High Resolution Backgrounds

[Kaye]

I hope someone can help me. I made the below poster with a background I got off an old CD by daughter had. When I went to Wal Mart and Zenfolio to order a print, it said the resolution was to low. Does anyone have a solution that might help me. Can you order a high resolution backgrounds CD? or what? Please advise me on what to do. Thanks

[Car2n]

It wouldn't be the background they are refering to but rather the image as a whole.
What are yout pixel dimensions and what size print are you after?

[Kaye]

I have been using my own photos as the background (example below) and have been able to print as large as a 20x30 with great results. But everytime I make one using a background from this CD it says that I can't order any larger than a 5x7 because of the resolution.



I have found a few CD for sale on the internet that say "2400x3000 dpi full resolution files". Would those be printable in the up to 20x30 sizes?

Thanks for your help.

[Car2n]

Well, the one using your own picture is 4270 x 2820 which would print large.
I suspect that the background from the CD is much smaller. Are you by any chance downsizing your sports shots to fit the background from the CD or are you enlarging the background to a canvas size similar to that what is using your own photo? You need to increase the background up to a larger pixel size.

Yes, 2400x3000 seems to be the norm for digital backgrounds and 20x30 would be about the upper limit that would print nicely. (16x20 would be better)
A simple formula would be to take 3000 for example and divide that by how many inches you'd like to print at and arrive at a number between 150 and 300 +/-.(the higher-the better)
3000 divided by 30 inches would be 100ppi. That's considered low but may be fine if viewd for a distance.

[Kaye]

Looked a little closer at the backgrounds from the CD and most have a dpi of only around 95. But the backgrounds from my camera that I use are 300 dpi. A friend suggested I try to use my own photos the majority of the time as my background or make my own. But I would love to have a CD with some of the wild color patterns and have the option of using either.

Thanks for your help, really appreciate it.

[bmaher]

If you are using Photoshop or PS Elements, open the background, resize and resample for the size you want.

[teaking]

Im not going to say that this is the only way to do it or the best it might not be your personal preference, but if you work in the ball park (lol you see what I did there ) of 200dpi for final printing resolution you will get pretty good results on a laser printer on an inkjet you probably could drop to 150dpi and get good results.

As for resizing your background I would suggest scaling the layer in 10% increments change the measurement in the menu from px to % and type 110% you will have to select resample and repeat this process untill you have the size you need in pixels for the size you want to print at the desires PPI/DPI. Once done I would sharpen using which ever method you prefer. This usualy gives pretty good results with lower degredation. Again its personal opinion and choice