly with a Canon 24-105 4.0, 50 1.4, and 35 2.0 and I'm planning on using the lighting they have in the store (it's a jewelry store and very well lit) but I have a 430ex ii as well. My concern is really because when I'm putting together books, sometimes I get a warning that the resolution is too low and it isn't any bigger than an 8x10. I know that cropping too much can cause this but what about a lot of processing? Will that affect the resolution?

[lonni]

Processing will not affect dpi, but i can affect image quality. Make sure you check what dpi you are saving or exporting as, lightroom tends to use 240dpi and photoshop keeps trying to frce me to use 72dpi. Anything for print should be 300dpi, but some place do use 240.

Resizing can lower the quality, if you just drag it out instead of using the resize tool, google photshop resising and you will find the technical info on why, i would just confuse the hell out ot you so i wont try.

I only ever do billboard sized images with a mediaum format, no problems with quality etc. But as mentioned billboards do tend to be viewed from a distance and in my experience printed at medium quality anyway so with a bit of tweeking you should be fine.

Make sure you have a fiddle, have great lighting, low iso, make sure you export images from editing programs at 300dpi not 240dpi, make sure you resize with photoshops resize, dont just drag it out and dont over sharpen.

You can always print a sample peice of the image, sitick it to your wall and stand back 20 feet to see how it looks.

Also im sure the signwriters have experience in dealing with photos, so you could ask them how they would like it prepared or cross your fingers and hope they dont mess it up.