Why can't I make it big?!?!

[julie1015]

That's all I want to do. I just want to make it bigger! I took a picture that my son said, 'Hey Mom, that would look great framed and hanging'. Gasp! My 14 year old son COMPLIMENTED something of MINE! Parish the thought! Anyhoo, tried to print out an 8x10 and it just lost all its color and well, quite frankly didn't looks awful!! Thoughts? Hints? Pointers? I just want to make it bigger!

[Jonbar18]

I don't think its a problem with size- 8x10 is nothing nowadays. Its a problem with the aspect ratio (width:height). I can just tell its not 8x10 or 4x5 or whatever, and if you have a different ratio, one side is going to stretch. You'll have to either crop it to a 8x10 ratio, or pick a print that is closer to this photo.

[Barbara V]

How big is your jpeg file to begin with? Are you shooting full size (i.e. 3 to 4 mbs?). If the file is smaller, you will lose a lot in the printing.

[Doug Sundseth]

If the print is much less colorful than the on-screen version, the first place I'd look is your color space. If you're set to work in Adobe RGB and your printer is expecting SRGB (the latter is most likely the case), your colors will look very bad.

[julie1015]

So, the file size is 2.5 mb and the color space is sRGB. Does this mean I'm S.O.L.? If I brought it some where to be printed, do you think it would lose the colors? AND...,sorry I know I sound needed, going forward how would I correct both issues?

[Rentham]

Save yourself the headache and just send it to mpix.com.

[Barbara V]

I'd bring it somewhere to be printed, you might have more luck with a professional printer.

[autofocus]

Julie, your image is a 2x3 aspect ratio which means it will not produce an 8x10 without losing some of the length of the image (8x10 is a 4x5 aspect ratio) Two suggestions, print it (or have it printed) as an 8x12 which is a 2x3 aspect ratio. And, have it done at Costco for under $3 bucks. BTW, did you see my comment about this photo on your other post?

[NathanFranke]

Not all printers do color equally. As said earlier, MPIX does pretty well. Or you could calibrate your monitor, but a few 3 dollar test prints at various labs is cheaper than a $100 calibration tool.