24x36 Print Lesson 1 learned

*daacon* · 10-10-2009, 08:06 AM

I picked one shot from my recent Wilds of Utah workshop to print at 24x36 because

a) I liked it
b) I have never printed on that size before and wanted to see how the resolution held up.

I choose Costco online as it was dirt cheap ($23.00 all in). The bad side is our local Costco does not have a wide printer so the turnaround time is about 2 weeks. (I hear they are getting one soon so that two weeks can now be one hour if I choose so)

I picked it up last night. I was very happy with the colors. The image stood up well and there are no signs of a degradation in quality.

What I did notice was a big ole DUST spot in one of the clouds that I had not noticed in the smaller res file and at 24x36 that dust speck is very noticible

So that is my lesson learned - I will keep this print but next time I will look at 100% full size over the entire picture. Its funny my wife loves the picture and the dust spot was the first thing I noticed.

Are there any other tips / tricks you guys can offer so as my next $23.00 is better spent ? (I was going to do this one to canvas so I am sooooo glad I did not).

*imtheguy* · 10-10-2009, 09:43 AM

You nailed it. Review it at 100% first. I too learned the hard way on my first 24" x 72" pano print. Too bad most of us have to find this out the hard way.

*Wheatfield* · 10-10-2009, 09:47 AM

About all you can do is inspect the image at 100% to see if any badness jumps out.

**Marc Sabatella** · 10-10-2009, 10:59 AM

Since you mention Costco, another option would be to run a 12x18" for $3 first and inspect that. Might prove more comfotable/practical than inspecting a full image at 100% on screen? Or maybe not. Just an idea.

philbaum · 10-10-2009, 11:15 AM

I've only printed 20 by 30" one time from the Costco Regional print service and it came out well. I know the local Costco stores are very generous when it comes to misprints etc, as in they will take it back and refund your charge. I assume the regional printers would do the same. Nice to hear that maybe the local stores will be able to go larger than 12" widths, which is their present limitation in my area.

I also have taken to printing smaller sizes before the larger ones. Twice i have found litter in marine images after printing that i hadn't noticed on my monitor, bottles and cans in the sea grass. Even though i calibrate my monitor, i have a couple times found the image to be darker than i wanted. I usually check print at 8" by 12".

*daacon* · 10-10-2009, 11:19 AM

Good advice all look before you leep

c.r.brown · 10-10-2009, 11:54 AM

you could also print it out yourself on a home printer just to see what it looks like in real life. stick it to your wall and see how it really looks outside of a computer screen.

wasser · 10-10-2009, 12:24 PM

Just a thought regarding the colors. You may want to check with Costco and see which printers print which sizes. This way you could get a smaller test print on the same printer.

*Rich_A* · 10-11-2009, 11:05 PM

One important lesson I learned when printing large is to look for dust but do it a little more easily by 1) create a temporary adjustment layer in Photoshop that increases your contrast to make the dust stand out, 2) zoom in to 100% and do your image inspection in a darkened room, 3) edit your image in full screen mode and occasionally step back to see if you can see contrast differences from further away from your monitor.

Thanks for sharing your results with Costco. I wouldn't have expected a decent job by a quickie printer shop like that. It's nice to know it worked out okay. Do you mind sharing a snapshot of the image so we can see how it turned out?

*khardur* · 10-12-2009, 04:06 PM

I go through my stuff @100% as well. I seem to catch the most specs when I pan the image around slowly with the hand tool. When I do that it seems all the dust spots jump right out at me and I can heal them with ease.

*pingflood* · 10-18-2009, 10:31 AM

Adoramapix does 24x36 prints for $25.20+shipping and so far they've done an excellent job on the images I've sent to be printed. I'd go with them over Costco any day.

And yes, at those enlargements you better go over the image file carefully before printing!

*DanLoc78* · 10-18-2009, 11:44 AM

i did this same exact thing. i actually went over the entire photo at 100% and just flat out missed a dust spot. They hung a couple of my prints at work, and like you, it was the first thing I noticed. Nobody else noticed.

I guess being photographers we are perfectionists by association.

ozlizard · 10-19-2009, 08:39 PM

A question about print size...I am interested that you are able to print as wide as 36" from a K20. When I do the math with an image at 300 dpi I get a pixel width of 5773 which divided by 300 equals a print size of about 20". Do you really retain enough iq at 36"? I want to print big, probably on canvas but I am worried about the resolution.

**Marc Sabatella** · 10-19-2009, 09:17 PM

The need to print at 300dpi is greatly exaggerated. Sure, look closely enough - like form a distance of a few inches - and you can tell the difference between 300dpi and 180dpi. But who looks at a 24x36" print from a distance of a few inches?

philbaum · 10-19-2009, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by ozlizard

A question about print size...I am interested that you are able to print as wide as 36" from a K20. When I do the math with an image at 300 dpi I get a pixel width of 5773 which divided by 300 equals a print size of about 20". Do you really retain enough iq at 36"? I want to print big, probably on canvas but I am worried about the resolution.

I have two bridge images that i print at 12" by 36" from my K20D. Instead of printing them at 180 dpi as Marc suggested, i resize them to 36" length and 300 dpi using Lighroom. I submit them to the printer after being resized and the results look as fine at a few inches as they do at several feet back. "Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread" i guess

Noone told me i couldn't do this, so i just did.