Print Resolution Advice

davewill

Senior Member
Hi guys, Im producing a printed graphic that is about 1000mmx750mm. The graphic is a collage, made up of a number of different images that I am purchasing from a stock photography site. The site only sells 1 size of image, which is on average about 250mmx200mm at 300dpi.

My problem is that most of the images need to be blown up by 50% to fit the size I need them to be on the montage.

Can anyone advise me on a good way of working out if the images I want will blow up to be good enough quality when printed?

My boss thinks there is a rough formula people can use to work out what size of image we will need but he doesnt know what that is and Ive never heard of that way of working before!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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The Legend Condos Pattaya
 
Hi Dave, if the originals are 300 dpi and it's being inkjet printed which I guess it is? Then you can enlarge them 3 times from their original size. This would leave them at 100dpi at print size. so a 50% enlargement will be fine and your pics will look lovely!

:up:
 
Hi Dave,

I second Tom's advice... 300dpi is normally required for smaller print like leaflets and booklets as you'll be looking at them up close. Posters and banners will mostly be seen from a few metres away so you don't need to have the dpi as high (we normally work to 90dpi for banners and posters that are meant to be viewed from a distance)...
 
Thanks for your help guys, the montage is probably going to be printed onto canvas. I have asked for a print spec from the printers but I am yet to receive any details.

So no one knows of a Formula or rule of thumb I can use for future jobs?
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AllDayFunnn
 
Thanks Michael, although my boss is very particular about not overspending when it comes to images so I have to specify exactly what we need so we dont waste money paying for massive images that we then dont get proper use of.
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Gabriellaxx
 
If you are really stuck, as Tom has said you can pull it back. I often go over to vector on massive scale, perhaps look to 150dpi, that doubles the effectiveness.
 
Rule of thumb is 110dpi at full size for large format print on a high res inkjet printer. 90 dpi for banners and backdrops etc, anything over 1600mm wide generally. Usually 5m wide or 7m wide low res inkjet printers. For coach wraps, building wraps you can go as low as 75 or even 50dpi. Or that's what we do anyway.

Resolution is scaled when the image is scaled. If you double the image size the resolution will halve. So if you set your artwork up at half size, double the recommended dpi.

That's my rule of thumb, although it's not all written on my thumb... :up:
 
I've used a Photoshop add-on called Genuine Fractals to enlarge an image for large format print before, but that was an extreme case where the client demanded me to use a particular stock photo which wasn't available in larger sizes! Probably not relevant for this job by the sounds of it, but good to know about if you ever do get stuck - Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition - onOne Software

gf-ex2.jpg
 
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