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Old 19th January 2019, 00:26   #1
Phil
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Default Putting a pet photo onto canvas.....

Hi,

I want to get my mate Oscar put onto a canvas print.

This is the photo:
IMG_4194-4 by Philip Davies, on Flickr

I have some questions...

How can I improve it?
How big do you think I can go? - I was thinking A3, but don't want to sacrifice definition.......
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Old 19th January 2019, 10:54   #2
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I don't think the image would withstand A3. The image resolution is 72 ppi (pixels per inch). To get a good A3 print the ppi figure would need to be a minimum of 150 (newspaper quality) or for good quality, 300.

I did try downloading the image and enlarging it and it very quickly lost definition.
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Old 19th January 2019, 11:06   #3
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Thanks for that.
That's a shame. My camera is 18mp. So I guess to do a3, I would need a near on 40mp camera?

How big do you think I could go?
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Old 19th January 2019, 11:15   #4
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Depends what the camera setting are, may be set for quantity rather than quality or on a middling "average" quality. The lower the resolution the more photos can be stored on a card. Have a look in the instructions or poke about in the menu for picture quality or whatever they choose to call it.
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Old 19th January 2019, 11:30   #5
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It's set for highest quality.

Maybe Flickr reduces the photo quality?
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Old 19th January 2019, 11:51   #6
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I've just opened the image in photoshop and it says the image is 300ppi?
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Old 19th January 2019, 11:52   #7
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Is the original in your laptop or whatever? Try opening the picture up and even just zooming in, see how long it retains definition. When I tried I didn't zoom in far before the edges became "fuzzy".

I'll have a word with Jeff (coolcat), point him to this thread, he's professional photographer.
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Old 19th January 2019, 15:31   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevestrat View Post
I don't think the image would withstand A3. The image resolution is 72 ppi (pixels per inch). To get a good A3 print the ppi figure would need to be a minimum of 150 (newspaper quality) or for good quality, 300.

I did try downloading the image and enlarging it and it very quickly lost definition.
Most monitors will display at 72 ppi., unless adjusted, but that is generally dependent on the graphics card. Printers print at whatever it is told to print. If you want it to print at A3 it will adjust the dpi to suit. This could mean printing at 1200 DOTS per inch or 50 dpi. (although I dont think many printers will print at 1200 dpi, it has been a while)

When you look at the properties on most camera for resolution, they will display something. Canon are 240 dpi, Nikon if I recall are 72. Neither matter without the other two dimensions (number of pixels recorded length and breadth)

As a general rule of thumb, to work it all out, use 200 dpi (dots for printing) as a minimum, and 150 as an absolute minimum if you are desperate. Take the resolution of the image (right click on the file and go to properties). Divide 200 into the dimensions, and that will give you a good idea of physical size that you can print up to. For canvases, as these can give an effect of softening the image anyway, we used to warn customers if we couldnt get 150 dpi out of an image for the size they required. The software though, was very good, and could manage to interpolate from an equivalent of 80 dpi.

To make the maths simple on an 18 mp camera, let's say pixel dimension of the sensor is 6000x3000 pixels = 18,000,000 pixels .

For a high grade art print (galleries etc), I would not print larger than 20 inches by 10. (6000/300dpi and 3000/300dpi).

Regular prints (for the house etc). 30 inches by 15 (200dpi)

Canvases 40 inches by 20 (150dpi)

There is an additional consideration. If you are considering a massive print, you generally look at it from a distance, so dpi becomes less of an issue. Look at a billboard up close, and you can see how low the dpi can go, yet still be effective. (I have read of as low as 6-8 dpi).

Wet printing a digital image (as you would get at Jessops, Boots etc), is a completely different ball game using lasers, dyes and photographic paper and is a lot more forgiving. This is not used for printing canvases though.


-------------------------------------------

As far as 'improving' the image, I would consider cropping into a square format or portrait format, as there is a too much dead space on the left and right of the image. If it must be a landscape format image, try cropping out the right hand side grass, leaving some on the left for Oscar to 'look into'. The image is sharp and focused on my screen. My monitor is no longer calibrated, so I cannot say anything about the colours.
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Old 19th January 2019, 19:51   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clf View Post
Most monitors will display at 72 ppi., unless adjusted, but that is generally dependent on the graphics card. Printers print at whatever it is told to print. If you want it to print at A3 it will adjust the dpi to suit. This could mean printing at 1200 DOTS per inch or 50 dpi. (although I dont think many printers will print at 1200 dpi, it has been a while)

When you look at the properties on most camera for resolution, they will display something. Canon are 240 dpi, Nikon if I recall are 72. Neither matter without the other two dimensions (number of pixels recorded length and breadth)

As a general rule of thumb, to work it all out, use 200 dpi (dots for printing) as a minimum, and 150 as an absolute minimum if you are desperate. Take the resolution of the image (right click on the file and go to properties). Divide 200 into the dimensions, and that will give you a good idea of physical size that you can print up to. For canvases, as these can give an effect of softening the image anyway, we used to warn customers if we couldnt get 150 dpi out of an image for the size they required. The software though, was very good, and could manage to interpolate from an equivalent of 80 dpi.

To make the maths simple on an 18 mp camera, let's say pixel dimension of the sensor is 6000x3000 pixels = 18,000,000 pixels .

For a high grade art print (galleries etc), I would not print larger than 20 inches by 10. (6000/300dpi and 3000/300dpi).

Regular prints (for the house etc). 30 inches by 15 (200dpi)

Canvases 40 inches by 20 (150dpi)

There is an additional consideration. If you are considering a massive print, you generally look at it from a distance, so dpi becomes less of an issue. Look at a billboard up close, and you can see how low the dpi can go, yet still be effective. (I have read of as low as 6-8 dpi).

Wet printing a digital image (as you would get at Jessops, Boots etc), is a completely different ball game using lasers, dyes and photographic paper and is a lot more forgiving. This is not used for printing canvases though.


-------------------------------------------

As far as 'improving' the image, I would consider cropping into a square format or portrait format, as there is a too much dead space on the left and right of the image. If it must be a landscape format image, try cropping out the right hand side grass, leaving some on the left for Oscar to 'look into'. The image is sharp and focused on my screen. My monitor is no longer calibrated, so I cannot say anything about the colours.
Thank you very much.
I hadn't thought of cropping the right side to be honest, but will do that I think.

I got three images printed onto 12x8 just to see how they came out.

Oscar looks slightly green to me, when printed out which is rather irritating, but much less irritating than it would have been if I'd have forked out for a canvas print.

Oh, the local shop does acrylic prints, they look awesome. Very modern looking...
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Old 19th January 2019, 20:16   #10
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Can I just say what a lovely photo, it obviously means a lot to you.

I printed some photos of my rebuilt SD1 Vitesse onto canvas myself. I can’t remember the exact setting on the printer but I do remember it took ages to print the image but this was just on A4 size.

One thing to remember when the image is printed to canvas I assume you’re framing it so you will lose approx 1 inch all round your image and I note you don’t have a large area to lose at the bottom of the print.

Good luck with the finished work.
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