Recommendation for large photographic printing and 'manipulation'

TGD

I'm looking for a recommendation for someone to do a large photographic print - up to 4 feet wide.
It will also need 'something' done to it as the resolution isn't great. So I also need a good graphics person, as well as the printing.
Cork/Kerry area would be ideal but don't mind to get the right job done.

DaireQuinlan

TGD wrote: »

I'm looking for a recommendation for someone to do a large photographic print - up to 4 feet wide.
It will also need 'something' done to it as the resolution isn't great. So I also need a good graphics person, as well as the printing.
Cork/Kerry area would be ideal but don't mind to get the right job done.

What's the resolution ?

magicbastarder

IIRC, the length of a print may not be an issue as some of the paper comes in rolls - so it's the other dimension which could be limiting. if it's a panorama, say 1' x 4', you could be in luck. but a 3' x 4' print will cost many times more.

TGD

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

What's the resolution ?

I don’t know. The JPG is around .5mg.

magicbastarder

do you mean 500kb?

ED E

TGD

magicbastarder wrote: »

do you mean 500kb?

Yes

TheBoyConor

At 3'x4' an image that is only 500kb will look awfully grainy up close.

Can you get a higher resolution version of the photo?

I doubt sharpening the image will make much difference. If the image information isn't there because the resolution is too low, nothing can make that information just appear out of thin air!

Adrian.Sadlier

Unless it was cropped heavily, or was a screen grab, the original image should be a lot bigger than that. If the image was emailed to you then it is likely that the mail program compressed it. If the image was taken on a "decent" camera there may be a RAW format of it.

In any case, the max size of an image depends on the original file size and the viewing distance.

For a 4' x 1' image viewed at a distance of say 3 feet, I would recommend it be printed at 72dpi which means the original image needs to be 3456x864 pixels.

For a 4' x 1' image viewed up close, I would recommend it be printed at 240dpi or better, which means the original image needs to be 11520 X 2880 pixels.

Up-scaling the image will reduce the quality of the image. Increasing size increases the size of flaws

This is just my personal opinion - I rarely print above A3+ size!

TGD

Thanks for the input.
It's only 1169 X 772 pixels. The image is years old - I don't know whether I scanned it from a print or a slide and have little or no hope of finding the original.
I'm not worried about it being photographic sharp - I don't mind it ending up a little 'impressionistic' in some way. I need a good, creative graphic artist to give me options (if any!).

magicbastarder

standard photo resolution is 300dpi; that image would print to 4" at its widest at that resolution. to get 4 foot, you'd be printing at 300dpf (dots per foot). would look extremely woolly unless viewed from a distance.