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Caleb Royer
01-07-2010, 09:30 PM
I'm going to make a 20x30 print but I'm not sure if my photo is high enough quality so here are the specs:
3240x2592
cropped as 8x10 instead of original 4x6
3.8MB
324dpi
bit depth 24

Thanks in Advance:)

Roger Clark
01-07-2010, 09:52 PM
Caleb,
In my opinion, subject, lighting and composition is more important than how many pixels you have. For a knock you socks off sharp wow prints, you usually want the megapixels plus lighting, composition, and subject. For that you need on the order of 30 * 300 * 20 * 300 (that's 300 pixels per inch) = 9,000 * 6,000 = 54 Megapixels. That's pretty far from your 3.4 so would require a lot of interpolation. I've done 16x18 inch prints from 3 megapixels (winning contests and selling the images in galleries), e.g.
http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.bird/web/c01.14.2003.img_5113.egret-flight.f-600.html
but don't feel the image could go to 20x30.

Roger

Flavio Rose
01-07-2010, 10:11 PM
For that you need on the order of 30 * 300 * 20 * 300 (that's 300 pixels per inch) = 9,000 * 6,000 = 54 Megapixels. That's pretty far from your 3.4.

As I read the original post, Caleb actually has a bit over 8 megapixels which are represented by 3.4 megabytes in jpeg. Thus if you got from 3 megapixels to 16x18 inches (I can't quite imagine how, but I don't know much about large prints), Caleb should be able to get from 8+ megapixels to 20x30.

I don't quite get the role of the 8x10 crop in the OP, however. If the original image and final images both have a 3:2 aspect ratio, I'm not clear how an intermediate crop at a different aspect ratio helps.

Roger Clark
01-07-2010, 10:40 PM
Ooops--read too fast. 8+ megapixels helps a lot.

Roger

Caleb Royer
01-07-2010, 10:52 PM
Thanks for the help, I'm going to try a 20x30.

Roger, the photo of the egret is awesome!

Steve Philipson
01-08-2010, 03:14 PM
Read the following link Its a bit old but the info is still valid
http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/20x30print

Caleb Royer
01-08-2010, 04:58 PM
Thanks for the link Steve,

Reading that makes me feel like I know nothing about printing:confused:

Linwood Ferguson
01-09-2010, 10:17 PM
Also consider the nature of the final print. Will it be on glossy paper and viewed up close, or on canvas viewed from a distance. Will its nature be a bit soft (waves, sand, etc.) or something that begs for detail (houses, bricks, geometrical designs).

I was recently very surprised. My wife took a D80 to Africa, and wanted a lion blown up for a large frame. I did a 24x36, and was astounded how well the image held up to the enlargement on canvas. It was far larger than I had ever done one of my prints, now I am jealous. But it was also ideal even if not quite as sharp --- canvas is naturally a bit softer, it was over a bed where no one would be closer than 6-8' away to view it.