Help with making large prints

[megdh525]

I'm pretty new to photography, and need some advice on printing enlargements. I have the Canon t2i (18 megapixels) and I've been shooting JPEG. I recently took some nature pictures that my mom wants to blow up, frame and put in her office. I'm planning on using Mpix for printing, but what else do I need to now? What is the largest size I can go without losing image quality? And what kind of crop factors do I need to worry about? Thanks in advance.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by megdh525

I'm pretty new to photography, and need some advice on printing enlargements. I have the Canon t2i (18 megapixels) and I've been shooting JPEG. I recently took some nature pictures that my mom wants to blow up, frame and put in her office. I'm planning on using Mpix for printing, but what else do I need to now? What is the largest size I can go without losing image quality? And what kind of crop factors do I need to worry about? Thanks in advance.

You should easily be abe to produce 16 x 20's and probably larger with that camera. Your camera in it's native state produces images on a 2x3 aspect ratio. So, any multiple of 2x3 will yield no loss in either dimension (as in 4x6, 8x12, 16x24, etc) Being that 11x14 and 16x20 are not multiples of 2x3 you will lose some part of the image on the long dimension...etc.

[SusanH1970]

When you upload the photos to Mpix, it'll show the largest size that will print well (love that service!).

[BCampbell]

I wouldn't recommend using an online service like mpix.

Ideally you would find a dedicated photo lab near you. They will have real people you can talk to, who have been printing photos for years and can give you specific answers to specific questions. They'll have the knowledge and skills to do pretty much everything for you. It might be a little more expensive, but that will save you a lot of time and effort with reprinting bad prints, etc. In the end, it's worth it.

Second, raw resolution is a good way to judge maximum image size, but it really comes down to the quality of the image. You can shoot with a 54MP medium format back, but if the eyes in a portrait are just out of the focal plane, even an 8x10 is going to look bad.

Most people will tell you that you want to print at 300ppi. For the T2i that would put you around 11x17". In truth, with a good image and a good printing service, you can print much larger than that; I've seen excellent 8x12 prints as low as 125ppi. In addition, the larger you go the lower your resolution needs generally are because viewing distance increases, so I would say you'd probably even be safe as low as 150ppi -- again if the image is solid. Thats brings you into 20x30" territory.

If you have a good lab, they can advise you on an image-specific basis how large you can reasonably print. They'll also have services to color correct and touch up your photo for print, if you aren't adept at editing for print (way different than eidting for web). They may even give you a pony ride. But they can get you on the right track without the trial and error you'll get with a site like mpix.

Good luck.

[deveshelles]

Before you think I can do easily. Of course they would do but with the quality of medium or large format it would be nice. You print them yourself with the maximum size using the interpolation can also print to it somewhere. You can also use your own interpolation to verify that the correct eopsayijingui can print a large crop. I will use PrintPro4 or Alienskin rupture.

[Thunder_o_b]

I have a 50D (15mp) and print 13"x19" on my Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II all the time with excellent results.